The Grants Unit will soon be preparing and sending out agreements to all fiscal year 2014 pass-through appropriation recipients.
If you are the recipient of a FY14 appropriation, please review your agreement and its attachments (including the Reimbursement Manual) carefully as there will be updated language in some areas as necessary for increased clarity as well as adherence to the most recent state laws and policies.
More information on these updates, and on our second annual fall Reimbursement Manual training session, will be provided in the next DNR Grants Journal as well as on the Training page of our website.
With several pass-through projects expiring this June, here are a few friendly reminders as you prepare to close out your project:
1. Final reimbursement requests cannot be paid until your final report has been received and approved by LCCMR or LSOHC staff.
2. All expenses must be incurred by June 30, 2013 or earlier in order to be eligible for reimbursement unless you have an Outdoor Heritage Fund project that includes restoration or enhancement work, which extends the availability of funds until June 30, 2015. Please contact your Grants Specialist if you have any questions.
3. If you have unused grant funds remaining and your final report has been received and approved by the appropriate board, your Grants Specialist will be contacting your Authorized Representative to verify that you have concluded your spending for this project prior to cancelling your appropriation. The remaining unused funds will be returned to the appropriate funding source for future use.
4. If you purchased land or conservation easements with your project, please make sure to submit all post-closing documents for all acquisitions. If you are missing post-closing documents, you may be contacted by your Grants Specialist seeking that documentation prior to the DNR closing your project .
The DNR Grants Unit will begin conducting grant monitoring in accordance with the Office of Grants Management (OGM) Policy 08-10 soon. All affected grantees will be contacted by the Grants Unit to set-up a time to conduct the monitoring.
Per the OGM policy, all grantees who have projects valued at over $250,000 will be visited on an annual basis. Grantees who have projects valued at $50,000-$250,000 will be monitored at least once during the term of the agreement. Appropriations less than $50,000 will not be monitored in this manner. If you have multiple projects, we will try to cover them all in one monitoring session.
The DNR Grants Unit will meet the OGM monitoring requirement by conducting either a site visit or a desk review. Site visits will involve your DNR Grants Specialist or the DNR Grants Manager meeting in-person and on-site with your organization to discuss your project and doing a financial reconciliation if necessary (once per grant period). A desk review will involve your assigned Grants Specialist calling your Authorized Representative and/or Project Manager to discuss your project. He will also likely request some documentation that is to be available on-file at your location (proof of payment if necessary, sub-contracts, etc.) to review prior to the call.
Topics of discussion during either type of monitoring may include: the reimbursement process; conflict of interest; organizational controls; grant documentation such as proof of payment, timesheets, and sub-contracts; capitol equipment and/or land purchases; and training needs.
We look forward to having another opportunity to interact with you, learn more about your projects, and hear about what is going well and what could use improvement. If you have questions as we work to implement this monitoring program, feel free to contact your Grants Specialist or the Grants Manager.
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