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NAO
203-120
OVERDUE
FINANCIAL REPORTS
(GRANTS/COOPERATIVE
AGREEMENTS)
Issued
09/22/87; Effective 09/22/87
SECTION
1. PURPOSE.
This
directive provides procedures for corrective action
when award recipients fail to provide required
financial reports.
SECTION
2. GENERAL.
The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
is responsible for assuring Federal funds (and
non-Federal matching funds, if applicable) are used
for the purposes for which they were intended under
an award and that funds are expended in a timely manner
for allowable costs, consistent with Federal regulations.
NOAA accomplishes these responsibilities by monitoring
recipient performance through the review of performance
and financial reports. The following procedures strengthen
NOAA's authority to initiate corrective action against
recipients who do not comply with award terms and conditions.
They are not intended to be used without discretion
but whenever reasonable and practicable. They are to
be used to encourage recipients to provide required
financial and other reports on a timely basis.
SECTION
3. APPLICABILITY.
These
procedures apply to all awards administered by the
Administrative Support Centers (ASCs) which
require the submission of financial reports on a monthly,
quarterly, semi-annual, annual, or final basis.
SECTION
4. REFERENCES.
.01 Office of Management and Budget Circular, A-110,
Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and
Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals,
and Other Nonprofit Organizations.
.02 Office of Management and Budget Circular, A-102,
Uniform Requirements for Assistance to State and Local
Governments.
.03
U.S. Department of Commerce Financial Assistance
Standard Terms and Conditions (revised November 1,
1986).
SECTION
5. RESPONSIBILITY.
.01 The Office of Administration (OA) is responsible
for the oversight and policy development for NOAA grants
administration. Interpretation of NOAA grants policy
is provided by the NOAA Grants Advisor.
.02 The lead ASC for grant operations will coordinate
the development of new or revised procedures among
the ASCs for submission to OA for approval and implementation.
Coordination with line/staff offices is effected through
OA.
.03 Each Administrative Support Center will:
a. Assure consistent application of these procedures
to each financial assistance award recipient.
b. Notify OA, with a copy to the lead ASC, of major
problems encountered in implementing these procedures.
c. Provide constructive comments and suggestions to
assist NOAA in its responsibility to monitor recipient
compliance.
d. Ensure Department of Commerce Financial Assistance
Standard Terms and Conditions, which include reporting
requirements, are incorporated into the award.
e. Ensure accurate and timely data input of reports
to the Grants Management Information System (GMIS)
and use the GMIS to generate reports for effective
monitoring of report receipt. The GMIS contains two
program report generators that may be used in monitoring
delinquent recipient reports. They are:
1. GMBFRP: List of recipients who have not submitted
a required Financial Status Report (SF-269).
2. GMBCRP: List of recipients who have not submitted
a required Federal Cash Transaction Report (SF-272).
f. Ensure each award is effectively monitored in order
to allow consistent application of these procedures.
g. Notify recipients of overdue reports and use progressively
more aggressive methods to encourage recipient compliance.
h.
The Grants Officer is required to forward a copy
of the recipient financial reports to the servicing
ASC Finance Division within five working days of receipt.
SECTION
6. EXCEPTIONS.
The
Grants Officer may authorize exceptions to award
conditions and extensions for report due dates based
on written requests by recipients. All such authorizations
shall be in writing. The request must contain sufficient
information to justify the exception or extension and
to allow the Grants Officer to make a reasonable decision.
The Grants Officer shall also consider the recipient's
performance in complying with the reporting requirements
on previous NOAA awards. Unless an exception or an
extension is authorized in writing by the Grants Officer,
the recipient must comply with the terms and conditions
of the award as originally issued. Copies of all written
authorizations shall be sent to the applicable program
office and the servicing ASC Finance Division.
SECTION
7. NOTICE TO THE RECIPIENT.
In accordance with OMB Circulars A-102
and A-110 and DOC debt management policy, payment
may be withheld
from a recipient if it has failed to comply with program
objectives, award conditions, Federal reporting requirements
or if it is indebted on another DOC award. If any of
these conditions exist, NOAA shall notify the recipient
that payments will not be made for costs incurred after
a specified date until the conditions are corrected
or the indebtedness to DOC is liquidated. This constitutes "reasonable
notice" as specified by the OMB Circulars. After
a recipient has been identified as delinquent regarding
submission of financial reports, the Grants Officer
shall immediately notify the recipient of the delinquency.
All correspondence to the recipient concerning the
delinquency shall be by certified mail with return
receipt requested.
.01 Each notice to the recipient shall contain the
following information:
a. Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number;
b. The specific report(s) that is overdue;
c. The date(s) the report(s) was due;
d. The authority by which NOAA can initiate corrective
action;
e. The action NOAA will take if the report(s) is not
submitted; and
f. The date the report(s) must be received by the
ASC to avoid the proposed NOAA action.
.02 Two progressively stronger notices to the recipient
on overdue periodic reports shall be used to provide
reasonable notification before the Grants Officer suspends
or revokes a recipient's Letter of Credit authorization,
or restricts the payments to the recipient through
the U.S. Treasury check method, or defers a pending
award.
a. The first of the two letters (Exhibit
1) should
be sent to the recipient no later than 30 days after
the due date of the overdue report.
b. The second letter (Exhibit
2) should be sent to
the recipient five (5) days after the due date set
forth in the first letter. This letter will inform
the recipient that if the report is not received within
15 days, NOAA will immediately suspend the Letter of
Credit or any other payment approval on the award and
suspend processing of any new awards or modifications
to the recipient. Following non-receipt of the required
report, the Grants Officer will notify the servicing
ASC Finance Division to effect, in writing, the suspension
with the Department of Treasury.
.03 A third letter (Exhibit
3) shall inform the recipient
of the corrective action to be taken and the effective
date of the action. The following actions (one or a
combination of several) may be taken by the Grants
Officer at this point, since reasonable notice has
already been provided to the recipient. Letter of Credit
suspensions and payment disapprovals must be coordinated
with applicable program offices and other ASCs prior
to suspension by the Grants Officer initiating corrective
action.
a. The recipient's Letter of Credit authorization
is suspended. Requests for funds through the Letter
of Credit method will not be honored by Treasury until
the overdue report(s) is submitted.
b. The recipient's Request(s) for Advance or Reimbursement
(list specific ones in the letter) is not being processed
for payment. The payments will be processed upon receipt
of the overdue report(s).
c. Proposed awards/amendments (list each one that
has been received) is/are not being processed by NOAA
and will be deferred until receipt of the overdue report(s).
.04 The same letters for overdue periodic financial
reports shall be used for overdue final financial reports
with the following exceptions.
a. The form letter in Exhibit 1 will be used but submission
of the overdue report should be accomplished within
ten (10) days.
b. If acceptable arrangements are not made in response
to the first letter, a second letter (Exhibit
4) should
be sent to the recipient. The Grants Officer with the
overdue final financial report will coordinate with
other affected ASCs to take necessary steps to withdraw
the Letter of Credit and to withhold payments as advised
in the letter in Exhibit 4. The Grants Officer will
notify the servicing ASC Finance Division to effect,
in writing, action to cancel the letter of credit.
Also, if the recipient does not comply with submission
of the final report, the Grants Officer will coordinate
with the other applicable ASCs to suspend payment on
other NOAA awards.
c. Exhibit
2 and Exhibit 3 will not be used.
SIGNED,
Director, Office of Administration
Attachments:
Exhibit 1
Exhibit 2
Exhibit 3
Exhibit 4
Office of Primary Interest:
Procurement and Financial Assistance Division (AD3)
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