Policy Guidelines
OFCY Reporting and Fiscal Polices for Grantees
Please Note: Grantees with questions or concerns about these policies are encouraged to contact Terry Hill at thill@oaklandnet.com or Debra Chester at dchester@oaklandnet.com
Administrative and Indirect Costs Policy
General Guidelines for Quarterly Reports and Invoicing
The fiscal sponsor is the organization signing the contract. This is the agency the city holds legally liable for all aspects of the contract including project implementation, fiscal management, and communication with OFCY regarding the grant. In most cases the fiscal sponsor is the lead agency. If an agency does not have non-profit status and therefore has a separate fiscal sponsor, it is the only "lead" agency in the sense that it delivers program services. Please see the "Non-Profit Status Confirmation Letter". The fiscal sponsor is not simply a pass through for funding to the lead agency of subcontracting (partner) agencies. The fiscal sponsor will be legally liable for all aspects of the grant as outlined below: Fiscal Sponsors are expected and authorized to:
- Manage the finances of the grant
- Deliver program activities and/or monitor the delivery of program activities by subcontracting (partnering) agencies
- Communicate with OFCY regarding the grant
- Review and approve reports, invoices, and Scope of Work/Budget modification requests before submission to OFCY
- Submit reports, invoices, and Scope of Work/ Budget modification requests
- Pick up checks
- Terminate contracts with subcontracting (partnering) agencies with the approval of OFCY if warranted
Administrative and Indirect Costs Policy
Administrative/Indirect costs: Up to 10% may be included (15% for Collaborative Grantees. Examples of allowable expenses in the administrative/indirect line item include: audit, bookkeeping, payroll/finance, facilities maintenance, fiscal sponsor costs, insurance, rent, storage, utilities, and allocated personnel costs (Executive Director's time or any other staff who works minimally on the funded program). The 10% cap on administrative/indirect costs is calculated using the subtotal of direct costs for the program.
Definitions:
Administrative Costs are generally defined as direct costs that support the service or program being funded but are not explicitly part of the program. OFCY recognizes that these costs are necessary for the proper management of the program and are reimbursable expenses. Examples of Administrative Costs would be rent, utilities, office supplies and insurance.
Indirect Costs are defined as costs that are not directly traceable to the program and are generally expressed as a percentage of personnel or total costs. OFCY recognizes that these costs may be necessary for the proper management of the program and may be reimbursable expenses.
In order to collect and analyze the evaluation data required by City of Oakland Legislation, grantees are required to participate in the OFCY's data management and evaluation systems. Grantees are required to cooperate and collaborate with Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) evaluation and data management consultants See Change and/or Public Profit LLC. For more information on Evaluation, click here.
OFCY does not fund capital assets and matching funds from the state OFCY should not be used for these purchases.
Upon execution of contracts, are advanced (unless waived by the Grantee) an amount not to exceed a total of 25% of total grant amount if $100,000 or less. For grant amounts over $100,000 15% of total grant amount will be advanced. Summer programs are advanced 75% of the grant amount. The advance amount is offset against the 3rd and 4th quarter payments to Grantee.
Once a grant amount has been approved by the Oakland City Council, OFCY staff will initiate a grant agreement form with signature approvals by the grantee, Department of Human Services Director, City Attorney Contract Compliance, City Administrator and the City Clerk. OFCY Staff will also work with the grantee to finalize a scope of work and budget. Grant Agreement Documents will include: the term of the grant; the amount of the grant for the current year; and the amount of the allowed advance.
The grant execution process includes the following steps:
I. Get All Documents Together: Not having all your documents in order is the number one reason why contracts are delayed. Click here for the checklist.
II. Contract Negotiation Meeting: At the meeting, all contract attachments are to be turned in, and your organization will be meeting individually with OFCY staff to look at Scopes of Work and Budgets.
MOST COMMON REASONS FOR CONTRACT DELAYS:
In many cases, this situation can be avoided by proper preparation of contract attachments and submission of proper documentation.
Please pay especially close attention to these attachments!
- Schedule N-1: Equal Benefits - Declaration of Nondiscrimination with supporting documents proving such compliance. We have created a Documentation Guide that can direct your organization in submitting the attachment and supporting documentation correctly, the first time around.
- IRS Letter of Non-profit Status. This letter from the IRS must show your organization's current IRS status. Any letter showing that your status has expired will not be accepted.
- Insurance Coverage. In most cases, this is the most time-consuming piece of documentation to gather. The guidelines for insurance coverage are set in the City of Oakland's document Schedule Q, but we have also created another quick fact sheet to help guide your organization to meeting all of the insurance requirements. Check to make sure that none of your policies expire during the time period when the contracting process is taking place.
A contract is considered fully executed when the Grantee, Department of Human Services, Contract Compliance, The City Attorney, the City Administrator, and City Clerk have signed the grant agreement, and the document has been assigned a Purchase Order number by the Department of Human Services fiscal division.
IF YOUR CONTRACT IS DELAYED:
Contracting with the City of Oakland is estimated to take 6-8 weeks from the time your file is complete with all attachments and signed contracts; however, there are many complications that can occur that may slow down the process. Although we try our best to get your organization an executed contract as soon as possible in order to process your Advance payment, for many organizations this cannot happen soon enough.
Grantees may request two revisions to the contract budget during the contract year. Budget revisions must be submitted prior to submitting the third quarter report. Contract modifications may not exceed the total amount of funding approved by City Council. All requests to modify the contract budget or contracted service level must be APPROVED IN ADVANCE of implementation. Approval of contract budget modification is granted only when provided in writing by OFCY.
Payments shall be dependent upon documentation that Grantee has received grants, in-kind services, donations or other pre-approved non-City sources of funding, totaling at least twenty-five (25) percent of the total project amount. See the Proof of Match Guidelines for more details. Failure to secure at least a twenty-five (25) percent match by the close of the third quarter, and to provide documentation thereof, may result in a twenty-five (25) percent reduction in the total amount of compensation paid to Grantee.
All obligations incurred in the performance of the contract must be reported to OFCY within sixty (60) days following the termination of this Agreement. No invoices submitted after the sixty-day period will be recognized as binding upon the City for reimbursement.
OFCY requires annual submittal of audited financial statements, completed by a reputable accounting firm. Grantee must comply with all audit, inspection, record-keeping and fiscal reporting requirements mandated by the City, and all state and/or federal audit requirements to said funding source. The report of the certified audit should be submitted to OFCY Staff with the agency proposal.
All agencies must have current insurance certificates on file with OFCY Schedule Q. Grantees must have general commercial liability, auto liability, fidelity, and workers' contract execution process. An auto liability waiver may be granted if no automobiles are specifically used for the program. As per the grant agreement, Contractor must name the City of Oakland, its Council members, directors, officers, agents and employees as additional insured's in its Comprehensive Commercial General Liability and Automobile Liability policies as Additional Insured.
Subject to approval by OFCY Staff, a grantee may subcontract a portion of a scope of work to a subcontractor. In general, the subcontractor should meet the requirements of the City of Oakland for contracting agencies.
OFCY grants are implemented on a cost-reimbursement basis. As such, grantees must
fill out on-line invoice forms quarterly in order to draw down grant funding. Grantees
electronically invoice OFCY through our secured website at http://www.youthservices.net. Grantees must provide the services projected in their proposal and scope of work, subject to contract negotiations. Failure to provide these services may result in reduced payments or suspension of payment.
General Guidelines for Quarterly Reports and Invoicing
OFCY Grantees must submit timely, completed quarterly reports (e.g. Invoice, Quarterly Narrative Report Form, Program Activity Report Form, and Participant ID Form). All reports are submitted electronically through our secured website at http://www.youthservices.net Grantees are required to invoice OFCY on or before the following dates:
- October 15, 2010
- January 14, 2011
- April 15, 2011
- July 8, 2011
This allows grantees to get their reimbursement in a timely fashion. Multiple invoices or late invoices submitted to OFCY may result in delayed payment and potential default of the grant. OFCY staff should be able to compare invoices to the items included in the grantee's approved budget. Additional personnel positions or new expense categories should not be included on invoices. Cost allocations to OFCY should not change during the grant year unless there is an approved Budget Modification to do so (see section entitled "Budget Revisions").
OFCY will not require grantees to submit quarterly receipts or personnel records with their invoice, unless required by OFCY Staff. Backup information and support documentation for all expenditures may be reviewed at the site visit.
Grantees must allow for time to process the invoices. If a grantee has questions or issues with an invoice, they should contact OFCY Staff.