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ARRA Section 1512
Quarterly Reports Continuous Corrections Period
Central Contractor
Registration—Annual Renewal
ARRA
Section 1511 Infrastructure Investment Reports
August 5, 2011
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
SUBJECT: 1) ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reporting
Continuous Corrections Period—August 8, 2011 through September 2, 2011
·
Reporting FTEs for ARRA Grants
·
Reporting Expenditures for Infrastructure Investments
2) Central Contractor
Registration (CCR)—Annual Renewal
3) ARRA Section 1511
Infrastructure Investment Reports
4) Enforcement Actions
Related to ARRA Requirements
The
purpose of this letter is to inform local educational agencies (LEAs) of the continuous
corrections period for ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports for the quarter
ending June
30, 2011, and to remind LEAs of the importance of
renewing their Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and completing the required
ARRA Section 1511 Infrastructure Investment Reports.
A
continuous corrections period for ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports is provided
by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) approximately five weeks after the end of
each reporting quarter.
1)
ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reporting Continuous Corrections
Period—August 8, 2011 through September 2,
2011
On
Monday, August
8, 2011, TEA will open the expenditure reporting (ER)
system to allow corrections to ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports submitted
for the quarter ending June 30, 2011. The continuous
corrections period will close Friday, September 2, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. This corrections period is provided to accommodate LEAs
and fiscal agents that want to revise data in previously submitted reports for the
quarter ending June 30, 2011. No action is
necessary unless the LEA or fiscal agent has identified data that needs to be
corrected. Revisions may only be made to data submitted for the period ending June
30, 2011. All
corrections must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Friday, September 2, 2011.
a) Reporting Full-time Equivalents (FTEs) for
ARRA Grants
Information
on reporting FTEs can be found on TEA’s website on
the ARRA—Archived
News and Announcements webpage at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=5285&menu_id=934. Scroll down to the 12/21/2009 heading to find the OMB updated guidance.
Additional TEA guidance
on ARRA Quarterly Reporting is available on TEA’s website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=7860&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941.
b) Reporting Expenditures for Infrastructure Investments in the
ARRA Section 1512 Report
Infrastructure investment
expenditures must be reported cumulatively in the ARRA Section 1512 Report. If the infrastructure investment expenditures
reported for the quarter ending June 30, 2011, were
not cumulative, LEAs may take this opportunity to correct their infrastructure investment
expenditures by entering the correct amount.
If an LEA has determined that they no longer have an infrastructure investment, and has amended its application to remove infrastructure investments, then the infrastructure investment information in the ARRA Section 1511 Report should be removed and the expenditures entered into the ARRA Section 1512 Report for the quarter ending June 30, 2011 should also be removed. Reporting requirements and definitions for infrastructure investments can be found in TEA’s Updated ARRA Section 1511 Infrastructure Investment Certification Guidance.
2)
Central
Contractor Registration (CCR)—Annual Renewal
The ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports
include a field for the CCR expiration date. LEAs that are ARRA grantees are
required to register with the CCR and receive a Commercial and Government
Entity (CAGE) code.
ARRA grantees register with CCR only once,
but they must renew and revalidate their registration at least every 12 months
from the date they first registered to ensure that their CCR is current and corresponds
to any changes that may have been made to Data Universal Numbering System
(DUNS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information.
If an
LEA does not renew its CCR registration every 12 months, the registration will
expire. Failure
to renew an expired CCR registration may impair an LEA’s ability to draw down ARRA
grant funds in ER. Therefore, TEA strongly suggests that LEAs renew their CCR
registration prior to the expiration date and enter the information into the
ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports. Upon
receiving the new expiration date from the CCR system, please remember to
update that information in the ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports through
TEA’s ER system, as these two systems are not connected and the update will not
happen automatically. LEAs may only update their CCR information in ER when ER is
open following a reporting quarter or during the continuous corrections period
following a reporting quarter. Information
on CCR, including renewals, is available online at https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx.
TEA will continue to monitor ARRA grantees’
CCR expiration dates through the ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports.
3)
ARRA
Section 1511 Infrastructure Investment Reports
Grantees are permitted to use funds for
infrastructure investments under three grant programs: ARRA IDEA-B Formula,
ARRA IDEA-B Preschool, and 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 ARRA SFSF. All LEAs with a NOGA for any of
these ARRA grants programs, including 2010–2011 SFSF, must complete an ARRA Section 1511 Report in ER, even if the LEA has
chosen not to use funds for infrastructure investments.
Please note that LEAs
may use SFSF funds for modernization, renovation, or repair of public school
facilities. However, LEAs are prohibited from using SFSF funds for payment of
maintenance costs. See Section
14003( b)(1) of ARRA for more information.
ARRA Section 1511
Reports can be submitted in ER any time after a NOGA is issued, but they must
be submitted prior to drawing down funds for infrastructure investments. When
completing the ARRA Section 1512 Quarterly Reports for the three grant programs
mentioned above, please make sure that the ARRA Section 1511 Report for each
NOGA has been completed, certified, and submitted. Additionally, grantees must confirm
that the information in the ARRA Section 1511 Report is aligned with the
information provided on infrastructure expenditures in the related ARRA Section
1512 Quarterly Report for each NOGA.
If an LEA chooses
to amend its grant application to remove infrastructure investments, the LEA
must do the following:
·
Remove
the Section 1511 certification form from the LEA’s or ESC’s website.
·
Delete
the ARRA 1511 Report for the infrastructure investment in ER. Although the LEA
will no longer have an infrastructure investment, the LEA must still certify an
ARRA 1511 Report in ER. To do this, the LEA must select the “Not Applicable-No
Infrastructure Projects for this NOGA” checkbox and then certify and submit the
report.
·
Delete
the infrastructure investment expenditure amount in the ARRA Section1512
Quarterly Report during the next reporting cycle or during the current
quarter’s continuous corrections period, if available.
TEA guidance on ARRA
Section 1511 Infrastructure Investments is available on TEA’s website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147484239&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941.
4)
Enforcement
Actions Related to ARRA Requirements
TEA will continue to monitor LEA compliance
with ARRA Section 1511 certification requirements, ARRA Section 1512 quarterly
reporting requirements, and annual renewal of CCR registration.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 34, §80.43 and §74.62, if a grantee materially
fails to comply with any term of an award, whether stated in a federal statute
or regulation, an assurance in a grant application, or elsewhere, TEA may take
one or more of the following enforcement actions as appropriate in the
circumstances:
·
Temporarily
withhold cash payments pending correction of the deficiency, or more severe
enforcement action
·
Disallow
all or part of the cost of an activity or action not in compliance
·
Wholly
or partly suspend or terminate the current award
·
Withhold
further awards for the program
·
Take
other remedies that may be legally available
For
additional assistance with ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting requirements
or individual ARRA grants, please contact the following:
·
For
ARRA Section 1512 quarterly reporting and ARRA Section 1511 infrastructure
certification: (512) 936-3647 or arrastimulus@tea.state.tx.us.
·
For
SFSF: (512) 463-9374 or nclb@tea.state.tx.us.
·
For
NCLB ARRA (including Title II, Part D, ARRA formula funding): (512) 463-9374 or nclb@tea.state.tx.us.
·
For
Title II, Part D, ARRA competitive funding (Target Tech in Texas): (512)
463-9400 or T3@tea.state.tx.us.
·
For
IDEA ARRA: (512) 463-9414 or sped@tea.state.tx.us
ARRA
Section 1512 quarterly reporting information,
including continuous corrections period timelines, is announced on the Recent
News and Announcements section of TEA’s website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=4570&menu_id=934&menu_id2=941 and through the ARRA
Stimulus listserv, which an LEA can join by registering online at http://miller.tea.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED2=name&A=1&L=ARRA-stimulus&b.x=36&b.y=13.
Sincerely,
Nora
Ibáñez Hancock, EdD
Associate
Commissioner
Office
for Planning, Grants and Evaluation
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