LIHEAP AT 2013-3 Carryover and Reallotment Report FY 2013
Transmittal No. LIHEAP-AT-2013-3 Date: July 24, 2013
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES
GUIDANCE
INTENDED
FOR: X STATES
X TRIBES/TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS
X TERRITORIES
SUBJECT: Carryover and Reallotment Report
RELATED: Section 2607 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, title XXVI of the
REFERENCES: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-35, as amended; 45 C.F.R. § 96.81 in the Department of Health and Human Services block grant regulations; and OMB approval 0970-0106, expires 9/30/2014.
PURPOSE: To remind LIHEAP grantees of the required Carryover and Reallotment Report due August 1, 2013, to advise grantees that FY 2014 grant awards will not be made until the Carryover and Reallotment Report for FY 2013 is submitted to HHS, and to advise grantees of a new requirement for electronic submission through OLDC.
BACKGROUND: On April 4, 2013, we released LIHEAP-IM-2013-1 which listed all of the deadlines for the upcoming LIHEAP reports and plan, including the August 1, 2013 deadline for the Carryover and Reallotment Report. At the National LIHEAP Grantee Training Meeting this June, we announced that we are now requiring all LIHEAP grantees to submit their LIHEAP reports via the Online Data Collection System (OLDC). This includes submission of the FY 2013 LIHEAP Carryover and Reallotment Report. We demonstrated OLDC at the training meeting and on a webinar we conducted on July 9, 2013.
CONTENT: Section 2607(b)(2)(B) of the LIHEAP statute (42 U.S.C. § 8626(b)(2)(B)), as amended by Title III of the Augustus F. Hawkins Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1990, Public Law 101‑501, states that:
No amount may be held available under this paragraph for a State from a prior fiscal year to the extent such amount exceeds 10 percent of the amount payable to such State for such prior fiscal year. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the amount payable to a State for a fiscal year shall be determined without regard to any amount held available under this paragraph for such State for such fiscal year from the prior fiscal year.
Grantees may request to carry forward from one federal fiscal year to the next federal fiscal year up to 10% of the amount payable to the grantee for the first fiscal year. The funds that are carried over must be obligated by the grantee by the end of the federal fiscal year following the year in which they are appropriated. For example, at least 90% of the funds allocated to you for FY 2013 must be obligated by September 30, 2013, the end of FY 2013. Up to 10% may be carried over for use in FY 2014, but those funds must be obligated no later than September 30, 2014. (Please note that this requirement applies to obligation only, not expenditure of funds.)
Any funds carried over from the previous year are not to be included in the base for calculating carryover in the following year. If more than 10% of a grantee's funds payable remains unobligated at the end of the fiscal year for which they were allotted, these excess funds must be returned to HHS and are subject to reallotment among all grantees in the next fiscal year.
The 10% carryover limit does not apply to LIHEAP leveraging incentive award funds. The period of obligation for the entire amount of leveraging incentive funds awarded to a grantee is the award period (the federal fiscal year in which these funds were awarded) and the following federal fiscal year, as explained in our regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 96.87(k).
The LIHEAP statute and regulations require LIHEAP grantees to report information to HHS concerning funds to be carried forward and funds subject to reallotment. The 1994 reauthorization of the LIHEAP statute, the Human Services Amendments of 1994 (Public Law 103‑252), requires that the Carryover and Reallotment Report for one federal fiscal year be submitted to HHS by the grantee before the allotment for the next federal fiscal year may be awarded.
Consequently, HHS will not make a grant award to a grantee for FY 2014 until we have received that grantee's Carryover and Reallotment Report for FY 2013.
Note to States, Territories, and Tribes/Tribal Organizations: The receipt of all FY 2013 block grant funds should be included in your carryover calculations. As the Carryover and Reallotment Report is due August 1, before the end of the federal fiscal year, you may find that your estimates later prove to be inaccurate. If this occurs, please submit a revised report reflecting the most accurate data as soon as possible.
Note to Tribes/Tribal Organizations: Please inform us as soon as possible if you expect to have more than 10% in carryover funds, so that we may assist you in finding ways to obligate the funds properly before the end of the federal fiscal year. For suggestions of alternate ways to obligate LIHEAP funds, please see LIHEAP-IM-2001-13, “Uses of LIHEAP Funds”, dated 1/10/01, which can be found on the LIHEAP website under “Guidance, Policies, and Procedures: Special Topics”. If you still expect that you will have excess funds, please notify us. This will allow us to redirect the excess funds to the States so that they can serve tribal households until the end of FY 2013 with the remaining funds. This would prevent the reallotment of the excess carryover funds.
Completing and Submitting the Carryover and Reallotment Report
Beginning this year, all grantees will be required to submit the Carryover and Reallotment Report electronically via the ACF Online Date Collection system (OLDC) at: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssi/ .
OLDC allows for the direct, online entry of data including the submission of the Carryover and Reallotment Report. We are in the process of requiring all forms to be submitted via OLDC.
You may already be using OLDC to complete the SF-425, Federal Financial Report. OLDC accounts have been established for all LIHEAP coordinators. Please contact the OLDC helpdesk at 1-866-577-0771 if you did not receive two emails with your OLDC username and temporary password. The first time that you log into OLDC, you will be directed to create a permanent password. The password must be at least nine characters long, begin and end with a letter, have at least one upper, one lower
All grantees must submit a report, even if no funds are to be carried over or made available for reallotment. In OLDC, select the Carryover and Reallotment Report and the correct reporting period (10/1/2012-9/30-2013). Enter all required data. Remember to save your progress frequently, particularly if you enter partial information and plan to finish it later. Remember to click “end OLDC” anytime you wish to log out.
The following information must be submitted on the form:
1. The amount of the grantee's allotment for the current federal fiscal year that the grantee desires to remain available for obligation in the succeeding federal fiscal year, not to exceed 10% of the amount payable to such grantee for the fiscal year;
2. The amount of funds, if any, to be subject to reallotment;
3. If funds are carried forward, a statement of the reasons that these funds will not be used in the fiscal year for which they were allotted; and,
4. A description of the types of assistance to be provided with the amount held available for the following fiscal year.
Once the data is entered, the submission must be validated, certified and submitted through OLDC. The individuals who have permission to certify and submit may vary based on how you initially set up your OLDC account, but the user with the role “Grant Administrator” may perform all actions by default.
OLDC Assistance
For assistance with your submission, please contact your LIHEAP Federal Liaison whose contact information is available at: /programs/ocs/resource/division-of-energy-assistance-federal-staff
If you are having technical difficulties with OLDC, please contact the OLDC Help Desk at app_support@acf.hhs.gov or 1-866-577-0771 Monday through Friday between 8am-5pm Eastern Time.
Attached is a presentation that our office gave on July 9 on how to use OLDC to submit the Carryover and Reallotment Report through OLDC.
ATTACHMENTS:
- Simplified Instructions for Timely Obligation of FY 2013 LIHEAP Funds and Reporting Funds for Carryover and Reallotment
- OLDC and the Carryover and Reallotment Report training presentation
INQUIRIES: Lauren Christopher
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services, ACF, HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Telephone: (202) 401-4870
FAX: (202) 401-5661
______/s/__________________________
Lauren Christopher
Energy Program Operations Branch Chief
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services