Model Plan Application for LIHEAP Funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (All Applications due September 1, 2009)
THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP INFORMATION MEMORANDUM TRANSMITTAL
NO. LIHEAP-IM-2009-6, DATED 3/27/09
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP)
GRANTEES AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES
SUBJECT: Model Plan Application for LIHEAP Funding for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (All Applications due
September 1, 2009)
RELATED Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, as amended
REFERENCES: (Title XXVI of Public Law (P.L.) 97-35, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended).
BACKGROUND: States, Territories, and Indian Tribes/Tribal
organizations that wish to administer a Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) must
submit an application for funds each year.
Section 2605(c)(3) of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended, provides
that not later than April 1 of each fiscal year,
the Secretary shall make available a model LIHEAP
plan which may be used, at the option of each
grantee, to prepare the application required under
Sections 2605(a)(1) and (c)(1).
PURPOSE: To provide LIHEAP grantees with a copy of the
Model Plan format and to remind States, Tribes,
and Territories that all applications are due
September 1.
CONTENT: Attached for your use is the Model Plan format for
use by States, Territories, and Indian Tribes/
Tribal organizations in developing your Fiscal Year
(FY) 2010 plans. You are not required to use the
Model Plan format. You may submit your application
in any format you wish, as long as it includes all
of the information required under the statute and
implementing regulations.
For those grantees that choose not to use the
Model Plan, we have included a list of reminders
that may be helpful in submitting a complete
application.
Deadlines:
We wish to remind grantees that they must submit
an application each fiscal year in order to
receive LIHEAP funds. Indian Tribes and Tribal
organizations must, as always has been the case,
submit their applications by September 1, unless
the State(s) in which the Tribe or organization is
located agrees to a later submission date. A
Final Rule published on October 15, 1999 in the
Federal Register (64 FR 55843) states in Section
96.10(c)(2) that applications from States and
Territories must also be submitted by September 1
unless the Department agrees to a later date.
The final rule also established a due date for the
submission of all information required to complete
the LIHEAP application by Tribes, States and
Territories as December 15 of the fiscal year for
which funds are being requested, unless the
State(s) in which a Tribe is located (in the case
of Tribal grantees) or the Department (in the case
of States and Territories) agrees to a later date.
Detailed and Abbreviated Plans:
In FY 1998, we adopted an application process
under which a detailed application is due from
each grantee every three years. In the alternate
years, an abbreviated application may be
submitted, consisting of: (1) the statutorily
required assurances signed by the Governor/Chief
Executive Officer or his/her designee; (2) a
description of any changes from the last detailed
application; and (3) a report on applicant and
recipient households for the previous year. In
addition, (4) an opportunity for public
participation must be offered. (5) States must
also hold a public hearing. (6) The Carryover and
Reallotment Report for the previous fiscal year
must have been submitted. The Carryover and
Reallotment Report is due August 1. Also, (7)
the appropriate certifications must be submitted.
Lastly, (8) the LIHEAP Household Report must be
submitted with the application as described below.
Attached to this information memorandum are both a
"Detailed Model Plan" and an "Abbreviated Model
Plan". The Detailed Model Plan is essentially the
same as the Model Plan that we have used for many
years. The Abbreviated Model Plan is for the
optional use of grantees that are not scheduled to
file a detailed application for FY 2010. Each
grantee must submit either a Detailed Plan or an
Abbreviated Model Plan each fiscal year.
Grantees must submit a "detailed application"
every three years, or sooner, if they are making
major changes to their LIHEAP programs. Since
most grantees do not substantially change their
programs in a typical two to three-year period,
this frequency will assure that we have a full
description of basic plan elements. As part of
the detailed application, a full description of
how grantees will carry out all of the assurances
specified in the statute and the other program-
specific information required in Section 2605(c)
of the statute must be submitted. Grantees that
are making more than two substantive changes
should complete the detailed application.
Some current grantees must submit detailed
applications for FY 2010 while the remaining
portion of grantees will have the option of filing
an abbreviated application for FY 2010. Grantees
that submit an abbreviated application for FY 2010
will be required to submit a detailed application
for FY 2011 or FY 2012. Attached is a schedule
specifying which state grantees are required to
file detailed applications in FY 2010 and FY 2011
(See Attachment 2.)
Generally, Tribes and Tribal organizations must
file a detailed application in the same year as
the States in which they are located. In some
cases, Tribes and States are not on the same three-
year cycle if a Tribe applied with a Detailed Plan
during a year in which the State submitted an
Abbreviated Plan.
Assurances:
The assurances printed at the beginning of the
Model Plan are from the current LIHEAP statute.
Grantees who choose not to use the Model Plan
still may wish to use these pages. Please be sure
that (1) the Governor or Tribal Chairperson signs
the assurances or (2) has specifically delegated
authority to sign the LIHEAP assurances to the
person who signs the assurances. If a grantee has
a new Governor or Tribal Chairperson, a new
delegation letter is required.
In applying for LIHEAP funds for FY 2010, please
remember that the statute requires States and
Territories receiving more than $200,000 to
describe in their plans how they will carry out
assurance 15 (Section 2605(b)(15) of the LIHEAP
statute).
In addition, please note assurance 16, which sets
a 5 percent limit on the amount of LIHEAP funds
that can be used for certain activities designed
to reduce the need for home energy and, thereby,
the need for energy assistance.
Leveraging Activities:
We wish to remind you that the Model Plan includes
a place to report leveraging activities to take
place during the Federal fiscal year that will be
coordinated with LIHEAP. You should include the
information in your plan that will be necessary
for activities to count for leveraging funds
awarded the next year. Grantees should also
amend their current year's plan to include any
activities that are added during the year but were
not previously included in the plan (e.g. cooling
component).
Under the Final Rule on implementing the
leveraging program that was issued on May 1, 1995
(60 FR 21322), additional information must be
included in the plan for those leveraging
activities claimed under criterion 96.87(d)(2)(iii),
that is, those resources that are appropriated or
mandated by the State for distribution under the
plan, and are coordinated/integrated with the
grantees' LIHEAP program, but are not a part of
LIHEAP.
The plan must describe not only the resources/
benefits to be counted under criterion
96.87(d)(2)(iii), but the plan must also identify
and describe their sources and the way in which
they are integrated/coordinated with the grantees'
LIHEAP program. See especially the middle column
of page 21339 of the May 1, 1995 Federal Register
(60 FR 21339) for further discussion of these
requirements: These documents can be found on the
LIHEAP website under the "Guidance, Policies, and
Procedures" section at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap
If your leveraging activities to be claimed under
criterion 96.87(d)(2)(iii) were fully described in
your most recent Detailed Plan, you do not need to
describe them again in an Abbreviated Plan unless
they have changed. If any of the required
information on the resources/benefits has changed,
please be sure to submit new descriptions with
your Abbreviated Plan.
Household Report:
The statute requires that complete LIHEAP
applications MUST include the LIHEAP Household
Report for the previous year on households
applying for and assisted by LIHEAP before grant
awards are made.
The LIHEAP statute requires the Secretary to
collect data on the number and income levels of
households assisted and the following additional
household data:
• number of assisted households with at least one
young child and
• number and income levels of households applying
for LIHEAP assistance and
• the number of assisted households with at least
one or more individuals who are 60 years or
older or disabled.
States, the District of Columbia, and Territories
with regular allotments of $200,000 or more (i.e.,
Puerto Rico) will need to collect this data on
their FY 2009 applicant and recipient households
in order to submit the data as part of their FY
2010 grant applications. Tribal grantees and
Territories with regular allotments of less than
$200,000 are required to submit only information
on the number of households served in each of its
program components (i.e., heating, cooling,
crisis, and weatherization). We will issue a
separate Action Transmittal with forms and
instructions for the Household Report.
Carryover and Reallotment Report:
The required report on the amount of funds each
grantee will carry over from FY 2009 to FY 2010 —
or will have available for reallotment — is still
due August 1. Prompt submission of this report
allows grantees and HHS to identify potential
under obligation of funds in time to make
adjustments before the end of the fiscal year.
However, please remember that the statute provides
that no grantee will receive its FY 2010 grant
until it has submitted its Carryover and
Reallotment Report for its FY 2009 funds. In some
cases, we had to delay grant awards to grantees
with otherwise complete applications because they
had not submitted their Carryover and Reallotment
Report.
Other Certifications:
Please remember that all States, whether or not
they use the Model Plan and whether or not they
file a detailed application, must file the
Lobbying certification and, if applicable, Form
LLL, which discloses lobbying payments. Tribes
and Tribal organizations are not required to file
the Lobbying certification. The Debarment and
Suspension certification must be filed by all
grantees, as must the Drug-free Workplace
certification, unless a State has submitted a
statewide assurance to the Department of Health
and Human Services. Please note that the Drug-
free Workplace and the Debarment and Suspension
certifications do not require signatures.
Submission of those forms with the application
indicates agreement to adhere to the specified
certifications.
Timely Application Submittal and Completion by
Tribes, States and Territories:
Early receipt and processing of your application
will facilitate your ability to meet the statutory
requirement to obligate at least 90 percent of
your funds in the fiscal year in which they are
appropriated.
We wish to remind grantees which have specific
opening dates established for their LIHEAP
programs that they should allow four to six weeks
for Division of Energy Assistance review of their
applications and issuance of grant awards. A
longer time may be required if we have to request
additional information because an application is
not complete.
The Cash Management Improvement Act of 1990 (P.L.
101-453, as amended by P.L. 102-589), is in
effect. This statute, which covers States and
Territories but not Tribes, imposes a requirement
for timely transfers of funds between Federal
agencies and States. The Department of the
Treasury issued a Final Rule (57 FR 60676-606894,
published December 21, 1992) implementing the
statute, which affects the LIHEAP program. It is
important that we receive your application several
weeks before you intend to draw funds from the
Payment Management System so that we may comply
with the intent of this Act and its implementing
regulations.
As noted above, all necessary information must be
included in the application before it can be
accepted as complete and we can issue a grant.
When we have to ask for additional information, it
means that you may not receive the grant award on
the schedule you had planned. We have noticed
that applications often fail to include the same
kinds of additional information that we had to
request the previous year in order to make the
application complete. Accordingly, we suggest
that you include in your detailed application
answers to the questions or the information we
requested in previous years.
Another reason the approval process often takes
longer than necessary is the submission of
delegations of the Governor's or Tribal
Chairperson's authority that do not specify
authority to sign the LIHEAP assurances.
LIHEAP regulations at 45 CFR 96.10(b) require that
the 16 assurances (15 for Tribes and some
Territories) in the LIHEAP statute must be signed
by the grantee's Chief Executive Officer or "by an
individual authorized to make such certifications
on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer." A
delegation of authority to administer the LIHEAP
program, or one that delegates authority to sign
assurances but does not specify the LIHEAP program
is not sufficient.
The Model Plan can be downloaded from the ACF
website under "Grantees, Forms, Funding
Applications" at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/
ATTACHMENTS: (1) LIHEAP Application Reminders
(2) Schedule for Detailed LIHEAP Plans
(3) LIHEAP Detailed Model Plan for FY 2010 and
Certifications
(4) LIHEAP Abbreviated Model Plan for FY 2010 and
Certifications
INQUIRIES: Trudy Hairston, Program Specialist
Division of Energy Assistance
Telephone: (202) 401-4853
E-mail: trudy.hairston@acf.hhs.gov
SUBMISSIONS: Nick St.Angelo, Director
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services, ACF, HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Telephone: (202) 401-9351
Fax: (202) 401-5661
E-mail: nick.stangelo@acf.hhs.gov
_______________/s______________
Nick St. Angelo
Director
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
