A level and competitive playing field should exist for all service contracts, especially when a local jurisdiction creates a market for private vendors by prompting a demand. Come with your questions and share your experiences and insights with colleagues across the State. BenfordsLaw is best applied to large data sets (at least several hundred records) of naturallyoccuringnumbers with some connection, such as population data, income tax data or scientific data. WebThey are awarded in accordance with the following requirements: ( i) Requests for proposals must be publicized and identify all evaluation factors and their relative importance. Now is the time for school districts and municipalities across the Commonwealth to develop bid documents that are tailored to address the additional compliance requirements Two significant areas that did not change are the applicability of Uniform Grant Guidance to ARPA funds and the federal audit requirements over these funds. Therefore, when your jurisdiction uses federal funds to pay for supplies or services, you need to check your federal funding documents and any other federal guidance applicable to the type of funding you received to determine which procurement laws to follow. Are you missing any data that would help you monitor utilization? However, the audit team should be careful not to become too friendly with their auditees. 200.319-320 (describing the competitive processes required for procurements made with federal funds). Thank you for your website feedback! Federal regulations require a local jurisdiction to apply state and local procurement laws for federally funded procurements, provided that the procurements also conform to federal law and regulations. Each recipient should review program requirements, including Treasurys final rule and the recipients Award Terms and Conditions, to determine and record eligible uses of SLFRF funds. As indicated above, there may be ways to strategically spend the ARP/CSLFRF to minimize (but not eliminate) a local governments UG burden. First, your organization must clearly identify to the subrecipient: (1) that the award is a subaward of SLFRF funds; (2) any and all compliance requirements for use of SLFRF funds; and (3) any and all reporting requirements for expenditures of SLFRF funds. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the official website. Some page levels are currently hidden. Yes. Chapel Hill, NC27599-3330 Additional controls that your organization should implement include written policies that explicitly identify appropriate allocation methods, accounting standards and principles, compliance monitoring checks for program income calculations, and records. If you determine a need for data that does notal readyexist, you can also create data. You can transform information from historical and external sources into usable data, and you can create new data. SLFRF funds beyond those that are available under the revenue loss eligible use category may not be used to meet the non-federal match or cost-share requirements of other federal programs, other than as specifically provided for by statute. When evaluating vendor invoices, jurisdictions may determine that some expenses require further review. Purchases made from a vendor pursuant to a General Services Administration federal supply schedule, available for use by governmental bodies, comply with the requirements of Chapter 30B. This information is invaluable to managers. Generally, Chapter 30B applies even when a local jurisdiction uses federal funds to pay for supplies or services. c. 30B, (1)(b)(9). We hope that this article, along with the other articles in our series on data analytics, helps you feel more confident in your ability to collect and analyze data. For example, a municipality may have an existing contract for providing workforce development services that they wish to use starting July 1, 2021, but the contract expired in March 2021. Past performance: for example, businesses previously on state or federal suspension or debarment lists may pose a greater risk of noncompliance or poor performance. Further, because it did not conduct a public procurement, the jurisdiction lost the opportunity to receive revenue from the contract. Per 2 CFR Part 200.303, your organization must develop and implement effective internal controls to ensure that funding decisions under the SLFRF award constitute eligible uses of funds, and document determinations. Such individuals and organizations are beneficiaries and not subject to audit pursuant to the Single Audit Act and 2 C.F.R. For example, a roadway repair and maintenance contract should not include unrelated supplies or services, such as classroom IT equipment or roadway paving in a location not specified in the contract. WebStates are required to follow their own procurement procedures as well as the Federal requirements for procurement of recovered materials and inclusion of required contract provisions per 2 C.F.R. Mass.gov is a registered service mark of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. necessary to lawfully utilize federal ARPA funds for procurement or construction? If you need assistance, please contact the Office of the Inspector General. Federal procurement laws and regulations typically require that you use a fair, open and competitive process, even though price thresholds, advertising requirements and contract award language may differ from the requirements of Chapter 30B. Remember to consider whether your data gives you enough information to help you make decisions. https://canons.sog.unc.edu/2022/03/american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021-sample-uniform-guidance-policies-and-implementation-tools/. To promote appropriate and effective use of ARPA funds, jurisdictions should: Jurisdictionsshould also develop evidence-based methods of measuring performance and project goals to make sure that grantees meet those expectations. Benfords Law analysis: this analysis may highlight a vendor with billing discrepancies that warrant further review. Thank you for your website feedback! All public organizations rely on vendors to provide the supplies and services needed to operate effectively and efficiently. Now is the time for school districts and municipalities across the Commonwealth to develop bid documents that are tailored to address the additional compliance requirements 2 CFR Part 25 (Universal Identifier & System for Award Management) 179 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<598620AB2247954EBE922AD03988F6D9>]/Index[165 31]/Info 164 0 R/Length 86/Prev 341858/Root 166 0 R/Size 196/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Pertinent documents may include invoices, payment information, purchase orders, requisitions, general ledgers, cash disbursements, check registrars, transactional data histories and contract bid documents. Two signature programs of the ARPA are the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (SFRF) and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (LFRF). This includes receipts or invoices from vendors or subcontractors that provided supplies or labor. 128, 40064-40068. We will use this information to improve this page. It also will identify grey areas that may require further legal scrutiny before finalizing expenditure decisions. For this program, the city of Scranton has elected to award . You must ensure that the vendors you are doing business with are legitimate and responsible. All documentation must be maintained for at least 5 years from the end of the award term. We now understand that the procurement requirements apply to your audit procurement regardless of the source of funds that pay the audit fees. To promote accountability, ARPA includes requirements for the administration, monitoring and reporting of funds. 117- 2 (March 11, 2021). Quality of contracts and documents: identify vendors with poorly written contracts or payment documents. The right person to review an invoice depends on the type of contract, including its size and complexity. State Government websites value user privacy. If you need assistance, please contact the Office of the Inspector General. Proposals must be solicited from an adequate number of qualified offerors. We use data every day without realizing it. A good way to start is by identifying data that would help you do your job. Recipients of SLFRF funds should calculate, document, and record the organizations program income. This scope is different than what is included in the current contract and may be considered noncompetitive. endstream endobj 166 0 obj <> endobj 167 0 obj <> endobj 168 0 obj <>stream Municipalities may explore utilizing existing MOUs or MOAs, or establishing new MOUs or MOAs, with non-profits and public entities to provide additional services utilizing existing MOUs or MOAs, or establishing new MOUs or MOAs, with non-profits or public entities to provide additional services utilizing ARP funding. We also will be holding at least two courses this spring: April 4, 2022: Basics of ARP/CSLFRF and UG for Local Government Attorneys and Grant Managers. This course is targeted to finance and management staff of smaller and mid-sized units that will be taking the standard allowance and spending most, if not all, of their ARP/CSLFRF as revenue replacement. Finally, in addition to my colleagues Rebecca Badgett, who drafted some of the above UG policies, and Connor Crews, who is working on procurement and conflict of interest policies, we want to thank our two amazing research assistants, Tiffany Oliva and Abby Gostling, who drafted several of our templates and other tools. The vendor deducted the administrative fee from the monthly payment it made to the housing authority even though this was not part of the contract between the housing authority and the vendor. We will update the policy if/when we receive more guidance from US Treasury. BenfordsLaw is a mathematical observation about the frequency distribution of the first digits within a set of naturally occurring numbers. Direct costs are those that are identified specifically as costs of implementing the SLFRF program objectives, such as contract support, materials, and supplies for a project. Historical data regarding the use of a supply or service can help procurement teams project future procurement needs and build a more effective and accurate budget. Program Income. Indirect costs are general overhead costs of an organization where a portion of such costs are allocable to the SLFRF award such as the cost of facilities or administrative functions like a directors office. The majority of these goods and services are purchased using the Uniform Procurement Act, M.G.L. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Suspension Immediate Need A temporary measure; there is a twelve month limit Usually used pending the completion of investigation or legal proceedings Based upon adequate evidence, usually an indictment Debarment Usually three years in length We also plan to give an overview of some of these techniques in the next article on data in an upcoming edition of the OIG Bulletin. Any acquisition and maintenance of equipment or real property must also be in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. Confirm that an invoice for labor accurately reflects the time that the vendor or its employees worked. 11246. S.aR8.:h;"S=uV#7SS:]=i++_u}~}_y_yR,_+#$AqYoX%F"YC CV8OEG?+7yOet~f4e&xfqgP*1:bWn5lu-J;[:gqG5SfJ Qbu8CZq|+gBjUC5.P06. 5=;I?s=pCOsV+k 4^ "6!p ~|: 1 GW%kO &)1dwO1(SEQqm2(Rh !3I`eUb&. 2 CFR 200.320(c). Fraud, waste and abuse can occur even when comprehensive contracts are in place. Each of the considerations above, as well as operation and maintenance Generally, program income includes, but is not limited to, income from fees for services performed, the use or rental of real or personal property acquired under Federal awards, and principal and interest on loans made with Federal award funds. Impaired independence can hinder an auditors professional judgment or create the appearance that his professional judgment has been compromised. Web Must have documented procurement actions using strategic sourcing, shared services, and other similar procurement arrangements to support competition. For that reason it is not included in the Drop-in document. Jurisdictions must remain vigilant in reviewing vendor documents to ensure that they get what they need and that public funds are properly expended. SLFRF funds transferred to subrecipients are also subject to reporting and Uniform Guidance requirements. The American Rescue Plan will deliver $350 billion for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments to respond to the COVID-19 emergency and bring back jobs.. People have varying levels of comfort and expertise in using data, and these articles are designed to assist beginners and experts alike. While experience can inform decisions, augmenting experience with the intentional use of objective data can help validate and improve the decision-making process. Publishing and documenting clear standards in procurement solicitations and evaluation criteria on how a municipality will determine a responsive and responsible. 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