LIHEAP AT 2012-2 Grantee Survey FY 2011

Publication Date: November 30, 2011
Current as of:
Transmittal No.  LIHEAP-AT-2012-02

Date:  November 30, 2011
TO:

LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) STATE GRANTEES
SUBJECT:

LIHEAP Grantee Survey for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2011

RELATED REFERENCES:

Section 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-35, as amended; ACF Annual Grantee Survey of the LIHEAP Program, as approved by OMB (OMB Control No. 0970-0076; Expiration Date — April 30, 2014; LIHEAP Action Transmittal (AT) 11-6, dated July 25, 2011.

PURPOSE:

Section 2610(b) of the LIHEAP statute requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to submit, no later than June 30 of each fiscal year, a report to Congress on LIHEAP for the prior fiscal year.  As part of our preparing the LIHEAP Report to Congress for FFY 2011, we are requiring State LIHEAP grantees to complete the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY 2011.

The completeness, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of responses to the Survey are very important in:

  • submitting credible fiscal data to Congress in the Department’s LIHEAP Report to Congress for FFY 2011;
  • responding to questions from the Congress, Department, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), White House, and other interested parties in a timely manner; and
  • reporting LIHEAP performance results for the Administration’s annual Congressional Justification.

Please e-mail your State's completed Survey to Leon Litow by December 15, 2011.  This is the same date that final data are due to Chad Sawyer for your State’s LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2011. 

The types of LIHEAP assistance indicated on the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FY 2011 need to correspond to the types of LIHEAP assistance for those household counts included in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2011,unless noted otherwise in your State’s grantee survey or household report.

BACKGROUND:

The Survey collects data on sources and uses of funds, average benefits, and maximum income cutoff for 4-person households for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided by your State for FFY 2011 (the period of October 1, 2010 - September 30, 2011).

Content:

 

This Survey is being conducted electronically.  Within the next day or so you will be sent your State’s Survey by e-mail.  Attached are the Survey instructions.  Please review carefully the attached instructions concerning page protection, additional notes, and pre-printed information.  Also attached is a sample of the Survey Edit Checks.

Please contact Leon Litow by Monday, December 5, if you did not receiveyour State’s grantee survey in an Excel workbook.

Reporting Issues

We described reporting issues that affect the data quality of the LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2011.  Similarly, the following reporting issues can affect the quality and timeliness of the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FY 2011, including:

  • Submitting the LIHEAP Household Report after the December 15 deadline without first consulting with our office;
  • Not understanding the report instructions and, where necessary, failing to contact Leon Litow to clarify the instructions;
  • Failure to follow up/communicate with our office per agreed upon dates;
  • Failure to round off to the nearest dollar, resulting in one or more errors in the Edit Check tab;
  • Not utilizing edit checks; and
  • Inconsistencies in the types of LIHEAP assistance reported on a State’s household report and grantee survey.

In the past, we delayed completion of the annual LIHEAP Report to Congress to obtain or correct State-reported data.  We cannot continue to delay completing the state data sections of the report.  We need the States’ assistance in reducing and eliminating reporting delays and data errors.  A number of delays and errors can be avoided if clarification of the data is included in the notes sections of the report.  Notes should also be used to explain why there may be missing or incomplete data.

We will send you an e-mail to request corrective action when your grantee survey’s data are missing, late, or incorrect.  If possible, we want to avoid indicating in the annual LIHEAP Report to Congress that a State’s fiscal data are inaccurate, estimated, unavailable, or untimely.  Therefore, it is critical that grantees review and understand the attached detailed instructions in correctly completing your State’s grantee survey.
As noted above, please contact Leon Litow to provide feedback if anything in the reporting instructions is unclear.  Understanding the reporting instructions will minimize our need to contact you for clarification or correction of your State’s reported data, saving both our agencies time and effort.  This also will enhance our timeliness in compiling, editing, and reporting the data.  At the same time, we will continue to work with States that seek help in a timely manner in completing their LIHEAP Grantee Survey.

Important Points

  • “Uses of Funds” represent a State’s obligation of LIHEAP funds, not expenditure of LIHEAP funds.  In some cases, obligated block grant funds are not actually expended until after the end of the FFY.
  • Do not change the format of your State’s grantee survey without first contacting Leon Litow.
  • Report unobligated funds as carryover.
  • Use the annual or annualized income cutoff for a 4-person household in effect on October 1, 2010 for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided in FY 2011.
  • Round numbers to the nearest dollar as noted above.
  • Exclude Department of Energy funds in response to the LIHEAP weatherization assistance in Section III, A. 4.
  • Review the Edit Checks for errors to be corrected.

Unless we hear from you otherwise, we expect to receive electronically your State’s completed Survey by December 15, 2011.  Please e-mail the Survey to Leon Litow at the email address below.

INQUIRIES TO:

FOR LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY 2011

Leon Litow, Lead Program Analyst
Division of Energy Assistance, OCS

Telephone:  (202) 401-5304
E-mail:  llitow@acf.hhs.gov

FOR LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2011

Chad Sawyer, Program Analyst
Division of Energy Assistance, OCS

Washington, D.C.  20447
Telephone:  (202) 260-0277
E-mail:  chad.sawyer@acf.hhs.gov
ATTACHMENTS:

(1) Instructions for the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY2011
(2) Sample of LIHEAP Grantee's Survey Edit Check