Contact Us | Site Map | Careers at OJP | OJP Home

Part II - Chapter 2: Conditions of Award and Acceptance

HIGHLIGHTS OF CHAPTER

• Award Document
• Award Notification and Acceptance Procedures
• Special Conditions
• Federal Obligation Process
• Automated Clearing House Enrollment

AWARD DOCUMENT

After completion of the internal review process, the applications designated for approval are formally awarded through the issuance of an award. This document includes:

• Name of recipient;
• Project/Budget Period;
• Grant or Cooperative Agreement;
• Amount of Federal funds;
• Vendor number;
• Award number (also known as grant number); and
• Special conditions, as appropriate, that the recipient must meet if the award is accepted.

Correspondence concerning the award should refer to the designated award number shown on the award document.

AWARD NOTIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE PROCEDURES

Notification of award approval is sent by e-mail. The individuals identified in the application as the Point of Contact and the Authorizing Official will receive an e-mail through the OJP Grants Management System (GMS). GMS automatically issues the notifications at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the award date. The notification provides information on how to access and view the award documents in GMS and provides instruction on how to accept the award.

The award document constitutes the operative document obligating and reserving Federal funds for use by the recipient in execution of the program or project covered by the award. Award recipient must formally accept the award. If the recipients fail to affirm their timely utilization of the award by accepting WITHIN 45 DAYS from the date of the award, the obligation may be terminated without further cause. Community Orientated Policing Services (COPS) awards have a 90-day acceptance timeframe.

To accept the award, the recipients must go into the GMS system and designate a Financial Point of Contact (FPOC). The FPOC will be responsible for the financial administration of the award. The FPOC may be the same as the Program Point of Contact (PPOC), or may be one or more separate individuals designated by the recipient. The designation of the FPOC must be completed in the GMS system before the award acceptance documents can be printed. Once the FPOC has been designated, grant recipients should:

1. Print and read the award document carefully.
2. Have the award document signed and dated by the Authorized Recipient Official designated in the application to indicate full acceptance of all terms, and conditions. The name of this person is preprinted on the award document. An electronic signature will not be accepted.
   
   NOTE: If the name of the person accepting the award is not the name preprinted on the award document, a grant adjustment notice (GAN) must be submitted by the grant recipient to explain the reason for the change. The award acceptance document will be REJECTED if it is signed by anyone other than the Authorizing Official named on the award document unless a GAN has been approved.
3. The Authorized Official should also initial the bottom right corner of each page of the special conditions to signify agreement.
4. The signed award document and the special conditions should be submitted to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Control Desk, using any of the following methods:
   
   
   • by e-mail to [email protected];
   • by FAX to (toll free) 1-866-388-3055;
   • by FAX to (local Washington, DC) 202-354-4081;
   • by alternate FAX to 202-353-8475.
   Select only one of these submission options to avoid duplicate submissions. The original signed award document should be retained by the award recipient in their official file for the award.

NOTE: By signing the award acceptance, the recipient acknowledges that the Project Director must be an employee of the recipient's organization.

If a grant recipient does not accept the award and all the terms and special conditions, they should contact their OJP Program Manager to determine if modifications are needed, or if the award should be closed and funds deobligated. No Federal funds will be disbursed to the recipient until the signed acceptance and special conditions have been received by the awarding agency.

Questions concerning award notification and/or acceptance may be directed to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Customer Service Branch, at 1-800-458-0786. (Select option #2)

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

These are incorporated as terms and conditions of the award. They may include special provisions for additional submissions, audit, conferences, and disposition of program income.

1. All awards will include special conditions concerning: (a) compliance with this Guide; (b) the submission of an Equal Employment Opportunity Plan if required; (c) compliance with the audit requirements; and (d) compliance with the Anti-Lobbying Act (page 123 part III, Chapter 16, #8); and (e) comply with the False Claims Act or committing fraud with grant funds. Failure to comply with special conditions will result in withholding of funds.
   
   Also, the recipient, upon accepting the award, agrees to complete and keep on file, as appropriate, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Eligibility Verification form (I-9). This form is to be used by recipients of Federal funds to verify that persons are eligible to work in the United States.
2. Commercial Award recipients receiving grant funding from OJP should be aware of the additional special conditions placed on these awards. In addition to the (5) special conditions referenced in the "All Awards" section, commercial organizations must agree not to make a profit as a result of an award and not to charge a management fee for the performance of an award. Also, commercial organizations must agree to comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulations cost principles.
3. Information Technology (IT) Award recipients are prohibited from drawing funds against the award until the recipient notifies the State IT Point of Contact of the IT project by written correspondence. This correspondence should include a brief description of the project. A copy of the correspondence should be sent to the grant manager. Once the copy has been received, the grant manager will retire this condition and inform the recipient of this action. If there is no State IT Point of Contact, the recipient agrees to submit a letter to the grant manager stating that this condition is not applicable for that reason. The intent of this condition is to facilitate information system communication. This condition does not require that the point of contact concur with or approve the IT project.
4. Cooperative Agreement Award recipients who hold or sponsor a conference, meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, training activity, or similar event funded under a cooperative agreement, and the total cost of any one event exceeds $20,000 in award funds, must report the following information through the GMS Event Planning and Reporting Link within 45 days after the end of the event: 1) name of event; 2) event dates; 3) location of event; 4) number of Federal attendees; 5) number of non-Federal attendees; 6) cost of event space, including rooms for break-out sessions; 7) cost of audio visual services; 8) other equipment costs (e.g., computer fees, telephone fees, etc.); 9) cost of printing and distribution; 10) cost of meals provided during the event; 11) cost of refreshments provided during the event; 12) cost of event planner; 13) cost of event facilitators; and 14) any other costs associated with the event.
   
   Additionally, the recipient must itemize and report the following costs, which are paid for or reimbursed with cooperative agreement funds, for any attendee (including participants, presenters, and speakers): 1) meals and incidental expenses (M&IE portion of per diem); 2) lodging; 3) transportation to/from event location (e.g., common carrier, privately owned vehicle (POV)); and 4) local transportation (e.g., rental car, POV) at event location.
   
   NOTE: Items paid for with registration fees, or other nonaward funding, do not need to be reported for these purposes.
5. Cancellation for Block and Formula Subawards. The State must condition each block and formula subaward to include the following cancellation procedures:
   
   
   1. Commencement Within 60 Days. If a project is not operational within 60 days of the original start date of the award period, the subrecipient must report by letter to the State the steps taken to initiate the project, the reasons for delay, and the expected revised start date.
   2. Operational Within 90 Days. If a project is not operational within 90 days of the original start date of the award period, the subrecipient must submit a second statement to the State explaining the implementation delay. Upon receipt of the 90-day letter, the State may cancel the project and request Federal agency approval to redistribute the funds to other project areas. The State may also, where extenuating circumstances warrant, extend the implementation date of the project past the 90-day period. When this occurs, the appropriate subaward files and records must note the extension.

FEDERAL OBLIGATION PROCESS

After an award has been signed by the Federal awarding agency, the amount of the award is considered an obligation of the Federal government and is recorded as such in its accounting system. Appropriated funds are thereby reserved against the award until all monies are expended by the recipient and subrecipient or, in the case of nonutilization of funds within statutory or other time limits, appropriated funds would revert to the awarding agency through deobligation of the unused balance.

On the award date, the recipient of the award is notified of award approval and obligation. Upon award acceptance, in order for a recipient to receive payment of funds obligated in OJP's accounting system, they must be in compliance with award conditions enumerated in the award document. In addition, they must be in compliance with all reporting requirements. All grantees are required to submit Financial Status Reports (SF-269A) for each grant on a quarterly basis for the life of the grant. Progress Reports are also required for discretionary grants, on a semi-annual basis. Funds will not be disbursed if reports are delinquent.

NOTE: If the award date is after the begin date of the award, the first SF-269A submitted to OJP should cover the period from the begin date of the grant period to the end of the calendar quarter in which the award was made.

AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE ENROLLMENT

The ACH Vendor/Miscellaneous Enrollment Form provides OJP with banking information used to establish electronic funds transfer. Recipients are required to submit the completed ACH form which must bear the original signature of the authorized official of the recipient's financial institution. The ACH form may be found in Appendix I of this Guide, or you may download it from https://ojp.gov/funding/forms.htm under "Standard Forms."

If the grant recipient has an active award, you do not have to submit a new ACH form for each new grant. However, if you would like to revise your current banking information, a new ACH form must be submitted.

The original signed ACH document must be submitted to the Office of Justice Programs, Control Desk at 810 Seventh Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531. The ACH information is used by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to transmit payment data, by electronic means, to the recipient's financial institution. Failure to provide the requested information will delay or prevent the receipt of payments.

Back to Financial Guide