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CHAPTER 2-250

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION AND ACCOUNTING FILES

2-250-00 What is the purpose of this chapter?

2-250-10 What supporting documentation is appropriate for personnel costs and

consultant services? 

2-250-20 What supporting documentation is appropriate for construction costs?

2-250-30 What supporting documentation is appropriate for property costs?

2-250-40 What supporting documentation is appropriate for travel costs, space costs, and

other direct costs?

2-250-50 What supporting documentation is appropriate for indirect costs?

2-250-60 What supporting documentation is appropriate for program income?

2-250-00 What is the purpose of this chapter?

This chapter provides guidance on the kinds of documents you should keep in your accounting 

files to support costs charged to an assistance agreement you received from us, the Office of 

Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). 

2-250-10 What supporting documentation is appropriate for personnel costs and

consultant services?

A. Personnel compensation includes all salaries, wages and other payments for services.

They may be paid currently or accrued. The services must be necessary for the program

and allocable to this assistance agreement. The cost must be reasonable for the services

provided. Your personnel compensation policies for costs paid with Federal funds must

be consistent with those for activities paid with other funds.

You should document amounts charged for personnel with payrolls that have been

recorded and approved in accordance with generally accepted accounting

practices. Payrolls should be supported by time and attendance records of employees. If

employees worked on more than one program or project, the personnel costs charged to

the assistance agreement should be supported by records showing how their time was

distributed between projects.

B. Fringe benefits are compensation other than salaries and wages. They may be paid

currently or accrued. They include costs such as payroll taxes, leave, health benefits, and

retirement. Fringe benefits are allowable to the extent that they are reasonable, and are

required by law, contract, or policy. If employees work on more than one program or

project, charge fringe benefit costs to the agreement in the same percentage as the salary

charged to the agreement. You should document fringe benefits with your established

personnel compensation policy, and show that you apply it consistently.
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C. Consultant services pay qualified or expert individuals or organizations to provide

professional and technical services. You should support consultant costs with proposals

from more than one reputable consultant whenever feasible. Bills for consultant fees

should provide a clear statement of the services performed and, as appropriate, the time

worked or the quantity of services provided. You should file a copy of any reports

produced by consultants.

2-250-20 What supporting documentation is appropriate for construction costs?

A. Construction costs in OSMRE assistance agreements normally relate to projects to

reclaim abandoned mine sites, or to restore water or other resources damaged by past

mining. We must approve projects before you begin actual construction by approving

your grant application, issuing an environmental conclusion for the NEPA process (i.e.

Record of Decision, Finding of No Significant Impact, or Categorical Exclusion), and by

issuing an Authorization to Proceed. In addition to actual construction costs, project

costs may include other costs allocable to a specific reclamation project, such as planning

and design, construction monitoring and inspection, and administration.

B. For construction and other contracts, you should document your contracting process.

Your files should include invitations for bids, bids, contracts, construction monitoring

reports, contractor's invoices, and any other documents needed to trace the history of the

contract.

C. You should document your compliance with requirements from the Surface Mining

Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),

and OSMRE regulations. For example, you should document your determination that a

site was eligible for funding under Title IV of SMCRA, NEPA requirements have been

met (refer to the OSMRE NEPA Handbook for details), your check of contractors in the

Applicant Violator System (AVS), and your entry of sites, and accomplishments in the

Enhanced Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (e-AMLIS).

D. For Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program grants, you should keep documentation

adequate to justify the totals you report for AML project costs, and to trace project costs

to individual reclamation projects or sites. 

2-250-30 What supporting documentation is appropriate for property costs?

A. Equipment is nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of more than

one year and costing $5,000 or more per unit. See Chapter 2-200 for more information

on equipment, supplies, and other property. You should document equipment costs with

approval documents, price quotations, purchase orders, requisitions or contracts,

receiving reports, and vendor invoices.
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B. Supplies include consumable items such as paper and postage, and also items of property 

which don’t meet the criteria for equipment. You should support supplies costs with 

purchase orders, requisitions, receipts, vendor invoices, or other evidence that the 

supplies were paid by, and used for the assistance program.

2-250-40 What supporting documentation is appropriate for travel costs, space costs, and 

other direct costs?

A. Travel costs are expenses of employees traveling on official business, such as 

transportation, lodging, and subsistence. You may charge these costs on an actual cost 

basis, on a per diem or mileage allowance basis, or on a combination of the two, 

according to the travel policies of your organization. Your travel policies should apply 

consistently to activities supported by Federal, and non-Federal funds. You should 

support travel costs with a report by the traveler of expenses incurred and the purpose of 

the travel, and with evidence the costs were properly authorized and approved.

B. Space costs are the costs of acquiring or renting space to use for the assisted project. See 

Chapter 3-140 for more information on leasing, purchasing or constructing space. Space 

costs also include normal maintenance and operation costs required to make space usable 

for program purposes. You should support space rental costs with a signed lease 

agreement showing all the terms of the rental. You should support space use or 

depreciation charges by showing how the charge was calculated, and applied to your 

program. 

C. Other direct costs include such items as repairs, utilities, telephones, internet access, 

publications and printing, subscriptions, and other miscellaneous expenses related to the 

assistance agreement. You should support charges for other direct costs with vendor's 

invoices, receipts, or other evidence that you received, and used the service for the 

purposes of the assisted program.

2-250-50 What supporting documentation is appropriate for indirect costs?

A. Indirect costs are incurred for a common purpose, benefit more than one program, and 

cannot readily be assigned to one program without more work than it is worth. You must 

ensure that you do not charge items as direct costs which are already included in the 

indirect cost pool.

B. You should keep a copy of your cost allocation plan to show the cost elements in the 

indirect pools and explain the direct cost base, and the cost allocation rationale.

C. You should keep a copy of the approved indirect cost agreement in your assistance 

agreement file. If you have charged costs to an OSMRE assistance agreement based on 

more than one approved indirect cost agreement, you should keep all applicable 

agreements. 
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2-250-60 What supporting documentation is appropriate for program income?

Program income is all funds you receive directly generated by an assistance-supported activity, 

or earned as a result of the assistance agreement during the performance period. See Chapter 2-

210 for more information about program income. You should support program income with 

documents showing all funds you receive, the sources of all program income, and how all 

program income was used.

2-250-70 What supporting documentation is appropriate for costs transferred from one 

funding source to another?

A. Audit reports have cited instances where costs were transferred from other projects, or 

programs to OSMRE assistance agreements many months after the costs were originally 

recorded. In some cases, the documentation did not adequately explain why the transfers 

were made. We recognize that cost transfers may be appropriate when you support 

closely related work from more than one funding source, or when you need to correct 

bookkeeping or clerical errors in the original charges. However, transfers that are 

frequent, late, or not adequately explained particularly if the projects have significant cost 

overruns, or unexpended fund balances, raise serious concerns. They may lead us to 

question the propriety of the transfers, and the overall reliability of your accounting 

system, and internal controls.

B. When closely related work is paid from more than one funding source, you may transfer 

costs from the original funding source to OSMRE funds if the transfer meets all of the 

following conditions.

1. The cost is a proper and allowable charge to the OSMRE agreement.

2. You document the transfer with a full explanation and justification. 

3. A responsible program official and a financial or administrative official certify 

that the transfer is appropriate.

4. To the maximum extent possible, you should transfer costs within 120 days of the 

original charge. Transfers made long after the original charge raise serious 

questions concerning the propriety of the transfer. If you transfer costs more than 

120 days after the original charge, your supporting documentation should also 

explain why the transfer was late.

C. When you transfer costs to OSMRE assistance agreements to correct accounting errors, 

you must make the transfer promptly after you discover the error. You should make 

every effort to correct errors before you submit a financial report to OSMRE. You 

should support the correcting transfer with a full explanation of how the error occurred, 
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and why the new charge is correct. An explanation which merely states that the transfer 

was made "to correct error" or "to transfer to correct project" is not sufficient.

D. Frequent errors or changes in recording costs may indicate the need for improvements in 

your accounting system and/or internal controls. You should evaluate the need for 

improvements in these areas and make them. We may require you to make 

improvements if we determine that they are necessary to reduce errors or improve 

management of Federal funds.