**Record Overview-20240119_182954-Meeting Recording**

0:02Hello and welcome to the Office of Monitoring Webinar that will provide an overview of the monitoring process.

0:08This session is designed for representatives from organizations who have been selected for monitoring for the FY24 monitoring.

0:16The webinar is being recorded, so please know that you will be able to return to it as a reference in the future.

0:26First, let's begin with introductions from our team.

0:29I will start by introducing myself and will then ask my colleague to do the same.

0:35I am Marshita Boynton and I am a senior monitoring officer with AmeriCorps Office of Monitoring.

0:41Kathy, thanks, Marshita.

0:44My name is Kathy Thompson and I'm also a senior monitoring officer with the Office of Monitoring.

0:50Thank you.

0:52Thanks, Kathy.

0:53So here's our agenda for the day.

0:55We will first go through the agency's objectives for monitoring activities.

0:59We'll then move into the process itself by providing an overview of the monitoring life cycle start to finish.

1:05And after that, we will discuss the next steps in the process in greater detail.

1:10We will provide an overview of using the Secure Folders, which is our document management system that we will use throughout the process.

1:18Towards the end, we will show you where you can access support and resources throughout the monitoring cycle.

1:25If you have questions, feel free to e-mail monitoring@americorps.com.

1:36First, let's discuss the agency's objectives for our offices monitoring activities.

1:41So here is the why behind monitoring.

1:44As a quick reminder, the Office of Monitoring is only a few years old.

1:49It was born out of the transformation and sustainability plan, which separated out monitoring activities from the rest of our grants management activities.

1:58Agency wide monitoring is a regulatory requirement and every grantee should expect to be monitored at some point.

2:05The goals of monitoring are to a assess compliance with all requirements, statutory regulatory and agency policy, B Collect data from across the agency on strengths in areas for growth, C continuously improve agencies monitoring procedures based on monitoring activities and results, and D ensure agency compliance with federal regulations.

2:34Continuing along with our objectives, I want to spend some time discussing what monitoring is and isn't So what monitoring is.

2:42It is routine.

2:44It's targeted, required by regulations.

2:47It's used to inform training and technical assistance offered by the agency and also applied to the Prime grantee.

2:55What monitoring is not is a direct result of wrongdoing.

2:59So you are not selected because your organization is in trouble.

3:03It is also not an audit.

3:06It's not related to OIG or PIIA activities, nor is it applied directly to sub recipients.

3:18Now we have gotten through the why and now we will move into the what.

3:22Here is the bird's eye view of what our remote monitoring process looks like.

3:27We have the activities broken up into three main phases, Pre monitoring, Monitoring and post monitoring and close out.

3:34Pre monitoring includes notifying you of the upcoming monitoring assignment, requesting the required documents and supplemental documents and scheduling interviews if applicable.

3:45Monitoring includes the review of your submitted documents and conducting any interviews if necessary.

3:51After the monitoring phase, you will receive a monitoring report which would note any findings.

3:57If there are findings, the post monitoring and close out phase will include the creation and submission of your corrective action plan or CAP.

4:05Our offices review of that cap and ultimately your implementation of the CAP.

4:11Once all findings are addressed and brought into compliance, we will move to close out the monitoring activity on site.

4:22Monitoring has a very similar life cycle to remote monitoring, so here are some differences that I like to highlight.

4:3035 to 40 day, 40 business days out from planned visit, grantees have received initial notification.

4:37Next will be a request to visit on site that would include suggested dates and planning for a phone call with MO to discuss the process and document requests in more detail.

4:47That call will take place around a 30 to 35 business days out from the visit.

4:53Additional call.

4:55An additional call will take place 10 to 20 days prior to the visit to finalize the agenda and interviews.

5:02And of course a major difference is the compliant assessment itself which will take place on site.

5:08So you'll see that they are in the green box.

5:10Please note that the on site portion is an opportunity for the monitoring officers to collect documentation, review it with grantee staff, interview appropriate staff members and to begin the compliance assessment.

5:25Additional compliance determinations will likely be made after the fact with information and documents gathered during the visit.

5:32From this point forward, the post monitoring and close out portion of the life cycle mirrors the remote process that we just discussed.

5:43So this is a graphic presentation of our different monitoring activities.

5:47Taken as a whole, they are referred to as the Uniform Monitoring Package.

5:52Many grantees are monitored for one activity, while some, particularly when our monitoring is on site, get the full suite.

6:00I will go over each one briefly from left to right, starting with the FOFA.

6:05The activity or activities for which you are being monitored was noted in the letter you received from the Office of Monitoring so FOFA.

6:14The FOFA activity is the Financial and Operational Fitness Assessment which entails the submission to us of key financial documents such as the general Ledger Match Ledger documentation for selected PMS, drawdowns and an interview with Prom staff who oversee financial aspects of the program.

6:33Sub recipient oversight activity The purpose of the sub recipient oversight monitoring activity is to determine whether or not the pass through entity.

6:42Frequently a state Commission is fulfilling its obligations to oversee AMERI Corps funds and activities at the sub recipient level, program specific.

6:54This is a review of compliance with regulations, terms and conditions associated with the respective grant program operations such as ASN, Vista, FGPSCPRSVP and Days of Service.

7:08So we will request the initial and supplemental documentation as well as conducting interviews with three members, one site supervisor and a prime staff member NSCHC.

7:21This is the National Service Criminal History Check Record and policy Review.

7:25We will check that your checks have been completed and will request information on volunteers and staff and cover positions or those paid for by AmeriCorps funds with directly or through match.

7:38There are no interviews, however it is a multi layered review that entails first collecting a list of names and then clearance documents if the grantee does not use our preferred vendors true screen and field print prohibited activities.

7:56This activity reviews a recipient's training policies and procedures related to prohibited activities.

8:02We conduct a member document review and interviews to determine if prohibited activities are being performed.

8:08We will interview 4 volunteers, 2 site supervisors and a prom staff member.

8:15And lastly is the new to Ameri Corps monitoring activity.

8:20This activity is assigned to first time AMERI Corps grantees.

8:24It will consist of a review of grantee policies, practices and systems with the intention of confirming that a recipient's foundational practices comply with federal and program requirements.

8:36This activity will touch on selected items from the FOFA prohibited activities, NSCHC programmatic and sub recipient oversight monitoring activities.

8:52So we've done the what and why.

8:55Now here is the win.

8:57I want to emphasize that this is a very, very rough timeline, and you may find that your organization is starting later or that certain phases take a little extra time depending on your assigned activities.

9:09It could also go much faster depending on the completeness and speed with which your organization is able to respond.

9:16In general, though, many of you can expect to receive your initial notification and document requests in the coming days or weeks.

9:23Some of you may begin later, as we are still adding new staff to our office who will be assigned to your grant.

9:30Once you receive your notification, you'll then have three weeks to provide the requested documentation, which puts us at about a month or so from now.

9:39We will review the documentation and then request supplemental documentation if applicable, for your assigned activity.

9:46I want to quickly explain the general distinction between initial and supplemental documentation.

9:52Initial documentation is likely to include things like lists from which we will pull samples, while the supplemental documentation is likely to be the backup documentation associated with those samples.

10:03For example, in the NSCHC activity, the initial documentation requested is a list of individuals covered by the grant.

10:11The supplemental documentation request is for the actual NSCHC documents.

10:17Once we have all the initial and supplemental documents as well as interviews on the calendar, we'll review everything and actually conduct the interviews.

10:25This typically takes about a month but can vary.

10:29We expect that you'll hear results from that in late spring and early summer when we anticipate you'll receive the monitoring report.

10:37From there, you'll get started on your corrective action plan and submit that mid to late summer.

10:43There may be some back and forth at this point, which puts us at a late summer, early fall when hopefully we can move to close out.

10:51Please note that if your corrective action plan includes items that take some time to implement, you will remain in a status that is approved but not yet closed until implementation is complete.

11:07On site reviews are slightly different as the bulk of our monitoring activity takes place at the Prime Grants Office.

11:14As such, the general timeline here is centered around the on site visit itself.

11:19The first few steps remain the same.

11:22Then we get ready with the visit with a meeting to go over the draft agenda.

11:26You will receive a draft agenda for your review and interviewee selections.

11:31For NSCHC assignments.

11:32You will receive a separate letter with instructions and the timelines may vary due to due to the sensitive nature of these items.

11:40We use secure folders to receive NSCHC documentation on site monitoring, assessment and on site visit Usually spans over two to three business days, but timelines may be adjusted as needed.

11:54The following will be completed as applicable to specific monitoring activities assignments, so the interviews will be conducted on site with members and volunteers, site supervisors, financial staff, and the project director.

12:08The volunteer and member files, possibly including NSCHD records and financial documentation, will be reviewed.

12:16Cost testing will also be performed post visit.

12:20After the on site visit, the MO will return to their Home Office to complete any remaining reviews and compliance determinations and finalize the Monitoring Report.

12:30Once finalized, the report will be shared with the grantee and the Oro Portfolio Manager.

12:37If a Corrective Action Plan is required, the time following issuance of the Monitoring Report will be spent crafting the Corrective Action Plan response.

12:46Having it reviewed by the Office of Monitoring and implementing the proposed corrective actions, I will turn it over to you Kathy.

12:55Thank you.

12:58Thank you, Marshita.

12:59So let's look at next steps of the process.

13:04So the next steps in the process involve A kickoff notification that you'll receive.

13:10You will receive the kickoff notification at some point over the next month or so.

13:16This notification will come from your assigned monitoring officer and will be directed to the authorized representative listed on your grant.

13:24The Project Director listed will also be copied along with your portfolio and senior portfolio managers.

13:31Finally, the ASN office will also be included for awareness if appropriate.

13:37The e-mail that you will receive will include a formal AmeriCorps letter and that letter will summarize the monitoring activity assigned to your agency and the date range for the monitoring assessment.

13:50It would also describe the deadline for responding to monitoring documentation requested from your monitoring officer, as well as an introduction of the monitoring officer themselves.

14:02In addition to the formal notification of monitoring, instructions for assessing your secure folder will also be included.

14:10Please note that the kickoff notification for recipients selected for on site monitoring will be slightly different.

14:16As Marshita explained, the differences include a request to confirm your physical address and the options to choose and select your visit dates.

14:31The Secure Folders are used to communicate to to you detailed information about your assigned monitoring activities, such as documents to submit, monitoring results and CAP information.

14:44This system has been thoroughly vetted by our internal Information technology colleagues and has been deemed safe to transmit personally identifiable information.

14:54So please use the Secure folder rather than e-mail the office to submit documents to your monitoring officer.

15:01This will help safeguard any sensitive materials such as driver's license for assigned NSCHC activities.

15:13And so in assessing your secure folders, the authorized representative will receive an e-mail and it'll have a link attached with your secure folder.

15:27If you are not able to receive the e-mail, sometimes you may need to check your spam box.

15:35If it's not, if you haven't received it within 24 hours after receiving the kickoff information, those we will also be sending a Ameri Corps Secure Folders External User Guide so that you can learn and access those secure folders.

15:52If you would like to grant access to additional persons or a different e-mail account to their your secure folder, then you may need to reach out to your monitoring officer to make that request.

16:07The monitoring officers will use the secure folder to collect the required documents, provide monitoring results and review notes, and provide corrective action plan status updates and feedback when it's applicable.

16:22It's very important for you to read the entire e-mail and attach letters that are sent to you.

16:29Some monitoring activities require the completion and return of forms within a defined period of time.

16:36Blank copies of those forms will be uploaded to your folder, and once you've completed those forms, a copy should be stored within your Secure folder as the role of the grantee.

16:53The Secure Folders can be used to upload initial documentation, upload supplemental documentation and any clarifying information that's needed, review and download your monitoring results.

17:05You can also submit a corrective action plan with supporting documentation and review and download your corrective action report as well.

17:14It is very important again for you to read the monitoring results and any communication from the monitoring officer to ensure an understanding of the next steps and the supporting documentation to submit some.

17:28Some monitoring activities require the completion again of a timed return on those documents.

17:35If specific forms are required, blank copies of those forms will be uploaded to your folder and once you've completed those forms, a copy should be stored within your secure folder.

17:46Upload that to your folder Once all supporting documentations have been received, the monitoring officer will use a separate Excel based tool to communicate the monitoring results or even ask for clarification if needed, and the results will be communicated via e-mail and a copy of that tool will be uploaded to your secure folder.

18:12So here's a snippet of the grantee document and some supplemental request list that we talked about previously.

18:20So this document will provide what documents are being requested, a description of those of that document, whether or not there is a template that accompanies that dot that request.

18:34And then there's an opportunity for the grant for the monitoring officer to provide feedback or information about those documents.

18:41In this that's submitted.

18:44There's also a Grantee note column that can be used to provide notes that you feel are pertinent.

18:49For example, if it's possible that some requests may not be applicable to your agency, please provide a description as to why you believe that request is is not applicable and if you find yourself if in that situation, you should be able to do that.

19:08The Office of Monitoring's website offers resources including the Uniform Monitoring package, and that's what we've talked about and discussed previously and that will help you become more familiar with the monitoring process and the requirements.

19:22There's a monitor Remote Monitoring at a glance as well.

19:28This is a view of the Uniform Monitoring package.

19:31It is actually the Prohibited Activity section, and each section of the UMP provides the purpose and approach to the monitoring activity.

19:39The questions and reference guides used to guide compliance determinations, the overall and the overview of the Uniform Monitoring package can be used to familiarize your agency with compliance requirements if you're being monitored or just to maintain compliance.

19:59So let's take a quick recap of what we've discussed.

20:02We've talked about the Monitoring Kickoff and Documentation Request notifications.

20:07That will be emailed to you and what you should do once you receive those.

20:12If you have any questions, you can direct those to your assigned monitoring officer.

20:19And we've also talked about making sure that you read thoroughly the information that will be provided to you from your monitoring officer.

20:32And in the meantime, if you have any questions, direct those questions to monitoring at americorps.gov Thank you for your participation in this presentation.

20:46We hope you find this helpful.

20:47And please reach out to the Office of Monitoring if you have any questions.

20:51Thank you.

20:53Thank you.