Sneak Preview: Post-Award UG Revisions Include Performance, Closeout Reporting
(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in its revised version of the uniform guidance at 2 C.F.R. Part 200, is amending existing language related to award period of performance, performance reporting and deadlines for closeout, along with numerous other amendments to post-award provisions in Subpart D.
OMB’s revisions are part of an overall update to guidance contained in Title 2, Subtitle A, of the Code of Federal Regulations. The revisions are the culmination of OMB’s required five-year review of the guidance, as stated at §200.109.
The issuance of the uniform guidance revisions comes seven months after OMB published proposed revisions in January and reviewed thousands of comments submitted in response to the proposal. The general effective date of the revised guidance is Nov. 12, and it becomes specifically effective for awardees as federal agencies implement the changes into their regulations (§200.110(a)). However, two provisions — §200.216, Prohibition on certain telecommunications and video surveillance services or equipment, and §200.340, Termination — became effective immediately as of Aug. 13.
The termination provision at §200.340(a)(2) now eliminates the current “for cause” reason for termination and replaces it with one stating that an award may be terminated “to the greatest extent authorized by law if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.” New language at §200.340(a)(5) also adds that an award may be terminated “pursuant to termination provisions included in the federal award.” In addition, federal awarding agencies should clearly and unambiguously specify termination provisions applicable to each federal award in the award documents (§200.340(b)).
OMB in Subpart A of the revised guidance is changing the definition of “period of performance” to now focus on budget periods. Therefore, a period of performance in the revised guidance is the total estimated time interval between the start of an initial federal award and the planned end date, which may include one or more funded portions (i.e., budget periods). Awarding agencies are not committed to fund the award beyond the currently approved budget period. A “budget period” is the interval from the start date of a funded portion of an award to the end date of that funded portion during which recipients are authorized to expend the funds awarded, including any funds carried forward, the revised guidance explains.
Accordingly, OMB is updating the provision at §200.309, Period of performance. OMB had planned to delete this provision in its January proposed changes. In response to public comments, however, OMB has maintained the provision number, but the language now under “Modifications to period of performance” has changed.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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