Responsibilities for Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Citation
515 FW 1
FWM Number
N/A
Date
Originating Office
Office of Conservation Investment

1.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? This chapter describes the responsibilities of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) officials for grant and cooperative agreement administration, policy, oversight, systems, and training.

1.2 What is the scope of this chapter? This chapter applies to all Service employees who work with grants and cooperative agreements.

1.3 What are the authorities for this chapter?

A. 505 DM 1 and 2, Grants Administration – Policy Development and Management, and Procurement Contracts, Grants and Cooperative Agreements.

B. 507 DM 1 and 2, Program Information and Data – Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, and Federal Assistance Communication Requirements.

1.4 What are the overall responsibilities for managing grants and cooperative agreements? See Table 1-1.

Table 1-1: Overall Responsibilities for Managing Grants and Cooperative Agreements

These employees…Are responsible for…
A. The Director

(1) Making sure that Service staff comply with Federal laws and Department of the Interior (Department) policies for managing grants and cooperative agreements;

(2) Making sure that we have national policy and guidance for managing grants and cooperative agreements;

(3) Providing the Department with reasonable assurance on an annual basis that the Service has developed and implemented processes to:

     (a) Prevent or promptly detect unauthorized use or disposition of assets, and 

     (b) Implement and monitor corrective actions when we identify compliance or systemic weaknesses; and

(4) Ensuring programs respond to audits and reviews in a timely manner.

B. The Deputy Director, OperationsEnsuring that Headquarters and Regional staff resolve any audit or review findings related to grants and cooperative agreements.
C. The Assistant Director – Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (AD-WSFR)

(1) Managing the national policy formulation and oversight, systems, and training for grants and cooperative agreements; and

(2) Providing administrative and financial support of grant and cooperative agreement awards for Headquarters programs, except for the Migratory Birds and International Affairs programs.

D. Other Directorate Members

(1) Carrying out Servicewide policy and guidance for grants and cooperative agreements;

(2) Making sure their employees are aware of and follow grants and cooperative agreements policies and procedures;

(3) Making sure employees who manage grants and cooperative agreements receive the required training;

(4) Providing support to the AD-WSFR for audits and reviews, and managing the resolution of any findings related to their programs and Regions; 

(5) Providing annually to the AD-WSFR a list of staff responsible for grants and cooperative agreements as requested, so that the AD-WSFR can provide the information to the Department and other officials; and

(6) Working with the AD-WSFR to respond to information requests from Congress, the Department, and other Federal agencies that oversee the management of grant and cooperative agreement programs.

1.5 What are the responsibilities of the offices reporting to the AD-WSFR? See Table 1-2.

Table 1-2: Responsibilities of the Offices Reporting to the AD-WSFR

Staff in this office…Are responsible for…
A. Division of Administration and Information Management (AIM)

(1) Communicating grant and cooperative agreement issues and concerns to the AD-WSFR;

(2)  Reviewing, processing, and approving grants and cooperative agreements for Headquarters programs, except for the Migratory Birds and International Affairs programs;

(3) Developing training strategies, approaches, and materials for grant and cooperative agreement topics that have an impact Servicewide; and

(4) Delivering national training on grants and cooperative agreements.

B. Branch of Financial Assistance Policy and Oversight (FAPO)

(1) Serving as the Financial Assistance Communications Liaison with the Department;

(2) Developing national policy and guidance;

(3) Overseeing program compliance with Federal administrative, financial, and systems requirements;

(4)  Responding to Departmental data and policy review requests;

(5) Conducting internal control and other reviews of grants and cooperative agreements that support the Director’s annual assurance statement to the Department;

(6) Assisting programs with the resolution of programmatic findings from audits and reviews;

(7) Coordinating the corrective action plans programs develop for findings related to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, Single Audits, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigations, and the Department's annual financial audit;

(8) Coordinating with programs on submission of Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) profiles and Single Audit Compliance Supplements; and

(9)  Coordinating with AIM to develop training topics, strategies, approaches, and materials related to Servicewide grant and cooperative agreement policies, procedures, and guidance.

C. Branch of Financial Assistance Systems (FAS)

(1) Helping users to resolve issues with the Financial and Business Management System (FBMS) and the U.S. Treasury’s Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) system;

(2) Coordinating Service system issues with Service programs, the Department’s Project Management Office (PMO), the Interior Business Center (IBC), and the U.S. Treasury;

(3) Analyzing, developing, and recommending approaches for Service programs to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of grant and cooperative agreement processes;

(4) Analyzing plans and processes to identify, document, or develop business rules pertaining to Service, Departmental, and Federal award and reporting systems including, but not limited to, the System for Award Management (SAM), CFDA, Grants.gov, FBMS, ASAP, and the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS/FAADS Plus);

(5) Managing ASAP enrollment and waiver processes in coordination with Service programs;

(6) Managing Service users in ASAP and Grants.gov;

(7) Monitoring systems’ reports and coordinating required system corrections with users to ensure data quality; and

(8) Coordinating with AIM to develop training topics, strategies, approaches, and materials related to grant and cooperative agreement systems.