September 2023

And September makes three! We successfully processed the expenditure reports received between July 16 and August 15 in GEARS! The reports generated by that processing run have an expense processing date of 08/25/2023 and were posted on the CARS/GEARS home page on that same day. Payments from that run were issued for receipt September 1, 2023. With three successful payment cycles, we will be looking at when to retire CARS. As noted previously, the CARS reports will remain available on-line for a number of years to assure historical information is available when needed. While there won’t be a retirement party for CARS, we will keep you informed as we move forward.

You asked questions, we have answers Not surprisingly, the migration from CARS to GEARS has generated a number of questions. We're covering the most frequently asked ones here. Read on!

You asked whether multiple profiles can be included on the same report — and the answer is …

Yes, a single report is just fine provided the agency number, agency type code, contract year and reporting month are the same for all of the profiles on which an agency reports (in fact, we prefer that).

You asked about expenditure reporting — and the answer is …

Several agencies have asked about whether they may submit an expenditure report prior to the related contract being activated on GEARS. We understand that submitting expenses at the time the expenditure report for a month is due helps agencies assure all costs are promptly and properly reported and simplifies the reconciliation process.

As with many things grant related, the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no.” Instead, it is more of a “yes, but …” kind of answer.

GEARS is designed so that contracts are entered in GEARS in PENDING status once the fiscal and agency specific grant related information has been approved within DHS and before they are sent to grantees. Contracts in pending status are not shown on your GEARS reimbursement reports (the GEARS-603 and -620 reports). While expenditures reported against contracts in pending status are shown on the reimbursement reports, they are not reimbursed. Contracts are shown on the GEARS reports and costs are reimbursed only after contract activation. Contracts are activated only after they are signed by both the grantee (local agency) and DHS.

Being able to enter contract related information into GEARS earlier in the process means that we can activate the contract much more quickly - once both the local agency and DHS sign the contract.

So, back to the question of whether it is OK for local agencies to report costs prior to their contract being activated in GEARS. The answer is …

Yes, local agencies may report costs to DHS once they know their GEARS agency number and type, the profile(s) where costs should be reported, and the contract year.

GEARS staff will send an e-mail to notify agencies that a report has no contract in the system. This email is a reminder that payments will not be issued until:

• an active contract is in the system, and;
• the reported expenditure report falls within the timeframe of that active contract.

If you get that email and think that the agency should already have a fully executed contract (signed by the agency and DHS) please double check the data on the report. Make sure that there were no errors on contract year, report period or profile ID.

And a reminder of what it takes to activate a contract ("sign here, please"): 

Both the grantee (local agency) and DHS must sign the grant agreement. Then the contract is activated in GEARS. If not, that means any costs incurred will remain the responsibility of the local agency.

You asked how to determine what a payment is for (or at least your Treasurer did) — and the answer is …

We received a number of questions from county treasurers and others about the change in information accompanying your monthly ACH deposits.

One of the differences between CARS and GEARS is that GEARS payments are no longer made through a DHS-specific payment process. Now payments are made by the State of Wisconsin’s STAR system. This is a good thing for both DHS and local agencies as it provides improved security over banking information and a more standardized process when updates are needed.

But the change in how the payments are made also means changes in the information which accompany the deposits. In addition, the GEARS Payment Report works differently than the CARS Payment Listing.

Your Treasurer will need to know the following to get the GEARS payment report:

1. Your agency number
2. Your agency type code
3. The payment date

With those three pieces of information, you can retrieve the GEARS payment report which shows:

• Your agency name, as recorded in GEARS
• The expense processing date, which will be needed if you or your Treasurer need additional information from the GEARS reimbursement reports
• Reimbursement calculated based on the expenditure reports processed
• Amounts, if any, that reduced your reimbursement due collection of an Account Receivable
• The voucher amount which is the net amount deposited

Additional and more detailed information on a payment can be found on your agency’s GEARS reimbursement reports, the GEARS-603 or -620 reports.

What you need to know to get the GEARS reimbursement reports:

• Your agency number
• Your agency type code
• The expense processing date (see above)
• The contract year. Remember that the GEARS contract year is the year in which the contract ends, and that for the GEARS-620 report it is possible to select ALL contract years. This is useful when the payment is for more than one contract year.

Report download tip

All GEARS reports are easily downloaded into Excel and other formats. If you are responsible for filing expenditure reports and know your agency number, type code and other GEARS related codes/dates, please consider retrieving the monthly GEARS Payment and Reimbursement Reports, downloading them into Excel, Word or PDF format and sharing them, as appropriate within your organization.

You asked how to contact us — and the answer is… You can find our contact information on the GEARS home page in the left menu. You can get there directly here: GEARS: Contacts | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. By using the listed contact addresses on that page as well as formatting your subject line as suggested, you help us respond to you more quickly. Can we help you? We continue to forward questions on allowable costs per the scope of work and questions related to the terms of your grant agreement. Quick tip: The DHS grant administrator listed in the grant agreement (or your program contact within DHS) can help you with these questions. Depending on where we are in the GEARS expense processing cycle, questions outside of the scope of GEARS processing may not be forwarded until all expenditure reports received are entered into GEARS and the resulting payments calculated and verified.

Our web page is always open!

We continue to update information on our website to keep it fresh. Please stop by - you may find the answer to a question you have. Or a visit to our website might prompt another question. That's ok, too. We're here to help! 

Please do not reply directly to this email message.  Please direct questions to DHS DES BFS CARS.