American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

ARRA Online Quarterly Reporting Instructions

Once a sub-recipient has been approved for funds, it must complete quarterly reports for each ARRA fund for the life of the project. If the sub-recipient has not yet submitted expenditures or received funds, federal guidance still requires quarterly reporting. In such cases, submit best estimates of jobs created or saved during the quarter. As the reporting process is cumulative quarter-by-quarter, this should reconcile any minor discrepancies that occur because of reporting and reimbursement lags. To complete the report:

Log on to the NYSED Business Portal at http://portal.nysed.gov
Select ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) Reporting System’
The ‘Select Fund’ screen provides an overview of the reporting process. You will only see in the drop-down box the funds for which your institution has been awarded grants. Select funds in any order, but complete the process through ‘submit and certify’ for each award.
Note that there remains a choice to complete an application for the Education Stabilization Fund for those public school districts that have not yet done so. This was due September 14, 2009 so should be completed as soon as possible.
‘Sub-Recipient Information and Instructions’ screen provides the already reported information for each award. Note that the report status is shown at the top of the page. This is not the same as application status. Each ARRA fund requires an application for program office approval, Contact the appropriate SED Program Office to complete this step prior to reporting.
The only user role on this screen is to enter (or change) the organization’s assigned DUNS Code and date until which the CCR is valid.
Check that the ‘Fund Amount’ agrees with the award notice or letter. If there is a discrepancy, please contact the appropriate SED Program Office for clarification.
‘Program Narrative and Summary’ screen provides space (up to 4,000 characters) to enter a narrative description of both the project activities and job creation or retention effects of the award. See the following section for details on calculating these entries.
There will also be a box to enter Infrastructure expenditures for the ESF and IDEA funds, if applicable. See below for specific guidance on reporting these expenditures.
‘Sub-Recipient Vendor Entry’ screen is to report all sub-awards or contracts to vendors, including BOCES, made with ARRA funds. Please note that any direct jobs created at vendors should be collected from them and included here.
The sub-recipient can add, edit or remove a vendor from the report prior to submission without having to re-enter other information.
Once all of the data entry for a particular fund has been completed, the click on ‘Save and Continue’ which will bring you to the ‘Certification & Submission’ screen. Only the Superintendent or Chief Executive Officer may perform this action under their User ID and password. The Superintendent or Chief Executive will need to certify and submit for each ARRA award.
If the data entry role has been delegated to a staff member using SEDDAS (System of Delegated Access), that person should keep careful track of which funds they have entered data for so that the Superintendent/Chief Executive Officer successfully certifies and submits all of the applicable ARRA funds.

Additional Guidance on Reporting Elements

Jobs Created/Saved

A job created is a new position created and filled or an existing unfilled position that is filled as a result of Recovery Act funding. A job retained is an existing position that would not have been continued to be filled were it not for Recovery Act funding.

A job may be counted regardless of whether or not the employee filling the position is paid for with Recovery Act funds as long as the job would not have been created or retained in the absence of the Recovery Act funding. That is, Recovery Act funds are either being used to pay the employee or the availability of Recovery Act funds for other purposes is freeing up funds that are being used to pay the employee.

Recipients should report on jobs funded by ARRA at their vendors. Do not report on the employment impact on vendors from whom you are purchasing materials, equipment, or other supplies (so-called “indirect” jobs), except in those instances where the value or the quantity of the purchases is so significant as to have an identifiable employment impact on the vendor.
Calculating FTE’s

There are two basic ways to calculate and report FTEs. For jobs created directly by the expenditure of ARRA funds, follow the guidance provided for the ESF Application (106 KB) (particularly Attachments 2 and 3.) It is highly recommended that the sub-recipient use the template for Time Spent On The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funds (25 KB) to both calculate the appropriate FTEs and to document the job estimates.

USDOE issued revised guidance on this issue on September 11, 2009 that allows a second method to capture jobs not directly paid for with ARRA funds, but created or saved due to existence of the ARRA funds. This is an appropriate means, in particular, to estimate the job impact of ARRA funds that replaced State Aid and allowed school districts to avoid future cutbacks or layoffs.

The sub-recipient may include these estimates on the spreadsheet, but should be sure to see the federal guidance on calculating a baseline employment level and subtracting it from the sub-recipient’s job creation estimate http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/guidance-on-jobs-creation.doc (particularly Section 1.11).
Vendors

Sub-recipients must report the DUNS number or the name and location (zip+4) of any vendor that is expected to receive ARRA funds over the 12-month period starting with the current reporting quarter. According to the federal OMB, a vendor: "(1) Provides the goods and services within normal business operations; (2) Provides similar goods or services to many different purchasers; (3) Operates in a competitive environment. (4) Provides goods or services that are ancillary to the operation of the federal program and (5) Is not subject to compliance requirements of the federal program" A vendor does not include a sub-grantee that provides the services supported by the grant.
Infrastructure

Sub-recipients must provide information regarding infrastructure expenditures from ARRA funds. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a "tip sheet" that defines infrastructure as follows: "An infrastructure investment is financial support for a physical asset or structure needed for the operation of a larger enterprise. Therefore, infrastructure investments include support for tangible assets or structures such as roads, public buildings (including schools), mass transit systems, water and sewage systems, communication and utility systems and other assets or structures that provide a reliable flow of products and services essential to the defense and economic security of the United States, the smooth functioning of government at all levels, and society as a whole." (See citation at the end of this document.)

Sub-recipients are required to provide the amount of infrastructure spending, identify the purpose, and explain the rationale for funding infrastructure with ARRA funds. The rationale should include how the infrastructure investment will contribute to one or more of the purposes of ARRA: preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; assist those most impacted by the recession; spur technological advances; provide long-term economic benefits; and stabilize state and local governments.