3.10 Conference Approval, Planning, and Reporting
Post Event Reporting
All conference costs for events held by cooperative agreement recipients or contractors costing more than $20,000, or where more than 50% of attendees are DOJ employees, must be reported within 45 calendar days after the last day of the event.
Cooperative agreement recipients and contractors must submit the completed Conference & Events Submission Form showing the prior approval amounts compared to the actual costs and explain all variances greater than 10% and $1,000. Completed reports for OJP recipients should be emailed to [email protected], and completed reports for the COPS Office should be emailed to [email protected].
If the pre-approved costs were exceeded by more than 10% and $1,000, the contractor or cooperative agreement recipient should submit a detailed explanation with their post event Conference & Events Submission Form to support the additional costs.
The following situations and costs require additional explanation and will be considered unauthorized until OJP/COPS Office has reviewed the additional documentation:
- If the prior approval cost category contains no cost, but the post event report contains costs in that category.
- If the prior approval audio-visual/meeting room, logistical, and programmatic planner costs are less than the thresholds, but actual costs exceed the thresholds.
- If the prior approval total cost is less than $100,000, but the actual costs exceed $100,000.
- If the prior approval total cost is less than $500,000, but the actual costs exceed $500,000.
Grant recipients are not required to file post event reports, but should maintain documentation for purposes of monitoring and audit.
Deadlines
All conference costs must be reported no later than 45 calendar days after the end of any event that meets the following criteria:
- Total cost of the event exceeds $20,000, or
- More than 50% of attendees are DOJ employees.
The conference report should include the purpose of the conference, number of participants in attendance, a detailed breakout of all cost categories, etc. Other costs must be detailed on the form. If extra lines are needed, please list in one of the additional spreadsheet tabs.
When a prior approval amount exceeds $20,000, OJP/COPS Office expects a post event report. If the actual costs are less than $20,000, please either file the report with the actual costs or notify your program manager or OJP/COPS Office point of contact that a report is not required. Note: After the prior approval portion of the submission form has been approved, a copy of the submission form which contains the OJP/COPS Office event identifier will be returned to you. It is important to use this form for the post event report.
Delinquent Submissions and Non-Reporters
The Conference & Events Submission Form must be emailed to either [email protected] or [email protected] within 45 calendar days after the last day of the event. If your Conference & Events Form is not submitted by the due date, the report is considered to be delinquent and, for cooperative agreement recipients, you may not be permitted to draw down funds through the Grant Payment Request System (GPRS). You will receive an automatic email notification if this occurs. For non-reporters, a hold may be placed on the remaining funds associated with the award and any future payment requests will be denied. For contractors, remedies for non-compliance are outlined in your contract.
Reporting Exemption
If any item(s) are paid for with registration fees or other non-award funds, then that portion of expenses does not need to be reported on the Conference & Events Submission Form. Contractors may not charge registration fees.
Determining Costs
When determining the total cost of a DOJ-funded conference, all costs incurred by the recipient under the award must be included (see specific categories below).
- Actual. Post event reports must contain actual costs.
- Fees/program income. Post event conference reporting should exclude costs covered by other non-DOJ funding (e.g., non-DOJ co-sponsors) or program income.
- Logistical and programmatic planner costs. These costs should include cooperative agreement staff time spent on these activities and any contracted planner costs.
- Attendee costs. For post event reporting purposes, a cooperative agreement recipient or contractor must report all costs of attendance supported by the contract or award, or by DOJ-funded conference scholarships where that recipient administers the scholarships. (When determining overall conference costs, OJP/COPS Office may supplement the recipient's data with available data on attendance costs related to DOJ employees, and non-DOJ attendees whose attendance is supported by scholarships administered by an entity other than that primarily responsible for planning and/or hosting the conference.)
- Indirect costs. Recipients are required to include indirect costs when determining how much was spent in each conference cost category. For example, where a recipient has a 10% indirect cost rate, the reported cost of each conference item against which this indirect cost rate is charged should be augmented by 10% to take into account the rate charged.
Public Reporting
- All post event reports for conferences costing more than $100,000 in Federal funding will be posted publicly on the DOJ website.
- If the pre-event Conference & Events Submission Form was approved for less than $100,000, the actual costs reported on the post event report cannot exceed $100,000 without additional review and approval. This requirement is also applicable to events pre-approved for less than $500,000.
- Conferences costing more than $500,000 in DOJ funds are prohibited unless a waiver is granted by the Deputy Attorney General.
