Go to the AC10.1 screen and enter the posting level activity that is being used and hit inquire. Make sure that the activity has an active status. GB is Active Grants/Billing. That is the correct status. Notice the box that says POP on it. If there is an asterisk * next to the box, that is an indication that the activity has POP dates. Click on the box to view the POP dates tied to the posting activity. Side note - If there is not an asterisk * next to the POP box, then the activity cannot be used beyond the Date Range of the activity. Standard POP dates are loaded on activities. Entering these dates into Lawson allows various systems to continue without compromising the end of the award period. POP dates may be adjusted to allow for transactions to go through at a later time. To add or change POP dates, send a request to the Grants Administration Analsyt (Lora Langlee) with a reason for the request and the new dates needed.

Could the funds be combined and reported with prior year carryover and/or is it an addition to the current year award? If the answer is no, this is defined as a new award by DPS guidelines. Please proceed to the directions for setting up a new Activity.

If the answer is yes, please complete the GAN/Budget form for the amount of the additional funds and enter a note in the comment box stating that the GAN/Budget is for additional funding.  Send GAN/Budget and letter from the funder regarding the additional funds to the Grants mailbox. Grants@dpsk12.org

Submit requests for AUs through a Smartsheet web form located here:  https://main.statusview.smartsheetapps.com/ . 

Fill out a Grant Award Notification (GAN) form electronically. The form is found on the DPS website under Grants Administration.  

After completed, email all documentation to the grants mailbox at (grants@dpsk12.org).           

Include any of the following documents that you may have:

• GAN/Budget Form
• Application
• Proposal
• Executive Summary
• E-mails or written correspondence with the funding source
• Approved Budget from Funding Source
• Award Letter
• Contract (please include the signed copies)
• Check from the funder if you have received the funds in advance, please mail or deliver a printed copy of the completed GAN with the check to the Grants Administration Analyst, Lora Langlee at 1860 Lincoln, 11^th Floor. All documentation is stored electronically, so it is important to email all of the documentation as directed above.Once your documentation has been received, it is reviewed for completion. You may be contacted if there is additional information needed. Activity codes are created and mailed out to the Grant Manager, bookkeeper and Financial Partner that was designated on the GAN form. If you have any questions regarding this process, please submit them to the Grants Office via email to grants@dpsk12.org.                                                                                                                                  

Answer the following questions YES or NO:

1. Are the Funds from a City, State or Federal agency?

If the answer to this question is YES, then the funds need to be set up as a restricted project/ grant. Please complete and submit a Grant Award Notification (GAN) form and forward it along with any correspondence with the funding source, a budget, copy of application, award letter, and signed contract if applicable. This will need to be set up as an Activity.

If the answer is NO, please proceed to the next question.

2. Has the funding source requested that a report be produced detailing how the funds were ultimately spent?

If YES, then the funds need to be set up as a restricted project/grant. Please complete and submit a Grant Award Notification (GAN) form and forward it along with any correspondence with the funding source, a budget, copy of application, award letter, and signed contract if applicable. This will need to be set up as an Activity.

If the answer is NO, please proceed to the next question.

3. Has the funding source designated a specific use for the funds?

If YES, and the answer to 1 and 2 was yes, then this is a grant and must be set up with it's own unique account numbers.

If YES, but 1 and 2 were answered NO then these funds may be added to your Miscellaneous Donations account and assigned for the specific purpose. Send the check along with a completed Company 13 budget form to the Grants Office with any documentation received from the funder.

If the answer to this question is NO, and 1 and 2 were answered NO, then this is a donation and may be deposited to your miscellaneous donations account.  Submit check and company 13 budget form to Treasury. 

All forms can be found on The Commons/Grants Administration site.

No. DPS is a 170(c) which is the equivalent of a 501(c)3 for a government entity.  If you need documentation to support this, contact the Grants Administration (Jeremiah Johnson)

The report title is EM003 – Full Time Employees.   When filtering the report, watch for empty or blank lines that may affect the filtering capabilities.  This is an excellent tool when cleaning up a grant and making sure that all employees have been moved to a new account number.  Review prior year activity codes to verify that no employees are set up in Lawson to hit expired accounts.  It can also be used to see if the number of FTE’s being charged to the grant agrees with the number of FTEs that were budgeted.

Multi-year Grants that are awarded annually: The first digit of the Activity account will be the last digit of the award year (i.e., 2018 grant award will have a “8” as the first digit of the activity).   Most federal grants and some state and private grants will have the first digit change each year.

 

Multi-year Grants that are awarded the full amount over the life of the grant will not have the first digit of the activity change year over year.   The first digit for these grants in Company (Fund) 22 and 26 will begin with the letter “N”, meaning non-rolling.  We are working on phasing out the use of the N and multi year grants will have the beginning digit of the year they started and keep that number for the life of the grant.

Any new grant allocation or award that needs a request for reimbursement of expenses is required to be billed through the Grant Billing module.  It is the responsibility of the Financial Partner to assist the grant manager in following the new processing procedure.   Please reach out to Lora Langlee (33432) for training on how to process a Request for Reimbursement through the Lawson Grant Billing module.  By processing requests through the Grant Billing module, the system generates an accounts receivable entry and helps to make the cash receipt process more expeditious and accurate. 

Some report criteria options within Lawson and the LBI Dashboard provide for the selection of fiscal year.   You may begin to see accounts for future fiscal years in drop down menus for certain grants. The accounts cannot be used at this time because they are for future years, and restricted by Period of Availability. When a multi-year award comes into the District the accounts and budgets are set up for the current year, plus future years to provide year end and future year budget development efficiencies.

Grantees may use Federal grant funds for travel expenses only to the extent such costs are reasonable and necessary and do not exceed charges normally allowed by the grantee in its regular operations consistent with its written travel policies. In the absence of an acceptable written policy regarding travel costs, grantees must follow the Federal travel and subsistence rates established by the General Services Administration.  48 CFR 31.205-46(a) (established under subchapter I of Chapter 57, Title 5, United States Code (“Travel and Subsistence Expenses; Mileage Allowances”)). Federal grant funds may be used to pay expenses for transportation, per diem, and lodging if the costs are reasonable and necessary.  Grantees should follow their own travel and per diem rules and costs when charging travel expenses to their Federal grant.  As noted in the cost principles, grantees that do not have travel policies must follow: 

…the rates and amounts established under subchapter I of Chapter 57, Title 5, United States Code (“Travel and Subsistence Expenses; Mileage Allowances”), or by the Administrator of General Services, or by the President (or his or her designee) pursuant to any provisions of such subchapter shall apply to travel under sponsored agreements (48 CFR 31.205-46(a)).

See 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards

If attending a meeting or conference is necessary to achieve the goals and objectives of the grant, and if the expenses are reasonable (based on the grantee’s own policies and procedures, and State and local laws), Federal grant funds may be used to pay for travel expenses of grantee employees, consultants, or experts to attend a meeting or conference. To determine whether a meeting or conference is “necessary,” grantees should consider whether the goals and objectives of the grant can be achieved without the meeting or conference and whether there is an equally effective and more efficient way (in terms of time and money) to achieve the goals and objectives of the grant (see question #3).  To determine whether the expenses are “reasonable,” grantees should consider how the costs (e.g., lodging, travel, registration fees) compare with other similar events and whether the public would view the expenses as a worthwhile use of Federal funds.

Yes. Grantees may offer meeting participants the option of paying for food (such as lunch, breakfast, or snacks) and beverages, and arrange for these items to be available at the meeting.

Grantees should follow their own policies and procedures and State and local law for using non-Federal resources to pay for food or beverages, including its policies and procedures for accepting gifts or in-kind contributions from third parties. However, if non-Federal funds are used to pay for food at a grantee-sponsored meeting or conference, the grantee should make clear through a written disclaimer or announcement (e.g., a note on the agenda for the meeting) that Federal grant funds were not used to pay for the cost of the food or beverages.  Grantees should also be sure that any food and beverages provided with non-Federal funds are appropriate for the grantee event, and do not detract from the event’s purpose. 

No. Use of Federal grant funds to pay for the cost of alcoholic beverages is strictly prohibited.

The cost of food and beverages, because they are easily associated with a specific cost objective, such as a Department grant, are properly treated as direct costs, rather than indirect costs. As noted above, Federal grant funds cannot be used to pay for food and beverages unless doing so is reasonable and necessary.

The grantee has an obligation, under these circumstances, to confirm that the beverages are truly complimentary and will not be reflected as a charge to the grant in another area. For example, many hotels provide complimentary beverages to all guests who attend a meeting at their facility without reflecting the costs of those beverages in other items that their guests or, in this case, the grantee purchases.  As noted above, it would not be acceptable for a vendor to embed the cost of beverages in other costs, such as meeting space.  

Federal grant funds may only be used for expenses that are reasonable and necessary. In planning a conference or meeting and negotiating with vendors for meeting space and other relevant goods and services, grantees may only pay for allowable costs.  If a hotel vendor embeds food and beverage costs into a hotel contract for meeting space, the grantee should work with the hotel to have the food and beverage costs identified and “backed out” of the contract, and have the price they are paying for meeting space appropriately adjusted to reflect the fact that food and beverages are not being purchased.  The fact that food and beverages are embedded in a contract for meeting space does not mean that the food and beverages are being provided at no cost to the grantee. 

In virtually all cases, using grant funds to pay for food and beverages for receptions and “networking” sessions is not justified because participation in such activities is rarely necessary to achieve the purpose of the meeting or conference.

Generally, there is a very high burden of proof to show that paying for food and beverages with Federal funds is necessary to meet the goals and objectives of a Federal grant. When a grantee is hosting a meeting, the grantee should structure the agenda for the meeting so that there is time for participants to purchase their own food, beverages, and snacks.  In addition, when planning a meeting, grantees may want to consider a location in which participants have easy access to food and beverages.  

While these determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis, and there may be some circumstances where the cost would be permissible, it is likely that those circumstances will be rare. Grantees, therefore, will have to make a compelling case that the unique circumstances they have identified would justify these costs as reasonable and necessary. 

If program offices have questions, they should consult with their program attorney.

No. Meetings and conferences hosted by grantees are directed by the grantee, not the U.S. Department of Education.  Therefore, the meeting or conference may not be promoted as a U.S. Department of Education meeting or conference, and the seal of the U.S. Department of Education must not be used on conference materials or signage without Department approval.  In addition, all meeting or conference materials paid for with Federal grant funds must include appropriate disclaimers, such as the following, which is provided in EDGAR § 75.620 and states: 

The contents of this (insert type of publication; e.g., book, report, film) were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Grantees, other than States, must, as appropriate, comply with the minimum requirements in 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at § 200.318, and should follow their own policies and procedures (or their local or State policies, as applicable) for ensuring that there are no conflicts of interest in the procurement process. 

Grantees should consider whether a face-to-face meeting or conference is the most effective or efficient way to achieve the desired result and whether there are alternatives, such as webinars or video conferences, that would be equally or similarly effective and more efficient in terms of time and costs than a face-to-face meeting. In addition, grantees should consider how the meeting or conference will be perceived by the public; for example, will the meeting or conference be perceived as a good use of taxpayer dollars?

Examples of technical information include, but are not limited to, the following, each of which must be related to implementing the program or project funded by the grant:

• Specific programmatic, administrative, or fiscal accountability requirements;
• Best practices in a particular field;
• Theoretical, empirical, or methodological advances in a particular field;
• Effective methods of training or professional development; and
• Effective grant management and accountability.

Yes. Federal grant funds may be used to host a meeting or conference if doing so is:

1. Consistent with its approved application or plan;
2. For purposes that are directly relevant to the program and the operation of the grant, such as for conveying technical information related to the objectives of the grant; and
3. Reasonable and necessary to achieve the goals and objectives of the approved grant.