1. Transparency Act Requirements
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Open and Honest:
Transparency Act Requirements
What You Need to Know!

2. Sound Check
Audio is available via the internet Please be sure your— speakers are on & your volume turned up

3. Agenda Highlight the Transparency Act
Explain the new reporting requirements
Assess your ability to capture the data
Provide tips for ensuring data quality
Identify submission procedures
Take your questions

4. Presenter David J. Downey U.S. Department of Education
Office of the Secretary
Risk Management Service

5. Panelists Ayisa Crowe Pedro Romero Constance Davis
U.S. Department of Education
Ayisa Crowe
Office of the Secretary
Pedro Romero
Constance Davis
Office of the Chief Financial Officer

6. Special Guest Karen Lee Office of Management and Budget
Lead for Open Government in the
Office of Federal Financial management
Oversees the implementation of Federal
spending transparency for grant awards
among other areas of financial management

7. Transparency Act Overview
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act
AKA: FFATA
Signed into law September 6, 2006; amended in ‘08
Purpose: To empower every American with the ability
to hold the government accountable for each
spending decision. The end result is to reduce
wasteful spending in the government.

10. Who is Impacted?
The Transparency Act or FFATA legislation requires information on Federal awards (Federal financial assistance and expenditures) be made available to the public via a single, searchable website.
This impacts the awarding agencies and you
the grantees and subrecipients.

11. New Reporting Requirements
Take effect on October 1, 2010
Are located in 2 CFR Part 170
Requires disclosure of entities receiving Federal
funding through Federal awards such as grants and
their sub-grants
Requires disclosure of executive compensation
Requires the reported data for each award to
be available on website open to the public
Agencies assist OMB with implementation 2

12. Who is Impacted? Entities who receive or administer Federal
financial assistance in the form of:
Contracts
Grants
Cooperative agreements
Loans and loan guarantees
Subsidies
Insurance
Food commodities
Direct appropriations
Assessed and voluntary contributions
“Other”

13. Our Focus Today
Grants
Cooperative agreements
Subawards

14. Subaward Definition Legal instrument to provide support for the
performance of any portion of the substantive project
or program for which you received this award and that
you as the recipient award to an eligible subrecipient
Contracts, small purchase agreements, vendor
agreements, and consultant agreements awarded
under an ED grant for supplies, equipment, and
services are not considered subawards for Federal
financial assistance under FATA, and thus, should not
be reported in FSRS by the prime awardee

15. Who is Exempt? Individual or “natural person” outside of a business
or non-profit organization he or she operates
Compensated executives if in the previous FY the
entity received less than 80% of its annual gross revenue
from Federal financial assistance and less than $25 million
from Federal financial assistance and procurement
contracts or subcontracts
Gross income, from all sources under $300,000
Subawards
Total compensation of the five most highly compensated
executives of any subrecipient

16. Who Else is Exempt? Cooperative research and development
agreements pursuant to the Federal Technology
Transfer Act of 1986 (15 U.S.C.)
Technical assistance (which provides services in lieu of
money)
Transfer of title to Federally owned property
provided in lieu of money—even if it is called a grant
Any award funded in whole or in part with Recovery
Act funds
Public already has access to compensation info

17. Classified Information
Classified information remains exempt from the prime and subaward reporting requirement

18. Requirements for Awarding Agencies
Make applicants aware of the reporting requirements
for the Transparency Act in all announcements,
regulations, notices, or other published documents
Ensure that applicants have the necessary processes
and systems in place to accurately report
Include the award term in Appendix A
Agencies report prime award information to
USASpending.gov on 5th and 20th of each month
Assist OMB with implementation and inform awardees

19. New Requirements for Grantees
Prime grant awardees of grants $25,000 or more must report associated grant sub-awards
for Federal financial assistance
Executive compensation information for awardees
Be registered with Central Contractor Registration
See CCR.gov

20. Timetable Reporting for prime and sub-award goes into effect
October 1, 2010
Prime awardees must report first tier sub-award
information by the end of the following month from
when the award was made or obligated
Example:
An award is made on October 15, 2010.
The awardee has until November 30, 2010 to report.

21. Data Elements Reporting system (FSRS) Pre-populates prime awardee and
subawardee information from the CCR. Prime awardees
enter following sub-award information if not pre-populated:
Name of entity receiving award
DBA name (Grants)
Amount of award
Subcontract/Subcontract Number
Funding agency
CFDA Number (Grants)
NAICS (Contracts)
Treasury Account Symbol
Award title descriptive

22. Data Elements
Location of the entity (including congressional district)
Place of performance (including congressional district)
Unique identifier (e.g., DUNS) of the entity and its parent and
DUNS +4 (Grants)
Total compensation and names of top five executives

23. Summary
Who?
Reports what?
How?
Agency
Prime award information for awards $25K or more
FAADS+ for grants, FPDS-NG for contracts
Prime grant awardee
Company information
Executive compensation
Grant subaward information for awards $25K or more
CCR
CCR or FSRS*
FSRS
If executive compensation is not found in CCR it can be supplied through FSRS

24. Ensuring Quality Data

25. Assessing Methodology
Essential step in the project’s development
Preparation is key
Anticipate potential problem areas
- Address in the design phase or early as possible
Ensure consistency across the board
Communicate clearly with staff collecting and recording data

26. Where Methodology Goes Wrong
Problems by design
Problems arising from human error
Determine just where
they overlap and how
to eliminate, reduce,
negate their effects
on reporting.
Human
Error
Design

27. Where Methodology Goes Wrong
Fundamental design flaws
Data collection mechanisms
Documentation
Communication breakdowns

28. Lost, Inaccurate, or Questionable Data
What do I do if I cannot find my grant in the FSRS.gov system?
Federal agencies must report all award transactions within 30 days of the award to USASpending.gov.   Typically, the Department of Education (ED) submits award transactions to USASpending.gov on the 5th and 20th of each month.   If your grant was awarded prior to the 5th , or between the 5th and 20th, check to see if it appears in USASpending.gov. If it does, you will be able to report in FSRS within 48 hours.  If it does not appear in USASpending.gov within 30 days of your award, contact your program officer for assistance.
When in doubt, contact your program officer!

29. Questions Answers Further Recovery Act questions-
ED contact listed on the Grant Award Notification or,

30. Thank you for participating!
Please complete an evaluation—
Your feedback is important.

31. Resource Documents FFATA.org Central Contractor Registration
USASpending.gov
FSRS.gov
whitehouse.gov/omb/open
Securities and Exchange Act of 1934
Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986
1-800-USA-LEARN

32. Resource Documents G5 Hotline:
Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday - Friday, EST
Toll-Free:
TTY:
Local:

33. Definitions and Key Terms
1) Entity—means all of the following, as defined in 2 CFR part 25:
i. A Governmental organization, which is a State, local government,
or Indian tribe;
ii. A foreign public entity;
iii. A domestic or foreign nonprofit organization;
iv. A domestic or foreign for-profit organization;
v. A Federal agency, but only as a subrecipient under an award or
subaward to a non-Federal entity.
2) Executive—means officers, managing partners, or any other
employees in management positions.

34. Definitions and Key Terms
3) Subaward—term to denote a legal instrument to provide support
for the performance of any portion of the substantive project
or program for which you received this award and that you as the
recipient award to an eligible subrecipient.
ii. The term does not include your procurement of property and
services needed to carry out the project or program (for further
explanation, see Sec of the attachment to OMB Circular
A-133, ``Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit
Organizations'').
iii. A subaward may be provided through any legal agreement,
including an agreement that you or a subrecipient considers a contract.

35. Definitions and Key Terms
4) Subrecipient—means an entity that:
i. Receives a subaward from you (the recipient) under this award;
ii. Is accountable to you for the use of the Federal funds provided
by the subaward.
5) Total compensation—means the cash and noncash dollar value
earned by the executive during the recipient's or subrecipient's
preceding fiscal year and includes the following (for more information
see 17 CFR (c)(2)):
i. Salary and bonus.
ii. Awards of stock, stock options, and stock appreciation rights.
Use the dollar amount recognized for financial statement
reporting purposes with respect to the fiscal year in accordance
with the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123
(Revised 2004) (FAS 123R), Shared Based Payments.

36. Definitions and Key Terms
5) Total Compensation—
iii. Earnings for services under non-equity incentive plans.
This does not include group life, health, hospitalization or medical
reimbursement plans that do not discriminate in favor of
executives, and are available generally to all salaried employees.
iv. Change in pension value. This is the change in present value
of defined benefit and actuarial pension plans.
v. Above-market earnings on deferred compensation which is
not tax-qualified.vi. Other compensation, if the aggregate value
of all such other compensation (e.g. severance, termination
payments, value of life insurance paid on behalf of the employee,
perquisites or property) for the executive exceeds $10,000.

37. FAQ #1
Why is reporting under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) required?
First-tier subaward data related to Federal contracts and grants and executive compensation data of these awardees must be reported, as FFATA requires that this information be made available to the public.

38. FAQ #2 When will FFATA be implemented for Federal grants?
For Federal grants, FFATA reporting requirements were implemented on October 1, 2010.

39. FAQ # 3
What grant awards are subject to the subaward and executive compenstation reporting requirements of FFATA?
New Federal, non-Recovery Act funded grant awards with an award date on or after October 1, 2010, and resulting first-tier subawards for Federal financial assistance are subject to the reporting requirements under FFATA. For those new Federal grants as of October 1, 2010, if the initial award is equal to or over $25,000, reporting of subaward and executive compensation data is required.

40. FAQ # 3 (continued)
If the initial award is below $25,000 but subsequent grant modifications result in a total award equal to or over $25,000, the award will be subject to the reporting requirements, as of the date the award exceeds $25,000. If the initial award equals or exceeds $25,000 but funding is subsequently deobligated such that the total award amount falls below $25,000, the award continues to be subject to the reporting requirements of FFATA.

41. FAQ # 4 Under a grant, what is considered a first-tier subaward?
A subaward is an award made by the prime recipient to an eligible sub-recipient, or an award made by a sub-recipient at one tier to a sub-recipient at the next lower tier, for the purpose of supporting the performance of any portion of the substantive project or program for which a grant was awarded.

42. FAQ # 5 What are required FFATA data reporting elements?
The key FFATA data reporting elements are:
--Name of Entity Receiving Award
--Amount of Award
--Funding Agency
--CFDA Program Number for Grants
--Program Source
--Award Title
--Location of the Entity

43. FAQ # 6 What encompasses the an entity’s location?
(Including Congressional district) --Place of Performance (including Congressional district) --Unique Identifier of the Entity and its Parent Organization --Total Compensation and Names of Top Five Executives -- Collect the Total compensation and names of the top five executives if: More than 80% of annual gross revenues are from the Federal government, and those revenues are greater than $25M annually, and compensation information is not already available through reporting to the SEC.

44. FAQ # 7
Are subawardees required to report data as required under FFATA?
No. The prime grant awardee must report all information associated with a Federal grant, i.e. the prime awardee will report executive compensation data for the prime awardee and for its subawardees, as well as any other information associated with its subawardees.

45. FAQ # 8 How will prime awardees report data as required under FFATA?
Prime awardees will report using the FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS), and will thus, be required to register in FSRS. During registration, the prime awardee’s information data fields will be pre-populated with information from the Central Contractor Registration System (CCR). As such, all prime grant awardees and subrecipients are required to register in CCR.
(FAQ continued)

46. FAQ # 8 continued
After creating an account and logging into the system, prime awardees will have access to a “MyFSRS” page with a set of actions available to them. This customized page will give awardees the ability to file multiple reports, access and update previously initiated reports, view approved reports, and create batch uploads of data.

47. FAQ # 9 When will prime awardees be able to report in FSRS?
Prime awardees will be able to report in FSRS on October 29, 2010.

48. FAQ # 10
How much time does a prime recipient have to report executive compensation and/or subaward information?
For subaward reporting, the prime awardee must report information related to a subaward by the end of the month following the month the subaward or obligation was made.

49. FAQ # 10 Examples Example A:
Prime awardee awards subaward on October 1, 2010 Prime awardee must report subaward data by November 30, 2010.
Example B:
Prime awardee awards subaward on October 31, 2010 Prime awardee must report subaward data by November 30, 2010

50. FAQ # 10 Examples Continued
Similarly, the prime awardee must report the subawardee’s executive compensation data by the end of the month following the month the award or obligation was made.
Example C:
Prime awardee awards subaward on October 1, 2010 Prime awardee must report subawardee’s executive compensation data by November 30, 2010
Example D:
Prime awardee awards subaward on October 31, 2010 Prime awardee must report subawardee’s executive compensation data by November 30, 2010

51. FAQ # 10 Examples Continued
For the prime awardee’s executive compensation data, the prime awardee must report by the end of the month following the month the award or obligation was made.
Example E:
ED awards grant to prime awardee on October 1, 2010 Prime awardee must report executive compensation data by November 30, 2010.
Example F:
ED awards grant to prime awardee on October 31, 2010 Prime awardee must report executive compensation data by November 30, 2010

52. FAQ # 11
Are there Federal grant awards that are not subject to reporting under FFATA?
Yes. These grants fall into one of four categories.
An initial grant award of less then $25,000, and that is not supplemented with subsequent funding resulting in an amount equal to or greater than $25,000; however, if the award is supplemented resulting in a total award equal to or over $25,000, the award becomes subject to FFATA reporting requirements;
A grant awarded prior to October 1, 2010 that will receive continuation funding on or after October 1, 2010;

53. FAQ # 11 Continued
Grant awards to individuals who apply for, or receive, Federal awards as natural persons (i.e, unrelated to any business or non-profit organization he or she may own or operate in his or her name);
Grant awards to entities that had a gross income, from all sources, of less than $300,000 in the entities’ pervious tax year; Grant awards under which the required reporting would disclose classified information as addressed in FFATA Sections 2(a)(1)(C), 2(e), 3; and Grant awards, whether existing or new as of October 1, 2010, that are funded under the Recovery Act, as these grant awardees will continue to report through FederalReporting.gov.

54. FAQ # 12 Where will the FFATA data be displayed to the public?
Data will be displayed to the public via USASpending.gov beginning in Fiscal Year 2011.