Source: https://www.stfrancis.k12.mn.us/page.cfm?p=4081
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 18:37:34+00:00

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“State-administered grants” are those grants that pass through a state agency such as the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).
“Direct grants” are those grants that do not pass through another agency such as MDE and are awarded directly by the federal awarding agency to the grantee organization. These grants are usually discretionary grants that are awarded by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) or by another federal awarding agency.
B. “Non-federal entity” means a state, local government, Indian tribe, institution of higher education, or nonprofit organization that carries out a federal award as a recipient or subrecipient.
b. The cost-reimbursement contract under the federal Acquisition Regulations that a non-federal entity receives directly from a federal awarding agency or indirectly from a pass-through entity, as described in 2 C.F.R. § 200.101 (Applicability).
The instrument setting forth the terms and conditions. The instrument is the grant agreement, cooperative agreement, other agreement for assistance covered in paragraph (b) of 2 C.F.R. § 200.40 (Federal Financial Assistance), or the cost-reimbursement contract awarded under the federal Acquisition Regulations.
“Federal award” does not include other contracts that a federal agency uses to buy goods or services from a contractor or a contract to operate federal-government-owned, contractor-operated facilities.
D. “Contract” means a legal instrument by which a non-federal entity purchases property or services needed to carry out the project or program under a federal award. The term, as used in 2 C.F.R. Part 200, does not include a legal instrument, even if the non-federal entity considers it a contract, when the substance of the transaction meets the definition of a federal award or subaward.
“Procurement by micro-purchase” is the acquisition of supplies or services, the aggregate dollar amount of which does not exceed the micro-purchase threshold (generally $3,000, except as otherwise discussed in 48 C.F.R. Subpart 2.1 or as periodically adjusted for inflation).
“Procurement by small purchase procedures” are those relatively simple and informal procurement methods for securing services, supplies, or other property that do not cost more than $150,000 (periodically adjusted for inflation).
“Procurement by sealed bids (formal advertising)” is a publicly solicited and a firm, fixed-price contract (lump sum or unit price) awarded to the responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to all the material terms and conditions of the invitation for bids, is the lowest in price.
“Procurement by competitive proposals” is normally conducted with more than one source submitting an offer, and either a fixed-price or cost-reimbursement type contract is awarded. Competitive proposals are generally used when conditions are not appropriate for the use of sealed bids.
“Procurement by noncompetitive proposals” is procurement through solicitation of a proposal from only one source.
F. “Equipment” means tangible personal property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which exceeds the lesser of the capitalization level established by the non-federal entity for financial statement purposes, or $5,000.
G. “Compensation for personal services” includes all remuneration, paid currently or accrued, for services of employees rendered during the period of performance under the federal award, including, but not necessarily limited to, wages and salaries. Compensation for personal services may also include fringe benefits which are addressed in 2 C.F.R. § 200.431 (Compensation - Fringe Benefits).
H. “Post-retirement health plans” refer to costs of health insurance or health services not included in a pension plan covered by 2 C.F.R. § 200.431(g) for retirees and their spouses, dependents, and survivors.
I. “Severance pay” is a payment in addition to regular salaries and wages by the non-federal entities to workers whose employment is being terminated.
J. “Direct costs” are those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular final cost objective, such as a federal award, or other internally or externally funded activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.
K. “Relocation costs” are costs incident to the permanent change of duty assignment (for an indefinite period or for a stated period not less than 12 months) of an existing employee or upon recruitment of a new employee.
L. “Travel costs” are the expenses for transportation, lodging, subsistence, and related items incurred by employees who are in travel status on official business of the school district.
A. Employee Conflict of Interest. No employee, officer, or agent may participate in the selection, award, or administration of a contract supported by a federal award if he or she has a real or apparent conflict of interest. Such a conflict of interest would arise when the employee, officer, or agent, any member of his or her immediate family, his or her partner, or an organization which employs or is about to employ any of the parties indicated herein, has a financial or other interest in or a tangible personal benefit from a firm considered for a contract. The employees, officers, and agents of the school district may neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors, or anything of monetary value from contractors or parties to subcontracts. However, the school district may set standards for situations in which the financial interest is not substantial or the gift is an unsolicited item of nominal value. The standards of conduct must provide for disciplinary actions to be applied for violations of such standards by employees, officers, or agents of the school district.
B. Organizational Conflicts of Interest. The school district is unable or appears to be unable to be impartial in conducting a procurement action involving the related organization because of relationships with a parent company, affiliate, or subsidiary organization.
C. Disclosing Conflicts of Interest. The school district must disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest to MDE in accordance with applicable federal awarding agency policy.
A. General Procurement Standards. The school district must use its own documented procurement procedures which reflect applicable state laws, provided that the procurements conform to the applicable federal law and the standards identified in the Uniform Grant Guidance.
B. The school district must maintain oversight to ensure that contractors perform in accordance with the terms, conditions, and specifications of their contracts or purchase orders.
C. The school district’s procedures must avoid acquisition of unnecessary or duplicative items. Consideration should be given to consolidating or breaking out procurements to obtain a more economical purchase. Where appropriate, an analysis will be made of lease versus purchase alternatives and any other appropriate analysis to determine the most economical approach.
D. The school district must award contracts only to responsible contractors possessing the ability to perform successfully under the terms and conditions of a proposed procurement. Consideration will be given to such matters as contractor integrity, compliance with public policy, record of past performance, and financial and technical resources.
E. The school district must maintain records sufficient to detail the history of procurement. These records will include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: rationale for the method of procurement; selection of the contract type; contractor selection or rejection; and the basis for the contract price.
F. The school district alone must be responsible, in accordance with good administrative practice and sound business judgment, for the settlement of all contractual and administrative issues arising out of procurements. These issues include, but are not limited to, source evaluation, protests, disputes, and claims. These standards do not relieve the school district of any contractual responsibilities under its contracts.
G. The school district must take all necessary affirmative steps to assure that minority businesses, women’s business enterprises, and labor surplus area firms are used when possible.
Procurement by micro-purchases. To the extent practicable, the school district must distribute micro-purchases equitably among qualified suppliers. Micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive quotations if the school district considers the price to be reasonable.
Procurement by small purchase procedures. If small purchase procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources.
Procurement by sealed bids (formal advertising).
e. The school district may use competitive proposal procedures for qualifications-based procurement of architectural/engineering (A/E) professional services whereby competitors’ qualifications are evaluated and the most qualified competitor is selected, subject to negotiation of fair and reasonable compensation. The method where price is not used as a selection factor can only be used in procurement of A/E professional services; it cannot be used to purchase other types of services, though A/E firms are a potential source to perform the proposed effort.
d. After solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.
Identify all requirements which the offerers must fulfill and all other factors to be used in evaluating bids or proposals.
J. The school district must ensure that all prequalified lists of persons, firms, or products which are used in acquiring goods and services are current and include enough qualified sources to ensure maximum open and free competition. Also, the school district must not preclude potential bidders from qualifying during the solicitation period.
K. Non-federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under “covered transactions” to parties that are suspended or debarred or whose principals are suspended or debarred. “Covered transactions” include procurement contracts for goods and services awarded under a grant or cooperative agreement that are expected to equal or exceed $25,000.
L. All nonprocurement transactions entered into by a recipient (i.e., subawards to subrecipients), irrespective of award amount, are considered covered transactions, unless they are exempt as provided in 2 C.F.R. § 180.215.
A. Property Standards. The school district must, at a minimum, provide the equivalent insurance coverage for real property and equipment acquired or improved with federal funds as provided to property owned by the non-federal entity. Federally owned property need not be insured unless required by the terms and conditions of the federal award.
Property records must be maintained that include a description of the property; a serial number or other identification number; the source of the funding for the property (including the federal award identification number (FAIN)); who holds title; the acquisition date; the cost of the property; the percentage of the federal participation in the project costs for the federal award under which the property was acquired; the location, use, and condition of the property; and any ultimate disposition data, including the date of disposition and sale price of the property.
A control system must be developed to ensure adequate safeguards to prevent loss, damage, or theft of the property. Any loss, damage, or theft must be investigated.
Adequate maintenance procedures must be developed to keep property in good condition.
If the school district is authorized or required to sell the property, proper sales procedures must be established to ensure the highest possible return.
A. Financial Management. The school district’s financial management systems, including records documenting compliance with federal statues, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award, must be sufficient to permit the preparation of reports required by general and program-specific terms and conditions; and the tracing of funds to a level of expenditures adequate to establish that such funds have been used according to the federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award.
B. Payment. The school district must be paid in advance, provided it maintains or demonstrates the willingness to maintain both written procedures that minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement between the school district and the financial management systems that meet the standards for fund control.
C. Internal Controls. The school district must establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the school district is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government,” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, or the “Internal Control Integrated Framework,” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
A. Allowable Use of Funds. The school district administration and board will enforce appropriate procedures and penalties for program, compliance, and accounting staff responsible for the allocation of federal grant costs based on their allowability and their conformity with federal cost principles to determine the allowability of costs.
“Allowable cost” means a cost that complies with all legal requirements that apply to a particular federal education program, including statutes, regulations, guidance, applications, and approved grant awards.
“Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)” means a compilation of regulations that apply to federal education programs. These regulations contain important rules governing the administration of federal education programs and include rules affecting the allowable use of federal funds (including rules regarding allowable costs, the period of availability of federal awards, documentation requirements, and grants management requirements). EDGAR can be accessed at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/reg/edgarReg/edgar.html.
“Omni Circular” or “2 C.F.R. Part 200s” or “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards” means federal cost principles that provide standards for determining whether costs may be charged to federal grants.
“Advance payment” means a payment that a federal awarding agency or passthrough entity makes by any appropriate payment mechanism, including a predetermined payment schedule, before the non-federal entity disburses the funds for program purposes.
Tuition charged or fees collected from students applied toward meeting matching, cost sharing, or maintenance of effort requirements of a program.
Any cost paid with federal education funds must be permissible under the federal program that would support the cost.
Many federal education programs detail specific required and/or allowable uses of funds for that program. Issues such as eligibility, program beneficiaries, caps or restrictions on certain types of program expenses, other program expenses, and other program specific requirements must be considered when performing the programmatic analysis.
The two largest federal K-12 programs, Title I, Part A, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), do not contain a use of funds section delineating the allowable uses of funds under those programs. In those cases, costs must be consistent with the purposes of the program in order to be allowable.
a. Necessary for the proper and efficient performance or administration of the program.
b. Reasonable. An outside observer should clearly understand why a decision to spend money on a specific cost made sense in light of the cost, needs, and requirements of the program.
c. Allocable to the federal program that paid for the cost. A program must benefit in proportion to the amount charged to the federal program – for example, if a teacher is paid 50 percent with Title I funds, the teacher must work with the Title I program/students at least 50 percent of the time. Recipients also need to be able to track items or services purchased with federal funds so they can prove they were used for federal program purposes.
d. Authorized under state and local rules. All actions carried out with federal funds must be authorized and not prohibited by state and local laws and policies.
e. Adequately documented. A recipient must maintain proper documentation so as to provide evidence to monitors, auditors, or other oversight entities of how the funds were spent over the lifecycle of the grant.
G. Program Specific Fiscal Rules. The Omni Circular also contains specific rules on selected items of costs. Costs must comply with these rules in order to be paid with federal funds.
All federal education programs have certain program specific fiscal rules that apply. Determining which rules apply depends on the program; however, rules such as supplement, not supplant, maintenance of effort, comparability, caps on certain uses of funds, etc., have an important impact when analyzing whether a particular cost is permissible.
Many state-administered programs require local education agencies (LEAs) to use federal program funds to supplement the amount of state, local, and, in some cases, other federal funds they spend on education costs and not to supplant (or replace) those funds. Generally, the “supplement, not supplant” provision means that federal funds must be used to supplement the level of funds from non-federal sources by providing additional services, staff, programs, or materials. In other words, federal funds normally cannot be used to pay for things that would otherwise be paid for with state or local funds (and, in some cases, with other federal funds).
a. School district uses federal funds to provide services that the school district is required to make available under other federal, state, or local laws.
b. School district uses federal funds to provide services that the school district provided with state or local funds in the prior year.
c. School district uses Title I, Part A, or Migrant Education Program funds to provide the same services to Title I or Migrant students that the school district provides with state or local funds to nonparticipating students.
These presumptions apply differently in different federal programs and also in schoolwide program schools. Staff should be familiar with the supplement not supplant provisions applicable to their program.
As required by the Omni Circular, all costs must be consistent with approved program plans and budgets.
Costs must also be consistent with all terms and conditions of federal awards, including any special conditions imposed on the school district’s grants.
The school district will provide training on the allowable use of federal funds to all staff involved in federal programs.
The school district will promote coordination between all staff involved in federal programs through activities, such as routine staff meetings and training sessions.
J. Employee Sanctions. Any school district employee who violates this policy will be subject to discipline, as appropriate, up to and including the termination of employment.
Follows an appointment made in accordance with a school district’s written policies and meets the requirements of federal statute, where applicable.
c. The accounting basis (cash or accrual) selected for costing each type of leave is consistently followed by the school district.
The costs of fringe benefits in the form of employer contributions or expenses for social security; employee life, health, unemployment, and worker’s compensation insurance (except as indicated in 2 C.F.R. § 200.447(d)); pension plan costs; and other similar benefits are allowable, provided such benefits are granted under established written policies. Such benefits must be allocated to federal awards and all other activities in a manner consistent with the pattern of benefits attributable to the individuals or group(s) of employees whose salaries and wages are chargeable to such federal awards and other activities and charged as direct or indirect costs in accordance with the school district’s accounting practices.
Actual claims paid to or on behalf of employees or former employees for workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, severance pay, and similar employee benefits (e.g., post-retirement health benefits) are allowable in the year of payment provided that the school district follows a consistent costing policy.
Pension plan costs may be computed using a pay-as-you-go method or an acceptable actuarial cost method in accordance with the written policies of the school district.
Post-retirement costs may be computed using a pay-as-you-go method or an acceptable actuarial cost method in accordance with established written policies of the school district.
Costs of severance pay are allowable only to the extent that, in each case, severance pay is required by law; employer-employee agreement; established policy that constitutes, in effect, an implied agreement on the school district’s part; or circumstances of the particular employment.
C. Insurance and Indemnification. Types and extent and cost of coverage are in accordance with the school district’s policy and sound business practice.
Meeting the definition of “direct cost” in the applicable cost principles of the Uniform Grant Guidance.
E. Relocation Costs of Employees. Relocation costs are allowable, subject to the limitations described below, provided that reimbursement to the employee is in accordance with the school district’s reimbursement policy.
F. Travel Costs. Travel costs may be charged on an actual cost basis, on a per diem or mileage basis in lieu of actual costs incurred, or on a combination of the two, provided the method used is applied to an entire trip and not to selected days of the trip, and results in charges consistent with those normally allowed in like circumstances in the school district’s non-federally funded activities and in accordance with the school district’s reimbursement policies.
The costs are reasonable and consistent with the school district’s established travel policy.
Only temporary during the travel period.

References: § 200
 § 200
 § 200
 § 200
 § 180
 § 200