FFATA Sub Award Report, Summary of What GAO Found (published March 2010)

1. FFATA Sub Award Report & OMB Guidance on Transparency ActDenise Stines Francis – dfrancis@governor.state.tx.us FFATA Sub Award Report, Summary of What GAO Found (published March 2010) • Requirement to include data on sub awards by January 2009 has not been implemented • Data on all grants is not being reported in USASpending.gov • Random sample of awards identified widespread inconsistencies between USASpending.gov data and records provided by awarding agencies • USASpending.gov site does not yet include all required information GAO Recommendations • Develop and implement a specific plan for the collection and reporting of sub award data, including a timeframe for including sub award data in USASpending.gov • Develop and implement a process to regularly ensure that all federal agencies report required award information in USASpending.gov • Revise guidance to federal agencies on reporting federal awards to clarify • the requirement that award titles describe the award’s purpose and • requirements for validating and documenting agency award data submitted by federal agencies; and • Include information on the city where work is performed in OMB’s public reporting of the completeness of agency data submissions

2. FFATA Sub Award Report & OMB Guidance on Transparency ActDenise Stines Francis – dfrancis@governor.state.tx.us OMB Open Government Directive – Federal Spending Transparency (April 6, 2010) Provides Guidance By: • Establishing an October 1, 2010 deadline for Federal agencies to initiate sub award reporting (FFATA) and provide a timeline for additional guidance to assist in meeting the goals established therein • Initiating new requirements for Federal agencies to maintain metrics on the quality and completeness of Federal spending data provided pursuant to FFATA • Announces the release of the new USASpending.gov website Sub-award Data Reporting • All Federal agencies will implement the requirement to collect sub-award data by October 1, 2010 • Recipients, sub-recipients, contractors, and sub-contractors should be prepared to report on applicable grants, contracts, and orders awarded, as soon a practicable after the sub-grant or sub-contract has been made, but no later than 30 days after that event • The guidance only applies to new grants, new contracts, and new task and delivery orders that are awarded after October 1, 2010 • Sub-award reporting will apply to sub-grants and sub-contracts for the first-tier sub-awards

3. FFATA Sub Award Report & OMB Guidance on Transparency ActDenise Stines Francis – dfrancis@governor.state.tx.us Sub-award Data Reporting (continued) • Sub-awards generally means a monetary award made as a result of an award to a grant recipient or contractor to a sub-recipient or sub-contractor, respectively. The term includes first-tier sub-awards, and does not include awards made by a first-tier sub-recipient or sub-contractor to a lower tier sub-recipient or sub-contractor • Required data elements include: • Name of the entity receiving the award • Amount of the award • Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, the North American Industry Classification System code or Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number (where applicable), program source, and an award title descriptive of the funding action • Location of the entity receiving the award and primary location of performance under the award including city, State, congressional district, and country • A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award and the parent entity of the recipient, should the entity be owned by another entity

4. FFATA Sub Award Report & OMB Guidance on Transparency ActDenise Stines Francis – dfrancis@governor.state.tx.us Sub-award Data Reporting (continued) • Names and total compensation of the five most highly compensated officers of the entity if-- • the entity in the proceeding fiscal year received --- • 80 percent or more of its annual gross revenues in Federal awards; and • $25,000,000 or more in annual gross revenues from Federal awards • the public does not have access to information about the compensation of the senior executives of the entity through periodic reports filed under section 13 (a) or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m (a), 78o (d) or section 6104 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; • Other relevant information specified by the OMB in subsequent guidance or regulation

5. FFATA Sub Award Report & OMB Guidance on Transparency ActDenise Stines Francis – dfrancis@governor.state.tx.us Possible Implications and Stakeholder Comments • With such limited lead time between now and October 1, 2010, how are States to ensure that their agencies will report in a timely and accurate manner? • Will system-to-system reporting be an option for states to upload sub-award data, and will beta testing be available before October 1 to ensure that at least several hundred lines of data can be uploaded at one time? • It seems reasonable to have states and other grantees incorporate the same quarterly metrics into their systems if feasible, however, proposed deadlines appear overly ambitious • Where is the format for the data quality plan? Is staff available to work on this during the identified timeframes? • How will stakeholder/grantee feedback be solicited by OMB or others re: the upcoming implementation---will OMB/Federal agencies poll participants from the sub-award pilot?