American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Grants awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are required to report quarterly as a condition of the receipt of funds, as described in Section 1512 of the Act. Agencies which received a notice of grant award within the last quarter are required to submit an ARRA report, whether or not they have expended grant funds. Grantees are required to report separately for each ARRA grant they have received.

Table of contents:

Next ARRA reporting period

The ARRA 1512 reporting is required quarterly. Please refer to FederalReporting.gov each quarter for specific information.

Descriptive Fields

The HHS Office of Recovery Act Coordination (ORAC) is emphasizing use of the Award Description and Project Description fields to explain how ARRA tax dollars are being spent. The descriptive fields should provide sufficient information to explain the need and use of ARRA funds for an audience unfamiliar with Head Start. Please use complete sentences and explain all abbreviations and acronyms. OHS will request that narrative fields be revised if they are not sufficiently informative.

Award Descriptions: Please include the award title and description with the purpose for each funding action. Use at least 25 words to capture the overall purpose of the award and sufficient description to define the need for the award of each funding action.

OHS suggests including: 1. Name of Project; 2. number of children to be served; 3. Program options offered; 4. Cities or counties served; 5. Purpose of the Head Start or Early Head Start program as follows:

Head Start promotes the school readiness of low-income children through the provision of comprehensive health, developmental and family services.

The Early Head Start program provides family-centered services for low-income families with very young children (pre-birth to 3) to promote the healthy development of the children and families.

EXAMPLE:

This award provides for ARRA Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and Quality Improvement Funding consistent with the provisions of Section 640(a)(5) of the Head Start Act for the Head Start and/or Early Head Start program. Head Start promotes the school readiness of low-income children through the provision of comprehensive health, developmental and family services.

This award provides for ARRA Early Head Start Expansion funded to serve 45 children. The Early Head Start program provides family-centered services for low-income families with very young children (pre-birth to 3) to promote the healthy development of the children and families. Our program options include home based services and family child care services appropriate for the needs of our population.

Project Description/Quarterly Activities: Please use at least 100 words to describe the overall purpose and expected outputs and outcomes or results of the award and first-tier sub-award(s), including significant deliverables, status and if appropriate, units of measure.

OHS suggests including: 1. Expected results of the Head Start or Early Head Start program; 2. Description and status of significant deliverables.

EXAMPLE:

Provided social, educational, health care and child care services to low-income pregnant mothers and families with children age birth to three. Staff made weekly home visits and also conducted socializations at the centers. Activities were planned together with families to foster each child's development, increase family literacy, and promote healthy parent-child relationships. Parenting support and education was provided and staff received training. Assisted expectant families in preparing for their new baby. Assisted parents with transitioning their children into Head Start or other preschool programs. Families were linked to community resources such as food, clothing, housing, child care, employment, English classes, health care and mental health counseling. Specific results and benefits expected are: 1) children, families and pregnant women are healthier, 2) basic child development improves, 3) families become more self-sufficient, and 4) expectant mothers experience healthier pregnancies. (adapted from actual Project Description)."

Reporting Number of Jobs

Grantees report all jobs funded directly by ARRA in the past quarter, calculating the FTE by the number of hours worked.

Grantees report FTE estimates of jobs created or retained, including contracts to vendors.

The "Number of Jobs" reported are based on the current reporting quarter, while data related to funds invoiced and expended are reported cumulatively.

Grantees do not report any Jobs due to COLA funds or for which funds have not yet been expended.

Final Reports

A Final Report may be filed when all ARRA funds associated with the award have been expended, all ARRA funds associated with the award have been invoiced and received, no additional jobs will be created or retained, and the project status is "Fully Complete" (marked as "4").

When the record is correctly marked as final, the recipient is relieved of reporting requirements for subsequent quarters, barring any errors that would need to be corrected. OHS will instruct the recipient to correct reports where recipients indicate a final report but the project status is not complete or all funds have not yet been received and invoiced.

Aside from ARRA 1512 reporting, recipients are required to submit a final financial report (SF-269) to the Office of Grants Management per the terms and conditions of the grant award. A property inventory is also required to close out the grant.

Award Amount

All the funds received for a particular ARRA award should be reported as a single lump sum, including the original award, the year two continuation award, and any TTA or supplemental funds.

Copy Forward Function

Grantees are advised to use the "Copy Forward" feature on FederalReporting.gov for the January reporting period. "Copy forward" creates a copy of the report submitted for a grant in the previous quarter.

Grantees must review every reporting field to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date information.

If a grant report was submitted in the previous quarter and the copy forward recommendation is not given, check that the primary report keys are correct. Instructions on how to use the Copy Forward function in Chapter 10 of the User Guide found in the Download section of FederalReporting.gov.

Reporting Process

FederalReporting.gov is the centralized reporting portal for the Recovery Act. Detailed information on the ARRA 1512 report submission process can be found in the download section of FederalReporting.gov, including webinars and a User Guide. Technical assistance in submitting the report is available by phone, email or chat from the FederalReporting.gov Service Desk.

Registration of each grantee agency and grant on Federalreporting. is required prior to reporting period. It is required that each agency create an account as soon as possible, but not later than September 30, 2010, to assure readiness for timely reporting.

When a grantee's CCR Registration is expired or otherwise not up to date the grantee will not able to submit a report in FederalReporting.gov. Grantees can re-register at https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx if their CCR Registration has expired, or if their DUNS or IRS information has changed in the last quarter.

CCR registrations and DUNS changes take approximately 48 hours to propagate to FederalReporting.gov.

Confirmation of Submission will be given when a grantee has successfully submitted a report on FederalReporting.gov. The following message is provided:

Report Submitted Successfully
Your report has been received for processing. Once we have validated your report information, you will receive an email with information about any corrections you need to make.

If the "Report Submitted Successfully" screen does not appear, grantees should check to be sure that they have submitted and did not save the report as a draft instead.

Failure to Report

"Recipients who have failed to submit a Section 1512 report as required by the terms of their award are considered to be non-compliant. Non-compliant recipients, including those who are persistently late or negligent in their reporting obligations, are subject to Federal action, up to and including the termination of Federal funding or the ability to receive Federal funds in the future." OMB Guidance M-10-08

HS and EHS Expansion Awards

• Head Start Expansion Awards under ARRA and 2009 Appropriations
• Early Head Start Expansion Awards under ARRA

Report Fraud

Each recipient or sub-recipient awarded funds made available under the ARRA shall promptly refer to the HHS Office of Inspector General any credible evidence that a principal, employee, agent, contractor, sub-recipient, subcontractor, or other person has submitted a false claim under the False Claims Act or has committed a criminal or civil violation of laws pertaining to fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, gratuity, or similar misconduct involving those funds. All HHS and contractor employees have a responsibility to assist in combating fraud, waste and abuse in all departmental programs. As such you are encouraged to report matters involving fraud, waste and mismanagement in any departmental program(s) to OIG. To assist you, OIG maintains a hotline which offers a confidential means for reporting vital information.

The HHS Office of Inspector General can be reached at oig.hhs.gov/fraud/hotline

Whistleblower Protections under the Recovery Act

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, P.L. 111-5, provides explicit protections for certain individuals who make specified disclosures relating to funds covered by the Act in Division A, Title XV, section 1553, Protecting State and Local Government and Contractor Whistleblowers.

Read about these protections here.

Resources

• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
• Recovery.gov
• OMB Recovery Act Reporting guidance

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). HHS/ACF/OHS. 2010. English.