In November 2009, USDOE issued amended special conditions to procure the services of a third-party fiduciary agent (TPFA), acceptable to USDOE, to perform the financial management duties required under Uniform Guidance Title 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 200 and 34 CFR, and Parts 75 and 76 for all grants awarded by USDOE to GDOE. The requirement for a TPFA has been maintained in USDOE special conditions letters since then.

	Bill Roberti Project Executive / Quality Oversight
John Hampford Senior Advisor / Project Supervisor	Chris Carrington Project Lead / Transition Planning Advisor	Lia Beauvais Project Director (Procurement, FMIS, Reporting)
Tom Shaffer Payroll & Indirect Cost Subject Matter Expert	Denise Wempe Transition Planning Advisor	Lawrence Bobb Warehouse / Inventory Manager
Amber Castro Senior Grants Analyst		Steven John Sablan Warehouse / Inventory Analyst

RESPONSIBILITIES AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE AGENT

​The responsibilities and requirements of the Agent under the Federal Fiscal Year 2018 Specific Conditions are as follows:

1. The Agent must work cooperatively and in a timely manner with GDOE to implement the activities and responsibilities described in the special conditions.
2. The Agent’s role encompasses financial management responsibilities concerning U.S. Department of Education (Department) grants, including, but not limited to, processing payments and disbursements, maintaining financial records, financial reporting, instituting and applying procurement, inventory, and payroll procedures that comply with applicable Federal requirements, and other duties as more fully described below.
3. The Agent must use the line-item budgets submitted by GDOE, as described in Attachment A, section 6, to track projected and actual expenditures for the programs under Department grants. The Agent must ensure that the expenditures proposed are only for allowable costs under each grant.
4. The Agent must establish, maintain, and manage a separate bank account for all Department grant funds. The Agent must provide GDOE, as appropriate, with written notice (e.g., copy of invoice) of when funds are needed for a disbursement under a particular grant.
5. The Agent must acknowledge that GDOE has drawdown authority and that it understands and agrees that it must draw down funds and provide any applicable matching funds to the Agent within 24 hours of receipt of the written notice from the Agent. Consideration may be given for reasonable delays due to any time differences that may exist between GDOE and its vendors. Failure by GDOE to reasonably comply with this condition concerning the time within which it must draw down funds may result in the Department requiring the transfer of drawdown authority to the Agent. In the event of GDOE’s failure to draw down finds in accordance with this condition, the Agent must notify the Department, and the Department will determine whether drawdown authority must be transferred to the Agent. If so, then immediately upon written notice of this decision from the Department, GDOE, as appropriate, must take all steps necessary to provide the Agent with full authority to perform drawdowns, including providing any information and authorization that the Department needs to recognize the Agent as the entity with drawdown authority.
6. The Agent must use fiscal control and accounting procedures that meet the requirements imposed on non-Federal entity grantees in accordance with Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §§ 200.302, 200.303, and 200.305(b).
7. The Agent must expend funds only for costs that are allowable under the respective grant programs, in accordance with 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E. Additionally, for purposes of the Consolidated Grant, the Agent must expend funds only for allowable costs under, and included in, each Department-approved Consolidated Grant plan applicable to the fiscal year in which the costs were obligated. If the Agent questions whether an expenditure is allowable, the Agent must raise this question with GDOE. If the Agent deems it necessary, the Agent may also request assistance from the Department in determining the allowability of any expenditure. 
8. The Agent must determine the value of any in-kind property or services donated to or provided by GDOE that are used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements as required by 2 CFR § 200.306, and must maintain records sufficient to document the basis for those valuations.
9. The Agent must take steps to prevent the lapsing of funds available under the grants, including ensuring timely disbursement of funds through the use of methods and procedures for payment that minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement as specified in GDOE’s Treasury-State agreement, as required under the Cash Management Improvement Act and Treasury regulations at 31 CFR Part 205. For grant programs not included in GDOE’s Treasury-State agreement, the Agent must meet the requirements in 2 CFR §200.305(b). GDOE and the Agent must coordinate the timing of drawdowns and disbursements to ensure that payments to staff, vendors and providers are prompt and timely. Should the Agent assume drawdown responsibility, it must draw down funds in a timely manner so that funds under the grants are deposited to the separate bank account on the same day that funds are drawn from the account to liquidate obligations under the grants, to the extent feasible. The Agent must ensure that any interest earned on advances of grant funds is repaid annually, as required by 2 CFR § 200.305(b)(9). 
10. The Agent must charge Department grants only for costs resulting from obligations that were properly made during the period of availability for the funds, including any carryover period. To ensure against the lapsing of Department funds, the Agent must liquidate obligations no later than 90 days after the end of the funding period or during any extension of that period authorized by the Department, in accordance with 2 CFR § 200.343(b).
11. The Agent may seek approval from the Department to charge allowable pre-award costs incurred by GDOE against grant awards to which these special conditions apply. The Agent must submit any request for pre-award costs to the Department in writing and may not reimburse any pre-award costs unless it receives written approval from the Department.
12. The Agent must establish and maintain a process for tracking and reporting time and effort spent by all employees whose salaries are paid under Department grants, including distribution of time among different funding sources for split-time employees, timely and accurate adjustments to time and effort information in the payroll system, and proper allocation of salary costs among Department grants based on records that accurately and properly record the distribution of each employee’s work on multiple cost objectives, the time the employee attends work, and, for those employees who work on a single cost objective, semiannual certifications. To carry out the responsibilities under this paragraph, the Agent must conduct an assessment of GDOE’s internal controls over payroll operations to ensure that the payroll process is functioning as intended and calculations of gross earnings from all work performed during the pay period are correct; an assessment to determine that there are proper controls and procedures for identifying employees who are paid in whole or in part from Department grant awards; an assessment to determine whether employees are being compensated at their approved salaries/pay rates and from appropriate funding sources; and other tests to ensure that payroll earnings, deductions, and withholdings are made in accordance with the law and correspond to information contained in the employee master file. The Agent must carry out the responsibilities under this paragraph consistent with Federal requirements in 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E.
13. The Agent must work with GDOE to ensure that the charging of direct and indirect costs against the respective Department grants is consistent with the applicable restricted and unrestricted indirect cost rates negotiated with, and approved by, the US. Department of Interior (GDOE’s cognizant Federal agency), and that any indirect cost rate proposals or agreements comply with the applicable requirements of 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E, and 34 CFR §§ 75.560-564 (discretionary grants) and 34 CFR §§ 76.560-569 (formula grants). In disbursing funds for allowable costs under the grants, the Agent must distinguish between direct and indirect costs and use accurate methods to allocate funds correctly between these two cost categories.
14. The Agent must establish contacts and working relationships with prospective vendors that can provide goods and services that GDOE needs under the grants. The Agent must have authority to enter into contracts with vendors on behalf of GDOE, and, in doing so, must comply with the provisions for procurement set forth in 2 CFR §§ 200.318-200.326.
15. Within 24 hours of the Agent‘s receipt of a vendor invoice, the Agent must provide a copy of the invoice to GDOE and ensure that the goods or services delivered are available for inspection and acceptance or rejection by GDOE staff requesting the goods or services. Consideration may be given for reasonable delays due to any time differences that may exist between GDOE and its vendors. The Agent must pay vendors for the delivered goods or services and must, to the extent possible, disburse funds to the vendors on the same day that funds are deposited into the separate bank account maintained by the Agent. The Agent must make payments by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by paper draft if EFT is not available or possible for a particular vendor.
16. The Agent must manage all tangible personal property procured under the grants in accordance with the requirements of 34 CFR §§ 200.313(a) and (c)-(e).
17. The Agent must maintain records that fully show the amount of funds under each grant, how GDOE uses the funds, the total cost of each project, the share of that cost provided from other sources, and other records to facilitate an effective audit, in accordance with 34 CFR § 75.730 (discretionary grants) and § 76.730 (formula grants). The Agent, acting on behalf of GDOE, must retain records in accordance with the provisions of 2 CFR § 200.333.
18. In general, the Agent must use fiscal control and fund accounting procedures that ensure proper disbursement of, and accounting for, Federal funds, in accordance with 34 CFR § 75.702 (discretionary grants) and § 76.702 (formula grants), and 2 CFR §§ 200.302, 200.303, and 200.305(b).
19. The Agent must maintain insurance as required under the terms of the contract. All transactions under the contract between GDOE and the Agent must be consistent with all applicable Federal requirements, including the Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR Part 200 and EDGAR at 34 CFR Part 75 or 76, as appropriate.
20. The Agent must comply generally with the requirements of 2 CFR § 200.327. Specifically, the Agent must produce quarterly reports concerning financial transactions of GDOE for submission to the Department, detailing for each grant award, including for each individual program for which GDOE is using Consolidated Grant funds: a) the date of receipt, and the amount, of each approved payment request; b) the date and amount of each draw down deposit; c) the date and amount of each payment or disbursement by the Agent; and d) any interest or other funds remaining in the account at the end of the quarter. These amounts must also be grouped by and comparable with the projections in the line item budgets described above in Attachment A, section 6, and must be reconciled with the Department’s G5. This reconciliation must include drawdown dates, drawdown amounts and available balances, by award. These reports shall be due within 10 working days after the end of each quarter. 
21. As GDOE implements and transfers to a new FMIS, the Agent must work with GDOE to assist in the training of employees and to provide transition assistance, including, but not limited to, transferring all necessary data from the Agent to the new FMIS, communicating information from the Agent to the contractor implementing the new FMIS, and providing feedback to GDOE and the Department on GDOE’s implementation of the new FMIS.
22. Except as noted herein, the Agent must comply with all provisions of EDGAR and the Uniform Guidance applicable to the Department grants awarded to GDOE.

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GDOE CONTRACTS WITH A&M
2015 4TH CONTRACT RENEWAL
2014 3RD CONTRACT RENEWAL
2013 2ND CONTRACT RENEWAL
2012 1ST CONTRACT RENEWAL
2010  CONTRACT AGREEMENT