State Assistive Technology Act Program

COVID-19 Emergency Response

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can State/Territory AT Programs purchase additional supplies and equipment 

needed to respond to the current emergency situation? 

Yes. State and Territory Assistive Technology Programs funded under Section 

4 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended (AT Act of 2004) are 

able to reallocate funds for the state-level and state leadership activities 

conducted under Section 4 to utilize them as needed to support reconfigured 

Section 4 activities in response to the emergency situation. As a formula 

funded program, Section 4 grantees do not need federal approval to modify 

budget allocations for grant award funding. Items that might need to be 

purchased due to the emergency situation include sanitization/sterilization

supplies, additional AT device inventory, telework and teleservice related 

equipment and services, etc. If Section 4 funds are reallocated or redirected 

for emergency situations, appropriate records and cost documentation must 

be maintained in case of a review or an audit. 

2. Can all Section 4 activities be provided remotely? 

Most Section 4 activities can be provided remotely. There may be some 

services that do require direct recipient or participant contact and decisions 

should be made at a local level about how to handle those unique situations

consistent with public health guidance and social distancing initiatives. 

3. Can data be reported in the APR when activities are conducted remotely? 

Yes. Many Section 4 activities can be effectively provided remotely including 

training, technical assistance, awareness, state financing activities, drop-ship 

of short-term device loans or refurbished devices and even device 

demonstrations. Creativity is encouraged to adapt activities to remote 

delivery mechanisms during this emergency to continue service provision and 

report activities in the Annual Performance Report (APR).

4. Can State/Territory AT Programs revise contracts/agreements with partners to 

reconfigure or suspend their activities and continue paying them with Section 4 

dollars? 

Yes. Grantees are encouraged to adapt their State/Territory AT program to 

continue the provision of services through the COVID-19 response. Grantees 
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are encouraged to revise agreements with partners to continue to provide 

reconfigured services to the maximum extent possible and to continue to 

flow Section 4 dollars to partners to mitigate the negative economic impact 

of the current emergency situation. Grantees will need to work with internal 

fiscal, contracting, and accounting offices of their administrative home (state 

agency, university, etc.) to revise agreements and continue payments to 

partners for reconfigured deliverables. (See CATADA Data Brief #11 Data 

Considerations in Emergency Situations for more detailed information.)

Federal approval of contract revisions is not required.

5. What do reconfigured Section 4 activities typically include? 

To some extent this depends on the structure of the particular AT Program as 

centralized or decentralized. Most all programs have moved staff to remote 

work settings, revised staff responsibilities from direct client contact to 

remote client service and/or other supportive activities like doing remote 

follow-up with consumers, remote tracking of devices out on loan and 

extending loan periods or implementing revised mechanisms for device 

return, developing written materials to support program operation, revising 

sanitization protocols to use when strict isolation is no longer needed, etc. 

Converting to remote services can be a challenge in a decentralized structure 

where the State/Territory AT Program does not have direct control over the 

staff and working environment of partners. In some cases, specific 

equipment will need to be purchased to enable remote work/service, e.g. 

computers, expanded internet access, internet boosters, etc. Grantees are 

encouraged to be flexible in using Section 4 dollars to support reconfigured 

services and these unique expenditure needs. 

6. Can the liquidation period for Section 4 grants be extended if necessary due to 

an emergency situation?

Yes. On a case-by-case basis, liquidation extensions can be granted to help a 

grantee fully liquidate funds that were obligated by the end date but could 

not be liquidated (e.g. dollars were obligated for a device purchased but 

could not be liquidated due to supply chain disruption or similar). Hopefully 

the timing of the current COVID-19 emergency is far enough away from the 

end of the federal fiscal year to provide grantees with an opportunity to 

reallocate dollars in an attempt to fully obligate FY 2019 award funding by 

September 30, 2020 and fully liquidate by December 31, 2020. 

7. Can demonstrations be conducted without the participant having hands-on 

access to the device to be explored? 

Yes, so long as the device can actually be explored to enable decision-making 

without hands-on access. Otherwise the event would likely be a training or 

awareness event instead. The Annual Performance Report (APR) instructions 

indicate that “If a demonstration is to be conducted without the participant 

having direct (hands-on) access to the devices to be demonstrated, the 
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interaction must be structured to ensure the device can be adequately 

explored to enable decision-making.” 

8. How can State/Territory AT Programs report short-term device loans where 

devices are never returned, due to widespread closures of schools and other 

borrower agencies? 

When a decision is made that a device will never be retrieved from a 

borrower, the grantee should close that loan and report it in the APR with the 

data that is available which should be everything but performance measure 

and satisfaction rating which will be reported as non-respondent. All the 

other data will be available on the front-end of making the loan and is not 

conditioned on the device being returned or gathering additional information 

from the borrower.

Please remember that all decisions about the length of time a device is out 

for short-term loan are made by grantee internal policies and not dictated by 

the Annual Performance Report (APR). (See CATADA Data Brief #2 ShortTerm vs. Open-Ended Loans for more detailed information.)

9. Should State/Territory AT Programs be concerned that numbers decrease in the 

FY 2020 Annual Progress Report (APR) because of service suspension or 

reconfiguration during the COVID-19 emergency? 

No. State/Territory AT Programs are encouraged to adapt their programs to 

be responsive to the AT needs of those in the community. There are no 

targets that must be met by an individual grantee in their APR either in 

volume of numbers reported by activity nor in percentages computed for 

performance measures and satisfaction. Data decreases are routinely seen in 

emergency situations (e.g. prior hurricane, flood and similar natural disaster 

events). Grantees who do have significant decreases usually provide a short, 

succinct description of the reason for the decrease in the notes section for 

that activity. An emergency situation is not the time to be concerned about 

“output numbers” or “bean-counting”. The focus should be on mitigating the 

negative impact of the emergency to the maximum extent possible. Grantees 

who have minimum output requirements or other similar metric targets for 

contractors/partners will need to consider revision of those due to the current 

emergency (see Questions 4 and 5 for more discussion of revising 

agreements with contractors/partners.) 

10. Do State/Territory AT Programs need to update their State Plan for AT if 

services are suspended or reconfigured in the COVID-19 emergency? 

No. The State Plan for AT is a high-level, three-year plan that describes the 

typical structure used to conduct Section 4 activities. It does not need to 

include or be updated to describe operational changes in an emergency 
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situation. Since the State Plan for AT for 2018-2020 is currently being 

submitted if a grantee chooses to include some description of reconfigured 

services that is acceptable, but it is not required. 

11. With the evolving COVID-19 situation, what is the best way to explore effective

practices and procedures of other State and Territory AT Programs in order to

continue to provide state-level and state leadership activities?

The AT3 Center is continuing to scan challenges posed and solutions

implemented by states and territories to meet the needs of individuals with 

disabilities and older adults through virtual or other measures. They will 

update the AT3 Center website on an ongoing basis with contact 

information and resources to assist State/Territory AT Programs. That site 

can be accessed at: https://www.at3center.net/home. 

Last updated March 24, 2020