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Part III - Chapter 20: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

HIGHLIGHTS OF CHAPTER:

• Background
• The Recovery Act Programs Administered by OJP
• Supplanting Within the Recovery Act Programs
• Special Conditions
• Reporting Requirements for the Recovery Act
• Technical Requirements
• Delegating Reporting Requirements Under the Recovery Act
• Key Reporting Timeframes
• Special Reporting Requirements for Prime Recipients
• Data Quality Requirements
• How To Apply for Grants

BACKGROUND

On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). It was an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create and save millions of jobs, and make striving efforts toward addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century.

The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars. Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with the Recovery Act funds. For additional guidance regarding the Recovery Act and the Transparency Board, refer to the new Web site, http://www.Recovery.gov.

The Recovery Act includes $4 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice for grant funding to enhance State, local, and tribal law enforcement and other criminal and juvenile justice activities that will help to prevent crime and improve the criminal justice system in the United States. While the Recovery Act provides much needed resources for State and local communities, it also supports the creation of jobs.

THE RECOVERY ACT PROGRAMS ADMINISTERED BY OJP

OJP has five component bureaus to aide in the implementation of the Recovery Act of 2009: the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS); the National Institute of Justice (NIJ); the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Additionally, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO), which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). BJA, OJJDP, and OVC play a significant role in implementing the various programs from the Recovery Act.

Funding for the following OJP programs is available through the Recovery Act:

• Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program - $2 Billion
  • Formula program based on population and violent crime statistics
  • Supports broad range of activities to prevent and control crimes and improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems
• Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) State Crime Victim Compensation Program - $47.5 Million
  • Formula program supports State efforts to compensate crime victims
• Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Assistance Formula Grant Program - $47.5 Million
  • Formula program supports State services to crime victims
• Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) Formula Grant Program - $50 Million
  • Formula program supports the national network of ICAC task forces
  • Discretionary solicitations for Research and Training and Technical Assistance programs
• Edward Byrne Competitive Grant Program - $120.75 Million
  • Categories include: Data-driven and evidence-based approaches; neighborhood-based probation and parole; mortgage fraud; hiring civilian law enforcement; enhancing forensic and crime scene investigations; victim assistance; and problem-solving courts
• Mentoring Programs - $97.5 Million
  • Local Youth Mentoring Initiatives and National Youth Mentoring Programs
• Research and Evaluation - $2.25 Million
  • Research and evaluation of Recovery Act State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
• Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands Program - $225 Million
  • Construction or renovation of correctional facilities on tribal lands
• Assistance to Rural Law Enforcement To Combat Crime and Drugs - $123.75 Million
  • Assistance to State and local law enforcement in rural States and rural areas to prevent and combat crime, especially drug-related crime
  • State and local law enforcement agencies include State and local prosecutors, parole, probation and community corrections agencies
• Combating Criminal Narcotics Activity Stemming From the Southern Border of the United States - $29.7 Million
  • Assistance and equipment to State and local law enforcement along the southern border and in High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA)
  • State and local law enforcement agencies include State and local prosecutors, parole, probation, and community corrections agencies
• Crime Victims Competitive Grants - $5 Million
  • Training, technical assistance, and demonstration projects which are national in scope

SUPPLANTING WITHIN THE RECOVERY ACT PROGRAMS

The Recovery Act does not impose any new or unique nonsupplanting requirements on OJP programs. As specifically indicated in the solicitations, the following OJP Recovery Act programs do not prohibit supplanting:

• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program Grants
• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act ICAC Task Force Training and Technical Assistance Grants
• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act ICAC Research Grants
• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act National Internet Crimes Against Children Data System
• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act Local Youth Mentoring Initiative
• OJJDP FY 09 Recovery Act National Youth Mentoring Programs
• Recovery Act: Assistance to Rural Law Enforcement To Combat Crime and Drugs
• Recovery Act: Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program
• Recovery Act State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program: Combating Criminal Narcotics Activity Stemming From Southern Border of the United States
• Recovery Act: Evaluation of Internet Child Safety Materials Used by ICAC Task Forces in School and Community Settings
• Recovery Act: Research and Evaluation of Recovery Act State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

The recipient must agree with all of the terms and special conditions contained in the award document. The following special conditions may or may not apply to all of the Recovery Act programs.

1. Separate Tracking and Reporting. The recipient must track, account for, and report on all funds received from the Recovery Act award (including specific outcomes and benefits attributable to Recovery Act funds) separately from all funds, including DOJ award funds from non-Recovery Act grants awarded for the same or similar purposes or programs. (Recovery Act funds may be used in conjunction with other funding as necessary to complete projects, but tracking and reporting of Recovery Act funds must be separate).
2. Reporting and Registration Requirements. The recipient must complete projects and activities which are funded under the Recovery Act and report on the use of Recovery Act funds provided through each award. Information from these reports will be made available to the public. The reports are due no later than 10 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, for the life of each Recovery Act grant. Recipients and their first-tier subrecipients must maintain current registrations in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at all times during which they have active Federal awards funded under the Recovery Act. (Also, see Part III, Chapter 11: Reporting Requirements.)
3. Provisions of Section 1512(c). Each recipient that received Recovery Act funds shall submit a report no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter to the Federal awarding agency. The report must contain the following data: (1) the total amount of recovery funds received from that agency; (2) the amount of recovery funds received that were expended or obligated to projects or activities; and (3) a detailed list all of projects or activities for which recovery funds were expended or obligated, including: (a) the name of the project or activity; (b) a description of the project or activity; (c) an evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity; (d) an estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained by the project or activity; and (e) for infrastructure investments made by the State and local governments, the purpose, the total cost, and rationale of the agency for funding the Recovery Act.
4. DUNS and CCR Reporting for Subrecipient. The recipient must work with its first-tier subrecipients to ensure that the subrecipient has a valid DUNS profile no later than the due date of the recipient's first quarterly report after a subaward is made.
5. Protecting State and Local Government and Contractor Whistleblowers. The recipient recognizes that the Recovery Act provides certain protections against reprisals for employees of non-Federal employers who disclose information reasonably believed to be evidence of gross mismanagement, gross waste, substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, abuse of authority, or violations of law related to contracts or grants using Recovery Act funds.
6. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Related Laws. The recipient understands that all OJP awards are subject to NEPA and other related Federal laws (including the National Historic Preservation Act), if applicable. The recipient agrees to assist OJP in carrying out its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws, if the recipient plans to use Recovery Act funds (directly or through subaward or contract) to undertake any activity that triggers these requirements, such as renovation or construction. The recipient also agrees to comply with all Federal, State, and local environmental laws and regulations applicable to the development and implementation of the activities to be funded under each award.
7. Inapplicability of Nonsupplanting Requirement. The recipient understands that, for purposes of this award, the general nonsupplanting requirement of the OJP Financial Guide (Part II, Chapter 3) does not apply.
8. Quarterly Financial Status Reports. The recipient agrees to submit quarterly financial status reports to OJP. Currently, the reports are to be submitted online using the Grants Management System (GMS) SF-269A Module, not later than 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The recipient understands that beginning October 1, 2009, OJP will discontinue its use of the SF-269A, and will require award recipients to submit quarterly financial status reports within 30 days after the end of each quarter, using the governmentwide Federal Financial Report (FFR-425) form. Beginning with the report for the fourth calendar quarter of 2009, the recipient agrees that it will submit quarterly financial status reports to OJP online using the FFR-425, not later than 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The final report shall be submitted not later than 90 days following the end of the grant period.
9. Reporting on Potential Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, and similar misconduct. The recipient must promptly refer to the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General (OIG) any credible evidence that a principal, employee, agent, contractor, subgrantee, subcontractor, or other person has either submitted a false claim for Recovery Act funds under the False Claims Act; or committed a criminal or civil violation of laws pertaining to fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, gratuity, or similar misconduct involving Recovery Act funds. This condition also applies to any subrecipients. Potential fraud, waste, abuse, or misconduct can be reported to the OIG via e-mail at [email protected], telephone at 1-800-869-4499, FAX at 202-616-9881 or mail at: Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, Investigations Division, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Room 4706, Washington, DC 20530.
10. Subaward Monitoring. The recipient agrees to monitor its subawards under the Recovery Act in accordance with applicable statutes, regulations, OMB circulars, and guidelines, including the OJP Financial Guide, and to pass through the applicable award conditions in any subawards. The recipient is responsible for oversight of subrecipient spending and monitoring of specific outcomes and benefits attributable to the use of Recovery Act funds by its subrecipients. The recipient agrees to submit, upon request, documentation of its policies and procedures for monitoring of subawards under the Recovery Act.
11. Access to Records. The recipient understands and agrees that DOJ (including OJP and OIG), and its representatives, as well as officials from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), shall have access to and the right to examine all records (including, but not limited to, books, papers, and documents) related to each Recovery Act award, including such records of any subrecipient, contractor, or subcontractor.
12. Buy American Notification Section 1605. The recipient understands that this award is subject to the provisions of the Section 1605 of the Recovery Act. No award funds may be used for iron, steel, or manufactured goods for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work, unless the recipient provides advance written notification to the OJP program office, and a grant adjustment notice (GAN) is issued that modifies this special condition to add governmentwide standard conditions (anticipated to be published in subpart B of 2 C.F.R. part 176) that further implement the specific requirements or exceptions of Section 1605.
13. Active CCR. The recipient agrees to expeditiously obtain active registration with the CCR database, and to notify the program office in writing of its registration. Following satisfaction of this requirement, a GAN will be issued to remove this special condition.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE RECOVERY ACT

The recipients of Recovery Act funds must comply with extensive reporting requirements. Quarterly progress reports, which require both financial and programmatic data, will be due within 10 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, beginning with the July to September 2009 reporting period. However, the report due on October 10, 2009 must also include the cumulative activities and projects funded since the enactment of the Act, or February 17, 2009.

	Reporting Periods	Due Dates
	July - September	October 10
	October - December	January 10
	January - March	April 10
	April - June	July 10

The report must contain the following information:

• the total amount of Recovery Act funds received from that agency;
• the amount of the Recovery Act funds that were expended or obligated to projects or activities;
• a detailed list of all projects or activities for which Recovery Act funds were expended or obligated, including-
  • the name of the project or activity;
  • a description of the project or activity;
  • an evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity;
  • an estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained by the project or activity; and
  • for infrastructure investments made by State and local governments, the purpose, total cost, and rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with funds made available under this Act, and the agency point of contact for infrastructure investment issues; and
• detailed information on any subcontracts or subgrants awarded by the recipient to include the data elements required to comply with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-282), allowing aggregate reporting on awards below $25,000 or to individuals, as prescribed by the Director of Office of Management and Budget.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Section 1512 of the Recovery Act requires that activity reports on the use of Recovery Act funding be submitted by recipients into the central reporting solution at http://FederalReporting.gov. Recipients must be registered as authorized parties prior to submitting or reviewing activity reports on http://FederalReporting.gov. Since registration requires that recipients be registered in the CCR database, and that all reporting entities have a valid DUNS number, recipients that do not already meet these requirements are encouraged to register no later than 35 days prior to the end of the quarter. The registration function will be available at http://FederalReporting.gov beginning August 17, 2009, and the entire process may take up to 8 days. When the Web site registration process has been successfully concluded, the http://FederalReporting.gov solution will send a confirmation of registration to the user by e-mail.

There are three methods for submitting reports into the http://FederalReporting.gov reporting solution:

1. Online data entry - the Web site provides a data entry form which is available at http://FederalReporting.gov.

   Technical Requirements: a commercial web browser, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Firefox, is required for this option.

2. Excel spreadsheet - a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded, opened, completed, and then uploaded to the Web site at http://FederalReporting.gov. The spreadsheet is locked to restrict modification and only allows data to be entered in the required fields.

   Technical Requirements: Microsoft Office Excel (version 2003 or newer) is required to open and edit the spreadsheet. A commercial Web browser, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Firefox, is required for this option.

   NOTE: Modification to the structure of this spreadsheet will result in an invalid submission.

3. Custom software system extract in Extensible Markup Language (XML) - a formatted XML system extract. A data dictionary and XML schema is needed for formatting and structuring the XML system extracts. The XML schema, and a service for validating the structure of the XML extracts, will be available on http://FederalReporting.gov.

   Technical Requirements: A commercial browser, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Firefox, is required for this option.

DELEGATING REPORTING REQUIREMENTS UNDER
THE RECOVERY ACT

The prime recipient of all Federal programs identified in Section 1512 of the Recovery Act is responsible for reporting on funded activities and projects in http://FederalReporting.gov. However, the prime recipient may choose to delegate certain reporting responsibilities to the subrecipient for those data elements related to subrecipient activities. This delegation must be clearly communicated and closely monitored to avoid mistakes and/or double counting (i.e., whereas both the prime recipient and the subrecipient separately report on the same activity). The prime recipient is responsible for designing and implementing a process to minimize potential reporting errors and mistakes. This policy should clearly identify which user (prime or subrecipient) is authorized to make corrections during the postsubmission stage.

KEY REPORTING TIMEFRAMES

The Recovery Act requires that prime recipients and delegated subrecipients submit quarterly reports on http://FederalReporting.gov not later than the 10th day following the end of each quarter. The initial report is due on October 10, 2009, and should include the cumulative activities and projects funded since the enactment of the Act, or February 17, 2009. The statute requires that reported information will be made available to the public no later than the 30th day after the end of each calendar quarter. Summary statistics for reported data will appear on http://www.Recovery.gov and will be marked to indicate their review status: 1) Not reviewed by Federal agency; 2) Reviewed by Federal agency, no material omissions or significant reporting errors identified; or 3) Reviewed by Federal agency, material omissions or significant reporting errors identified.

The timeframe for reporting activities and their sequence is described below:

• During days 1-10 following the end of the quarter, recipients and delegated subrecipients prepare and enter their reporting information. During this period, the data is considered to be in presubmission status until actually submitted. Recipients using the Web-based form will be allowed to store draft versions of their reports online. However, the draft versions will only be available to the individual creating the report. Recipients using the spreadsheet or system extracted XML options may store draft versions outside of the system on recipient-owned computers or workstations. The data will assume the status of "submitted" and conform with Section 1512 reporting requirements only when the reporting entity actually submits it using the Web site functions. Submitted reports will be viewable by the appropriate prime recipient and by the awarding agency. Prime recipients and delegated subrecipients that have not submitted their reports by the end of the 10th day will be considered in noncompliance with the reporting requirements.
• During days 11-21 following the end of the quarter, prime recipients ensure that complete and accurate reporting information is provided prior to the Federal agency comment period beginning on the 22nd day. Prime recipients will perform a data quality review and verify submitted information for all Recovery Act funds for which they are responsible. Additionally, the prime recipient must notify all subrecipients of reporting errors or omissions, and ensure that any data corrections are completed in a timely manner. The prime recipient is responsible for coordinating with subrecipients on any identified data corrections.
• During days 22-29 following the end of the quarter, the Federal agencies can review and comment on the submitted reporting information. Submitted reports will not be editable by the prime recipients or delegated subrecipients during this period, unless the Federal agencies request revisions. The Federal agencies will perform a data quality review and notify the prime recipients and the delegated subrecipients of any data anomalies or questions through the http://FederalReporting.gov solution. This notification will unlock the notated report and include instructions from the Federal agencies for any corrections. The original submitter must complete data corrections no later than the 29th day following the end of the quarter.
• No later than 30 days following the end of the quarter, detailed recipient reports are made available to the public on the http://www.Recovery.gov Web site. Any data issues identified beyond the date of publication will be corrected or addressed in the next quarterly report.

SPECIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR PRIME RECIPIENTS

Prime recipients will be required to enter their Marketing Partner Identification Number (MPIN) from the CCR at the time of reporting submission. The MPIN is a password created by a user in CCR and identifies the submitter as a prime recipient. Prime recipients will not be able to view subrecipient reports until the prime recipient report is submitted using a valid MPIN for the DUNS number associated with the award.

DATA QUALITY REQUIREMENTS

Data quality reviews (i.e., accuracy, completeness, and timely reporting of information) are intended to emphasize and avoid two key data problems: material omissions and significant reporting errors.

Material omission is defined as an instance in which required data is not reported, or the prime recipient or delegated subrecipient fails to report. This type of omission can result in significant risk to the public on the status of a Recovery Act activity or project.

Significant reporting error is defined as an instance in which required data is not reported accurately and such erroneous reporting results in significant risk that the public will be misled or confused by the recipient report in question. Appropriate action should be taken to reduce the risk of significant reporting errors.

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