fy 2013 aags.pdf

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Division of International Conservation

ASSISTANCE AWARD GUIDELINES

These guidelines are for Recipients of Assistance Awards under the Wildlife Without Borders- Mexico, Wildlife Without Borders-Latin America & the Caribbean, Wildlife Without Borders-Africa, Wildlife

Without Borders-Russia, and the Multinational Species Conservation Funds, issued by U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS). These guidelines are based on U.S. Department of the Interior's Standard

Award Terms and Conditions for Financial Assistance. The Standard Award Terms and Conditions take precedence over any restatement, summary or adaptation in these guidelines, and they are hereby incorporated by reference. Please review them at http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/TermsandConditions.cfm

I. FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

A. Allowable costs: Funding provided by FWS is to be used only for the specific items and amounts in the approved project budget, to carry out approved project activities during the Project Period as stated in your Assistance Award document. See Section VII of these guidelines for important rules on altering your approved project or its budget. For full rules on allowable costs, see

"Uniform Administrative Requirements" at http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/TermsandConditions.cfm. Project costs that you have incurred prior to your Award's authorized Project Period may be determined allowable by FWS if they were incurred no earlier than 90 days prior to Award issuance and they are part of the Award's approved project budget.

B. Payments:

Domestic registrants: Payments will be issued through U.S. Department of Treasury via the self-initiated electronic drawdown system, Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP). To view instructions and initiate ASAP enrollment, go to: http://www.fws.gov/fbms/

Non-Domestic registrants: Payments to non-domestic grantees are transferred electronically through the U.S. Treasury’s International Treasury Services (ITS) system. To receive funding, you must submit a signed Standard Form-270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement (SF-270.) This form is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/sf270.pdf

You must also complete an ITS Payment Cover Sheet which will be included in your award notification email. Be sure your account numbers and banking information is accurate. Email both your completed ITS Payment Cover Sheet and your signed SF-270 to the appropriate FWS program located in Section 4 of the ITS Payment Cover Sheet.

FWS reserves the right to restrict or withhold payment and/or future awards if you, or your sub-recipients, do not comply with Award terms and conditions.

C. Program Income: You may retain program income earned through performance of the awarded project (such as fees for services, the use or rental of property, sale of commodities or fabricated items, license fees or royalties on patents and copyrights, and interest on loans), if approved by

FWS as part of the project budget. Report any program income in your financial status reports (see

Section II. B.) Program income must be used for one of the following purposes:

To conduct additional activities that will further the project objectives; OR

To finance the non-Federal share of project costs.

http://www.fws.gov/fbms/ http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/sf270.pdf

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D. Unspent project funds and interest: At the end of your project, if any difference remains between the amount of Award funds you have received and the amount actually spent on allowable project costs, you must promptly contact the FWS Program Officer for instructions on how to return the unspent funds to FWS.

II. REPORTING

Unless otherwise indicated in your Award's scope of work, the following reports are required:

Mid-Term: a performance report and a financial status report on the progress and status of your project, due 30 days after the first half of your project’s Period of Performance. See Table 1 for reporting schedules.

Final: a performance report, a financial status report, copies of all deliverables and products listed in your Award's scope of work, and photographic documentation of project activities, due 90 days after the Project Period ends. See Table 1 for reporting schedules.

You must submit all reports and products electronically (either as email attachments or files on a CD) to the FWS Program Officer and the program inbox.

Table 1: Schedule for Mid-term & Annual/Final Financial & Performance Reports

Period of Performance

Start Date

Mid-Term Report

End Date

Mid-Term Report

Due Date (30 days after report end date)

Final Report End

Date

Final Report Due

Date (90 days after report end date)

January 1 June 30 July 30 December 31 March 31

Jan 2 – March 31 September 30 October 30 March 31 June 29

April 1 September 30 October 30 March 31 June 29

April 2 – June 30 December 31 January 30 June 30 September 28

July 1 December 31 January 30 June 30 September 28

July 2 – Sept 30 March 31 April 30 September 30 December 29

October 1 March 31 April 30 September 30 December 29

October 2 – Dec 31 June 30 July 30 December 31 March 31

A. Performance Reports (Mid-Term and Final) must include:

1. Title page stating "Mid-Term Report" or "Final Report", your Agreement Number, organization, project officer name, date of report, and dates of period covered by the report.

2. Narrative text presenting the current project status, including:

a. One-paragraph executive summary stating project purpose, results and achievements.

b. Longitude and latitude coordinates of the main location of project work.

c. Descriptions of activities undertaken to achieve each objective in the project proposal.

d. Explanation of the problems encountered for any objectives not met. (Project objectives cannot be altered without prior approval of FWS Program Officer; see Section VII.)

e. Assessment of the project’s impact, including measurable and verifiable outcomes such as quantities of the target species, land area, or people affected by your project's work. Other

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f. Description of any cooperation or collaboration among local organizations that was directly associated with this project.

g. The cost and purchase date of any equipment purchased under this Award. Describe how it was used during the Project Period, and how it will be used in the future. (See Section VI for important information on equipment management and disposition.)

B. Financial Status Reports (Mid-Term and Final):

1. If you are a U.S.-based Recipient, submit Standard Form 425 “Federal Financial Report” http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/grants_forms/SF-425.pdf.

(For instructions:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/grants/standard_forms/SF-

425_instructions.pdf

2. If you are a Recipient not based in the U.S., submit a financial table or spreadsheet in the same format as your original project proposal budget, showing itemized expenditures for the reporting period.

C. The Federal Funding Transparency Act (FFATA)

If your organization had a gross income of $300,000 or more in your previous tax year, then you may be subject to additional FFATA reporting requirements as described below.

If this Award is for $25,000 or more, and your annual gross revenues from the Federal government are more than $25 million, and Federal sources provide 80% of your annual gross revenues, then you must report the names and compensation amounts of your top five executives and the top five executives of any sub-recipients under this Award unless compensation information is already available to the public through periodic reporting filed under section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act or section 6104 of the Internal

Revenue Code. You report the data on your own organization’s executives by entering it into your registered CCR profile at http://www.ccr.gov. You report the data on sub-recipient executives online at http://www.fsrs.gov.

If you issue any sub-grants or cooperative agreements for $25,000 or more under this Award, then you must report basic information about these sub-awards (including the DUNS numbers of sub-recipients). You report this data online at http://www.fsrs.gov.

For further details on reporting requirements under FFATA, please go to:

http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/upload/Federal_Register_FFATA_Imp lementation.pdf and see pages 55669 through 55671 (Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 177, Sept. 14, 2010).

D. Products and Deliverables (for Final Report):

1. Products: A copy of all deliverables and products resulting from this project such as maps, posters, brochures, videos, manuals, catalogs, and any other publication or printed material, including any new articles published, relating to the project activities. All materials produced under this Award and intended for distribution to the public must acknowledge the support of http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/grants_forms/SF-425.pdf http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/grants/standard_forms/SF-425_instructions.pdf http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/grants/standard_forms/SF-425_instructions.pdf http://www.ccr.gov/ http://www.fsrs.gov/ http://www.fsrs.gov/ http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/upload/Federal_Register_FFATA_Implementation.pdf http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/upload/Federal_Register_FFATA_Implementation.pdf

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FWS by showing the FWS logo or the Wildlife Without Borders signature. Photo-ready and vector format logos are available upon request from the FWS Program Officer.

2. Photographic/Video Documentation: Provide a minimum of 5 photographs relevant to the implementation of the project, in one of the following formats:

Professionally processed prints;

Slides; or

Digital photographs on disk or CD, or submitted via e-mail to the FWS Program Officer if under 5 MB.

Digital photographs must have a resolution of 300 dpi and be at least 2100 x 1500 pixels in size. Acceptable formats include JPG and TIFF. Prints and slides must have a minimum size of 5” x 7”/125mm x 175 mm.

Photograph/video submissions must include a separate document or embedded file information listing the following attributes: description; brief information for caption;

photo credit information (as the photographer would like it to appear in publications); and contact information for the owner of the photograph/video.

If you do not provide your written permission to specifically give FWS your project's images and products, then they will automatically enter into public domain. See Section V for information on copyright, authorship, and dissemination of images.

III. SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM)

All foreign and domestic applicants MUST be registered in the SAM database to apply for funding. SAM is used by the U.S. Government as the repository for standard information about applicants and recipients of federal funds. SAM interfaces with the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife grants management database and financial systems, therefore all applicants must be registered with in SAM to receive an award. Recipients must maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during the project period.

For information on registration and exemptions go to:

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

IV. REQUIREMENT FOR SUB-RECIPIENT DUNS NUMBERS

You may not make a sub-award unless the sub-recipient has provided its Data Universal Numbering

System (DUNS) number to you. You must notify potential sub-recipients that no entity may receive a sub-award from you without providing its DUNS number to you. DUNS numbers can be obtained via online registration at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

V. PUBLICATION

Appropriate credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Department of the Interior must be included in any formally published article, unless FWS issues a disclaimer. The publishing of any project reports, or parts thereof, is subject to FWS review and comment. Publications and all materials produced under this Award must acknowledge the support of FWS by showing the FWS logo or the https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform

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Wildlife Without Borders signature. Photo-ready and vector format logos are available upon request from the FWS Program Officer.

You must send a copy of each publication produced under this Award to the Natural Resources Library at the address below. Include a note of transmittal identifying your organization and the publication.

U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resources Library

Division of Information and Library Services

1849 C Street N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20240

If you do not provide your written permission to specifically give FWS your project's images and products, then they will automatically enter into public domain. Authorship and copyright shall not restrict FWS privilege to reproduce or distribute products and photographs. FWS will give authorship and copyright credit to the Recipient or others, if you request it in writing.

For a period of no more than six months after the Project Period, FWS may require you to provide camera-ready copies of the printed materials produced under this Award. The U.S. Government reserves the right to reproduce and disseminate, for its own purpose, any product resulting from this

Award.

VI. EQUIPMENT

If you purchase an item for $5,000 or more, and it is an item that normally can be used for more than one year, then it is considered "Equipment" and the following rules apply:

You must maintain equipment records to include the following information: description of the item;

serial number or other identification number; name of titleholder; source of the item; cost of the item;

acquisition date; percentage of grant funds used to acquire the item; location, use and condition of the item; and a statement on plans for use of the item after project has ended. (In the project's Final Report, you must provide a description of the equipment, the acquisition date and the cost of the equipment.)

If you have demonstrated that 1) equipment purchased under this Award was used only for the purposes of the Award and 2) a commitment exists to continue its usage for the same purpose throughout its useful life, then the equipment will become your property upon completion of the project. Otherwise, disposition of the equipment must be negotiated with FWS.

VII. REVISIONS OF PROJECT BUDGET AND PLANS

Any of the following changes to your Award requires prior approval by the FWS Program Officer.

You must obtain approval or an official modification of your Award through the Program Officer before implementing any of these changes in your project.

1. Additional FWS or other Federal funding;

2. Change in the scope or objective of the project;

3. Change in key personnel specified in the approved proposal and Award document;

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4. Absence of project officer or other key personnel for more than three months, or reduction in their work time of 25% or more;

5. Budget change to transfer amounts from training allowances (direct payment to trainees) to other categories or expenses;

6. Budget change to transfer amounts between indirect costs and direct costs;

7. Budget change to transfer direct cost line amounts to other direct cost lines or categories, when

FWS Award amount is $100,000 or greater and subtotal of transferred amounts exceeds 10% of the originally awarded budget;

8. Services of a third party (contractor, sub-grantee) to perform activities central to the purpose of the project.

For budget changes (5, 6, and 7 above) you must submit a revised budget, prepared in the same format as your originally approved budget, to the FWS Program Officer with your request for approval.

VIII. EXTENDING THE PROJECT PERIOD WITHOUT ADDITIONAL

FUNDING

The authorized dates of your Project Period appear in Box 12 of your Award document. You must send a written notice to the FWS Program Officer if you need an extension of time to complete your project. Your notice must be received in FWS at least 10 days before the authorized Project Period expires, and must include the reasons for delays in the project work, and your new proposed date of project completion. Time extensions will not be allowed for the purpose of spending a balance of awarded funds after the project's scope of work has been completed.

IX. ENFORCEMENT, TERMINATION, & SUSPENSION FOR NON-

COMPLIANCE

If you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this Award, FWS may do one of the following until you take corrective action:

temporarily withhold payments pending correction of the deficiency;

disallow all or part of the cost of the activity or action not in compliance;

wholly or partly suspend or terminate the current Award;

withhold additional Awards;

take other remedies that may be legally available.

Your Award may be terminated by FWS under two conditions: material failure or convenience. Upon termination, you must not incur any new expenses or obligations, and you must cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible. However, you may be entitled to reimbursement for project expenditures made prior to termination. "Material failure" occurs when the Recipient fails to comply with the terms and conditions of the Award. If the award is terminated for material failure, FWS will promptly notify the Recipient, in writing, of the reasons for termination and the effective date of termination. Termination for "convenience" occurs when FWS and the Recipient both agree that continuation of the project would not produce beneficial results. If the Award is terminated for convenience, both parties will agree upon the termination conditions, the effective date, and the portion of project to be terminated.

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X. AUTHORITY

The Wildlife Without Borders programs provide funding under the authority of Section 8 of the

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531-43). The Multinational Species

Conservation Fund provides funding under the following authorities: African Elephant Conservation

Act (16 U.S.C. 4201-4203, 4211-4214, 4221-4225, 4241-4246); the Rhinoceros and Tiger

Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 5301-5306); Asian Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4261-4266);

Great Ape Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6301-6305, as amended); and the Marine Turtle Conservation

Act (P.L. 108-266).

Department of the Interior Standard Award Terms and Conditions are posted on the internet at http://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/financial_assistance/TermsandConditions.cfm. They are hereby incorporated by reference, and take precedence over any restatement, summary or adaptation in these guidelines.