LIHEAP AT 2020-03 Carryover and Reallotment Report FY 2019
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Action Transmittal
AT#: LIHEAP-AT-2020-03
DATE: February 3, 2020
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES
SUBJECT: LIHEAP Carryover and Reallotment Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2019
ATTACHMENT(S): A. Instructions for completing the Carryover and Reallotment Report for FY 2019 (DOCX)
RELATED REFERENCES
Section 2607 of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-35, as amended (42 U.S.C. 8621-8629); 45 CFR 96.81 in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) block grant regulations; and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Carryover and Reallotment Report, OMB approval 0970-0106, expires on April 30, 2022.
PURPOSE
- To provide instructions to LIHEAP grantees about how to revise and resubmit their FY 2019 Carryover and Reallotment Report;
- To inform grantees that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) revised this report in the Online Data Collection (OLDC) system to reflect the reallotment grant awards issued in September 2019; and
- To alert grantees that the final, not estimated, version of this report is due no later than February 14, 2020. Although ACF plans to begin its FY 2019 reallotment award review process in early January 2020, based on reallotment amount reflected in this report, grantees will be able to make future changes to this report to reconcile audit disallowances, HHS monitoring findings, vendor refunds, and other allowable financial events.
BACKGROUND
Section 2607(b)(2)(B) of the LIHEAP statute (42 U.S.C. § 8626(b)(2)(B)), as amended, requires that “No amount may be held available…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 over 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 total funds payable for FY 2019 include all regular block grant awards in FY 2019, plus any reallotted FY 2018 funds ACF redistributed in FY 2019, plus any oil overcharge funds designated for use in LIHEAP for FY 2019. Congress did not appropriate any emergency contingency funds in FY 2019.
Grantees must obligate the funds that are carried over by the end of the federal fiscal year following the year in which they are awarded. For example, at least 90% of the funds allocated to you in FY 2019 must be obligated by September 30, 2019, the end of FY 2019. Up to 10% may be carried over for use in FY 2020 and those funds must be obligated no later than September 30, 2020. 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 federal fiscal year in which they were allotted, those excess funds must be returned to HHS and are subject to reallotment among all grantees in the next fiscal year.
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.
On November 1, 2019, ACF updated the OLDC system by adding the amount of reallotted FY 2018 funds awarded by ACF in FY 2019 to the FY 2019 regular Block Grant funds that appeared on the first line of this report in OLDC for FY 2019.
Grantees must take reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of returning FY 2019 federal LIHEAP funds after February 14, 2020. ACF will accept all necessary adjustments after this date.
CONTENT
Completing and Submitting the Carryover and Reallotment Report
All FY 2019 grantees are required to submit the Carryover and Reallotment Report electronically via the ACF Grant Solutions/Online Date Collection system (OLDC) .
Please contact the Grant Solutions/OLDC helpdesk at: 1-866-577-0771 or (202) 401-5282 or your Federal LIHEAP Liaison if you need assistance accessing your Grant Solutions/OLDC account or if you are a new user.
All grantees must submit a report, even if no funds are to be carried over or made available for reallotment. In OLDC, under “Low Income Home Energy Assistance” you select a report type of “Carryover and Reallotment (0970-0106)” then search by “Period End Date” or “Fiscal Year”, then search by your grantee’s name.
After you open your report please confirm that the amount on Line 1 (total amount payable to you for FY 2019) that ACF prepopulated on the report is correct. If it is not, then you must launch a new version of your report or re-save and validate the existing version. If you have any difficulty doing so then please reach out to your Federal LIHEAP Liaison. After you correct the amount on Line 1 you must enter the required data on lines 3, 4(a), and 4(b).
If you have not started a report, you must immediately start and submit it by February 14, 2020. This requirement does not apply to Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands
Remember to save your progress frequently (at least once every 15 minutes), particularly if you enter partial information and intend to finish it later. Remember to click “End OLDC” when you are ready to log out of the system.
The following information must be submitted on the form:
- Of the total amount payable for FY 2019, the amount that you did not expect to obligate in FY 2019 (into Line 3)); and
- If you carry over funds to FY 2020, (1) a statement of the reasons that these funds will not be used in FY 2019; AND (2) a description of the types of assistance to be provided with these funds (into Lines 4(a) and 4(b)).
OLDC will determine the amount that you will carry over and that the amount that you must return for reallotment.
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
If you experience technical difficulties with Grant Solutions/OLDC then please contact the Help Desk at help@grantsolutions.gov or 1-866-577-0771 or (202) 401-5282 Monday-Friday between 8am and 6pm (all times Eastern). If you need any other assistance with your submission then please contact your Federal LIHEAP Liaison.
Additional Resources
We have attached, as an additional resource, a more detailed set of instructions for such submission through OLDC (DOCX).
INQUIRIES TO
For questions regarding accurate completion of the LIHEAP Household Report, contact:
Peter Edelman, Program Analyst
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
Administration for Children and Families
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
330 C Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
201-401-5292 (Voice)
202-401-5661 (Fax)
peter.edelman@acf.hhs.gov
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/
SUBMISSION TO
The deadline for all grantees to submit their final LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2019 in OLDC is February 14, 2020.
OLDC report forms can be accessed on GrantSolutions’ homepage . If you have not yet created an account in OLDC, contact your Federal LIHEAP Liaison for assistance. Also, for questions regarding accessing OLDC and or completing the OLDC form, contact your Federal LIHEAP Liaison.
Thank you for your attention and OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high quality services to OCS grantees.
/s/
Lauren Christopher
Director, Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
Files
- PDF comm_liheap_at03carryoverreallot_fy2020.pdf (618.21 KB)
- PDF comm_liheap_at03carryoverreallotattainstrs_fy2020.pdf (345.36 KB)