This Bulletin describes the Office  of the State Comptroller’s contract and expenditure requirements related to funding provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA” or the “Recovery Act”).  OSC intends to closely scrutinize contracts and monitor payments charged to Recovery Act appropriations to ensure adequate accountability, compliance, and effective and efficient use of ARRA funds.

Contracting Guidelines:

In awarding contracts which will utilize ARRA funds, agencies must adhere to the same procurement laws and regulations that would apply for any other contract.  Federal guidelines are clear that although the Recovery Act calls for expeditious action and expenditure of ARRA funds, this, by itself, is not sufficient justification for the non-competitive award of contracts.  OSC will review ARRA funded contracts to ensure that the agency has maximized competition to the extent possible, and that all other procurement record requirements have been met.  If an agency is considering a contracting approach which satisfies the goals and requirements of ARRA as well as OSC requirements, but differs from the processes typically followed by the agency, it is important to bring OSC on board as early as possible to minimize delays in review and approval.

ARRA funded contracts must also comply with applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding the employment of minority group members and women, and the utilization of small, disadvantaged, minority-owned and women-owned businesses.  In awarding these contracts, agencies should maximize such opportunities to the fullest extent possible.

According to Federal resources regarding implementation of ARRA, the Federal Office of Budget and Management expects to issue – in March 2009 - standard terms and conditions to be included in contracts (see the following excerpt from Recovery.gov).  Agencies should familiarize themselves with these requirements and ensure that contract terms and conditions satisfy ARRA requirements.

“OMB [the Federal Office of Budget and Management] has established working groups to develop standard terms and conditions to be included within grants, contracts, loans and loan guarantees, or other forms of assistance, as appropriate and in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) which are expected to be published in interim final rules or otherwise issued for agency use in March 2009.  Agencies intending to finalize award agreement(s) prior to the issuance of the government wide standard should ensure that any agency developed terms and conditions related to the Recovery Act reflect the specific language of the Act and are approved by OMB, if required by the PRA.  Agencies should consult OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs if they are uncertain as to whether the PRA requires OMB approval of agency developed terms and conditions. “

All contracts and amendments submitted to OSC for approval which utilize ARRA funds, in whole or in part, should be clearly identified as such by the agency.  This will allow OSC and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to prioritize the review and processing of these agreements.

We ask that you write “Federal Stimulus” in red ink on the Batch Control List (“BCL”) which accompanies the agreement.  For those agreements which are submitted to OSC without a BCL, e.g. transactions which are direct entered by OSC, the agency must attach a cover sheet which clearly denotes “Federal Stimulus” in red.  Similarly, agencies should clearly identify ARRA funded contracts and amendments which are being submitted to the Office of the Attorney General for review and approval by writing “Federal Stimulus” in red ink on the required transmittal letter to the OAG Contract Approval Unit.

Failure by an agency to clearly mark an incoming transaction may prevent the appropriate prioritization of the transaction.

Agencies are reminded that contract status information is now available on the New York State VendRep System.  VendRep provides authorized agency and vendor users a way to obtain the status of any contract transaction that has been received by OSC since April 2003.  Using the Contract Search feature, agencies can view the status of their own “Received,” “Approved” and “Non-Approved” contracts submitted to OSC.  Agencies can also view the status of “Approved” contracts for all State agencies.  Vendors can view the status of their own “Received,” “Approved” and “Non-Approved” contracts submitted to OSC by using the Contract Data link and filtering on Status. Contract status data is updated nightly.

Agencies are reminded not to direct vendors to OSC for status information.  We encourage you and your vendors to utilize the VendRep System to obtain information about the status of your contracts.  To enroll in the VendRep System go to:
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/vendrep/login.htm

If your agency or your vendors are not already participating in the VendRep System, or if you need assistance establishing the user roles needed to search contract status data, please call the OSC Helpdesk at 866-370-4672 or 518-408-4672.

All ARRA expenditures are subject to existing OSC expenditure requirements.  Agencies should exercise adequate internal controls over the expenditure of ARRA funds to keep them free from fraud, waste or abuse.

Consistent with Bulletin G-67, every agency should have a system to monitor its contracts, including contractor's performance towards stated contract goals and objectives.  The purpose of the monitoring system is to determine whether all services or commodities paid for by the state are delivered in accordance with the contract, and in an acceptable manner.  OSC expects agencies to provide adequate monitoring of all ARRA contracts to ensure funds are used appropriately and provide the State the anticipated benefits of ARRA.

Vouchers:

A fundamental aspect of the Recovery Act is accountability and transparency through frequent reports that will be published on State and Federal websites.  In order to preserve the integrity of reporting of payments made to grant recipients and to uphold the stated objectives of ARRA, it is necessary that all payments made from Recovery Act appropriations can be tracked and reported. 

To this end the following rules are prescribed for vouchers that charge payments to Recovery Act funds:

• All vouchers charging a Recovery Act appropriation must contain a value of “U” in the Indicator-Statewide field of the voucher.

• One to Many – Any voucher which must charge multiple expenditure lines, and one of the expenditure lines charge a Recovery Act appropriation, may only have one payee.

• Many to One – Any voucher with one, and only one, expenditure line may have multiple payees.  Since payments made from Recovery Act funds must be tracked and reported based on the Federal programs identified in the Recovery Act, State agencies may not submit multiple payee vouchers that contain multiple Recovery Act program charges.  For example, two (2) vouchers are required for school districts scheduled to receive Recovery Act payments under Title I and IDEA/Special Education programs.

If a voucher requires special or expedited processing as a result of the payment charging a Recovery Act appropriation, an email should be submitted to the mailbox STEXPEND@osc.state.ny.us.  The email message should contain the action needed and the reason for such action.  State Expenditures staff will facilitate your request and provide you an update on the result.

For questions regarding this Bulletin, please contact:
For payments:
New York State Office of the State Comptroller
Bureau of State Expenditures
110 State Street, 10th Floor
Albany NY 12236
(518) 486-6745

For contracts:

New York State Office of the State Comptroller
Bureau of Contracts
110 State Street, 11th Floor
Albany NY 12236
(518)  474-4622