LIHEAP AT2024-03 Model Plan Application for Funding for federal FY 2025

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Action Transmittal

AT#:  ACF-OCS-LIHEAP-AT-2024-03

DATE:  April 4, 2024

TO:  All LIHEAP Grant Recipients 

SUBJECT:  Model Plan Application for LIHEAP Funding for federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 (Application deadline Tuesday, September 3, 2024)

ATTACHMENT(S): 

1. LIHEAP Model Plan Reference Guide
2. LIHEAP Model Plan Template (Microsoft Word version)

BACKGROUND: States, the District of Columbia, territories, and tribes or tribal organizations that wish to administer LIHEAP must submit an application for funds by September 1^st (or the date issued by the Office of Community Services (OCS)) each FY, covering a grant period of October 1 through September 30. Section 2605(c)(3) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. § 8624(c)(1)), as amended, provides that the Secretary shall make available a model LIHEAP Plan which may be used to prepare the application required under Sections 2605(a)(1) and (c)(1) (42 U.S.C. § 8624(a)(1) and (c)(1)).

The OCS has the responsibility to review and accept LIHEAP Model Plan submissions on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved ACF’s LIHEAP Model Plan under clearance number 0970-0075 effective through February 28, 2027.

CONTENT:

Model Plan Changes:

As communicated previously in LIHEAP DCL 2024-01 Proposed Changes to the LIHEAP Model Plan Application for FY25, OCS has made substantive, OMB-approved changes to the LIHEAP Model Plan for FY25. The LIHEAP Model Plan was updated with changes, including additional form clarification and requesting details on program administration. Attachment 1, the LIHEAP Model Plan Reference Guide, is a tool for grant recipients to use when developing their annual Model Plan; and Attachment 2 is a Word document (LIHEAP Model Plan Template) of the updated LIHEAP Model Plan. 

OCS created the Word document template to be used during the internal drafting and approval process, including to seek input from the public and stakeholder organizations. The Resource Guide is a tool for grant recipients to use when developing their annual LIHEAP Model Plan. It provides:

• Instructions for completing each section of the LIHEAP Model Plan
• Additional detail or clarification by section
• Screenshots for specific sections 
• Essential links

KEY MODEL PLAN SUBMISSION INFORMATION:  

Plan Submission Deadline:

The deadline for the FY25 Plan is Tuesday,September 3, 2024. Grant recipients must submit the LIHEAP Model Plan via the Online Data Collection (OLDC), located within GrantSolutions , each FY in order to receive LIHEAP funding allocation.

A note on leveraging activities: The LIHEAP Model Plan includes an optional section to explain possible leveraging activities the grant recipient may take during FY25. Completing this section is one requirement to receive a separate leveraging grant, if funding is available. However, OCS awards leveraging grants in the federal Fiscal Year following the year the grant recipient conducted the leveraging activities. Therefore, if funding is available, OCS would award leveraging grants in FY25 based upon a separate leveraging report that would be reconciled against the responses in the FY24 LIHEAP Model Plan for leveraging activities that took place in FY24. OCS last awarded leveraging grants in FY12 and has no estimate for when federal leveraging grants will become available again. However, grant recipients are encouraged to complete this section if they had leveraged non-federal funds to assist LIHEAP bill payment or weatherization assistance households so that the public and all interested parties can review and comment on the grant recipient’s efforts.

Assurances and Certifications:

The assurances displayed in the second to last section of the LIHEAP Model Plan are from the federal LIHEAP statute (42 U.S.C. § 8624(b)(1)-(16)). LIHEAP regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 96.10(b) require that the 16 assurances (15 for tribes) in the LIHEAP statute be certified by the grant recipient’s Chief Executive Officer or “by an individual authorized to make such certifications on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer.” For the LIHEAP Model Plan to be approved, please be sure that the governor or tribal chairperson (1) certifies the assurances or (2) has specifically delegated authority to “certify” the LIHEAP Assurances to another person or position (not merely the department or agency). The grant recipient must attach a delegation letter to the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC, and the letter must explicitly specify that the individual is authorized to certify the federal LIHEAP assurances.

In addition to the LIHEAP Model Plan, grant recipients must also complete or update the Mandatory Grant Application SF-424, which is the first section of the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC. The person that is designated to “certify to the LIHEAP assurances” must have an OLDC account and, while logged into their OLDC account, must be the person that clicks the “Certify” and “Click to Sign” buttons for the LIHEAP Model Plan in OLDC. Therefore, if the governor or tribal chairperson chooses not to designate someone else to sign the LIHEAP assurances, then the governor or tribal chairperson must have their own OLDC account and “certify” the FY25 LIHEAP Model Plan.

States, the District of Columbia, and territories receiving more than $200,000 must describe in their new FY25 Plan how they will carry out assurance 15 (Section 2605(b)(15)) of the LIHEAP statute. Assurance 15 requires such grant recipients to offer LIHEAP intake services in addition to those available through agencies also administering the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. An attachment detailing this plan may be added or entered in any of the fields in Sections 2, 3, and 4.

Other Certifications:

1. Section 18 — All LIHEAP grant recipients must agree to the Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters.
2. Section 19 — All LIHEAP grant recipients must submit the Certification Regarding Drug-Free Workplace Requirements unless a state has submitted a statewide assurance to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. When completing this certification, be sure to enter the grant recipient’s physical address in the appropriate fields. No P.O. Boxes allowed. 
3. Section 20 — States and the District of Columbia must file the Certification Regarding Lobbying and, if applicable, Form LLL, which discloses lobbying payments. Tribes and tribal organizations are not required to file the Certification Regarding Lobbying.
4. Section — 21 All LIHEAP grant recipients must agree to the Assurances set above.

The LIHEAP Plan form in OLDC, Sections 18-21, incorporates all the above certifications. Please ensure that the certification checkbox is marked in each required certification’s section.

Meaningful and Timely Public Participation:

• States and Territories: The federal law requires states and territories to conduct public hearings on the initial FY25 LIHEAP Plan (42 U.S.C. Section 8624(a)(2)). Grant recipients should follow their own state and territorial procedures for public hearings.
• Tribes: No hearing is required of tribal grant recipients. However, tribal grant recipients are required to obtain timely and meaningful public participation or input from their communities regarding their draft or proposed FY25 LIHEAP Plan. This may include some combination of web postings, public service announcements, comments by email or phone, stakeholder calls, etc. Tribes must follow their tribal-wide rules for public participation that they would use with tribal funding. Note: Timely means that the public participation process must be completed in advance of and prior to the submission of the Plan to get public comments and allow enough time for internal review.

Required Plan Attachments:

The following documents must be attached to the application in OLDC to be considered complete.

• Delegation Letter (required if someone other than the Chief Executive, e.g., a governor or tribal chairperson certified the FY Plan in OLDC) 
• Benefit matrices showing at least three varying measures (income, household size, and energy costs or needs) to determine benefit types, such as heating, cooling, and crisis assistance. Use the applicable new income guidelines published here.
• Minutes, notes, or transcripts of public hearing(s) (states and territories only) or public participation (tribes)
• Optional: Policy Manual, Subrecipient Contract, Model Plan Participation Notes for Tribes

For Tribal Applicants:

OCS encourages directly funded tribes that receive smaller annual LIHEAP grants to consider joining an existing consortium in their state(s) or form a consortium with neighboring tribes to reduce the administrative burden of the LIHEAP Plan submission and the required reports. For information on how to form or join a consortium, inquire with your LIHEAP regional liaison. This information is available under Section B of the LIHEAP Grantee Resource Guide  (formerly known as the Tribal Manual).

Submission Deadline Extension: If a grant recipient anticipates needing an extension of the September 3, 2024. Plan submission deadline, the grant recipient must submit a letter requesting a deadline extension. The letter must be uploaded as an attachment to an “initialized” FY25 Plan and provide a specific, reasonable alternative date and a brief explanation of the reason for needing an extension. Tribal grant recipients must obtain written agreement of the extension date from the states in which the tribe’s service areas are located. The state’s email or letter of concurrence must also be included as an attachment to the initialized 2025 Plan. Extension requests must be submitted to OCS prior to Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

Follow-up Action on Plan Submissions: Upon receipt of FY25 Plans, OCS staff will review the Plans and either reject the Plan back to the grant recipient via OLDC or accept the plan in OLDC. Grant recipients whose plans are “accepted” in OLDC have no further action to take on the Plan. Grant recipients whose plans are “rejected” in OLDC must take immediate action to edit their Plans according to the comments in the OLDC review sections of the Plan and resubmit the edited Plan to OCS within the deadline indicated in the Plan review remarks in OLDC. The federal LIHEAP regulations require that this editing process must be completed no later than December 15, 2024. This deadline is only regarding edits and attachments that are necessary to resolve missing or inadequate information in the original Plan submission.   

OCS will only issue FY25 LIHEAP funding upon receipt and acceptance of a LIHEAP Plan submission that meets statutorily required information.  All LIHEAP grant recipients have an ongoing responsibility throughout the grant period to submit revised Plans and reports, as needed, to reflect changes to ensure ACF has final, actual program data.

INQUIRIES: For questions regarding Model Plan changes, please contact:

Akm Rahman
Operations Branch Chief
Division of Energy Assistance
Email: Akm.rahman@acf.hhs.gov
Phone: (202) 401-5305

RELATED REFERENCES: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 8621 et seq.) and LIHEAP IM 2024-02 Federal Poverty Guidelines and State Median Income Estimates for Optional Use in FY24 and Mandatory Use in FY25.

Please contact your LIHEAP regional liaison immediately if you need an OLDC account or have questions about the FY25 Model Plan submission process.

Thank you for your attention to these matters. OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high-quality services to OCS partners.

/s/
Megan Meadows
Director, Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services