1. Contract Compliance Reporting Contract Update Questions and Answers

2. Quarter 2 – SFY 2015 Contract Report for Center of Excellence January 2015

6. Received for approval On or After the Effective Date

8. Division of Health Service Regulation Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Division of Rural Health and Community Care

9. In Compliance % 14 %

11. Division of Vocational Rehabilitation - 100% Office of Rural Health and Community Care – 100%

14. A company may not transact business in this State until it obtains a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State. However, the vendor may be exempt if they satisfy the questions below. If the vendor states that they are exempt from registering with the SOS have them to send you an email explaining why they are not required to be registered with the SOS for your files. Does the business have an office in NC? Does the business have any employees who live or work in NC? Does the business have a principal sales agent who lives or works in NC?

15. Terms and conditions along with the UNC Cover has been updated to include security language. The documents will be uploaded soon. Remember if you have a contract in process you will need to reload to bring the updated changes into your contract. When doing multi year contracts, new contract documents are required if amending the multi year contract in the second calendar year.

16. The work to be performed under a contract or subcontract in the completion of a project. The description of the work to be performed is typically broken out into specific tasks with deadlines Make a clear-cut division of responsibility between government and contractors

17. The scope of work should consist of highly tailored statements that answer the following questions: What is to be done? What are the deliverables? Who is going to do it? When is it going to be done? How will it be done? How can you tell when it is done? How much will it cost

18. Define the duties and responsibilities of both the entity awarding the contract and the subrecipient. Do not forget to include and clearly define the responsibility and authority of the employees that are charged with the administration of the contract or management of the project or both.

19. Some contacts are unsuccessful not because the contractors fail to meet their objectives, but because they fail to do so in a timely manner, or within the agreed upon deadlines. Time schedules in any contract are as important as deliverables or payments. Always clearly specify contractor submission requirements. This technique prevents errors and misunderstanding.

20. Examples of time frames are: Within thirty calendar days after contract execution Within five working days after the end of every month Ten days after receipt of Agency recommendations Specific date Completed within one year from receipt of authorization

21. Tasks are the activities and milestones that need to be completed to accomplish the contract objectives. Tasks are the narrative description of the spectrum of services to be rendered or work to be performed. Tasks can be structured by milestones, deliverables, or process. Clear definition of the tasks is a must in order to reduce scope creep. Describes everything about the work that needs to be done under the task Define all detailed requirements that are required in the delivered product or service.

22. Deliverables are the “outputs” or the “end products” of the contract and are evidence of a contractor’s performance in meeting the contract requirements. Most deliverables take the form of a tangible product (written report, hardware, software, data, etc.).

23. Deliverables should always be defined in the contract or in a separate mutually agreed document incorporated by reference in the contract. Since the definition of the deliverables is the primary yardstick for contractor performance, all other contractual protections rely upon this definition.

24. Deliverables should be: Specific Have clear instructions regarding their submission Clearly define the manner and standards by which the Agency will determine whether they are acceptable

25. Outcomes, Changes Expected, End Results To the maximum extent practicable use the performance-based approach when acquiring services. Perhaps even more important is the basic premise of PBC: We should not be buying 'end products,' but rather the results of the products. This is especially true for information technology. We are not buying financial management software, for example, we are buying the results of that software - clean audits, closing the books within xx days of the end of a period, the ability to run ad hoc inquiries, etc..

26. Following this line of thinking, we can change the 'end product' to outcomes that measure the underlying reasons/ objectives for which the product was being acquired Another example is "software as a service" (SAAS), where instead of paying a software license fee, the agency pays for the results the product enables. Buy results, not things.

27. The following writing tips should help you produce high-quality documents that are clear and unambiguous: Be clear, precise and complete Choose one term to define the contractor’s obligations and use it consistently thereafter (e.g., “Subcontractor agrees...”). Use short sentence length. Use active voice, task oriented statements.

28. Limit the length of a statement to three sentences or less. Avoid abbreviations, acronyms and words that have special meaning as much as possible, or define them in the definitions section of the contract, and then be consistent thereafter. Avoid using “any”, “either”, “and/or” and “never”.

29. All grant contracts required a line item budget and a budget narrative. The Budget Narrative is the justification of ‘how’ and/or ‘why’ a line item helps to meet the program deliverables. It is also used to determine if the cost in the contract are reasonable and permissible.

30. New Federal Omni-(Super) Circular effective December 26, 2014. The final guidance supersedes and streamlines requirements from OMB Circulars A-21, A-87; A-110, and A-122; A- 89, A-102, and A-133 A-50. If you have not had an opportunity to attend one of these meeting please contact Steven Fowler. There are also a couple of webinars being presented by Maximus along with training done by State Office of Budget and Management.

31. The department is still meeting to address some outstanding questions in regards to how we are impacted by the Omni Circular. The primary concern seems to be with indirect cost and the correct audit determination classification. This information will be shared once finalized.

32. Per the Omni Circular the following information (next slide) is required for pass-through entities. Some of you are already including this information into your contract per a memorandum# 2011-11 from the Controller’s Office dated 3/15/11. OPCS is working with others in the department to approve the new contract changes to be programmed in OpenWindow as a separate attachment that will print out with the contract package. You will be notified “if” and “once” approved.

33. REQUIREMENTNOTES Subrecipient NameMust match Duns Name Subrecipient Duns Number Federal Award Identification Number (FAIN) Federal Award DateDate Signed by the Federal authorizing official Period of Performance (Start and End Date) Amount of Federal Funds Obligated by this Action Total Amount of Federal Funds Obligated to the Sub recipient Ask in application or RFA, for prior year funding Total amount of the Federal Award Federal Award Project Description Name of Federal Awarding Agency CFDA # CFDA Name R&D (Y/N)

34. REQUIREMENTNOTES Agency Name, Awarding Official and Contact Info Federal Award Indirect Cost Rate Federal Award Terms and Conditions (if applicable)See Contract General Terms and Conditions Section: Federal Statues, regulations and terms and conditions All RequirementsSee Scope of Work Section Additional RequirementsRequired financial and performance reports (See Contracts Section) Risk Evaluation CompleteYes/No Subrecipient indirect cost rate(or de minimis) Access to Subrecipient’s Records and Financial StatementSee Contract General Terms and Conditions Terms and Conditions of Close out of SubawardSee code of federal regulations Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter 11 200-343-5; closeout adjustment, continuing responsibilities and collection amount due Specific Conditions, if anyCould be additional reporting, etc. Subrecipient Cumulative Federal awards > $750,000Yes/No Award Verified

35. Remember to: Manage the status of your contracts and reflect accordingly in OW. All contracts being circulated for final approval should be in process status…not draft status Execute your contracts in a timely manner and upload the entire executed contract The system automatically copies over all of the funding entries so you can edit as needed. If you do not need to edit particular funding entries, please delete these entries to get rid of the superfluous zeroes.