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Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Division of Energy Assistance/OCS/ACF
LIHEAP Grantee Survey for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2001
THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP INFORMATION MEMORANDUM TRANSMITTAL
NO. LIHEAP-AT-2002-1, DATED 11/27/01
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP)
STATE GRANTEES
SUBJECT: LIHEAP Grantee Survey for Federal Fiscal Year
(FFY) 2001
RELATED Section 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy
REFERENCES: Assistance Act, Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-35, as
amended; ACF Annual Grantee Survey of the LIHEAP
Program, as approved by OMB (OMB Control No. 0970-
0076; Expiration Date - August 30, 2004);
LIHEAP Information Memorandum 2001-20, dated
April 11, 2001.
PURPOSE: Section 2610(b) of the LIHEAP statute requires
the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Services to submit, no later than June
30 of each fiscal year, a report to Congress on
LIHEAP for the prior fiscal year. In order to
prepare the LIHEAP Report to Congress for FY 2001,
we are requiring State LIHEAP grantees to complete
the enclosed LIHEAP Grantee Survey. (see
Attachment A for a sample of the LIHEAP Grantee
Survey, Attachment B for your State's LIHEAP
Grantee Survey for FY 2001, and Attachment C for
the Survey's instructions).
The timeliness and accuracy of the data are very
important in:
o submitting to Congress the Department's LIHEAP
Report to Congress for FY 2001 by June 2002, and
o responding to questions from Congress and the
White House, especially in light of the last
year's home energy price increases, and current
economic conditions.
Please fax or e-mail your State's completed Survey
to our office by December 21, 2001. If necessary,
we will follow up both in writing and telephone
calls with those States which fail to meet the
reporting deadline or provide inaccurate survey
data.
BACKGROUND: We have collected information on the sources and
uses of funds obligated by the States for various
LIHEAP activities since FFY 1982. We collected this
information through our voluntary LIHEAP Grantee
Survey. Beginning with the LIHEAP Grantee Survey
for FY 2001, the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) has approved the use of this Survey as a
mandatory report through August 30, 2004 (OMB
Control Number 0970-0076).
Data from the Survey provide a picture of each
State's:
o estimates of funds available for LIHEAP and
the uses of those funds;
o estimates of average household benefits for each
type of LIHEAP assistance provided by the State
(except for weatherization assistance and);
o the maximum income cutoff for a 4-person household
in effect at the beginning of the federal fiscal
year for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided
by the State.
Beginning with data for FY 2001, we will conduct
the Survey annually after the end of the fiscal
year (September 30). In this way, we will reduce
the information burden by no longer asking for
preliminary and final estimates. Also, we will be
able to obtain the data for completing our LIHEAP
Report to Congress in a more timely manner, and
responding to Departmental, OMB, White House, and
Congressional requests for information about the
program.
At this time, we are conducting the LIHEAP Grantee
Survey for FFY 2001. This mandatory Survey is
very similar to the previously voluntary surveys.
As in the LIHEAP Grantee Surveys for FY 1999 and
FY 2000, we are making available an electronic
version of the Survey in addition to the paper
version of the Survey. Each State will receive in
the near future from the LIHEAP Clearinghouse an
e-mail which includes the electronic version (an
Excel 97 Workbook) of the attached Survey for that
State (see Attachment D for a sample of the Edit
Page).
We strongly encourage States to use the electronic
version of the Survey, as it will:
o assist States in reporting the data in a timely
manner through the use of e-mail;
o assist States in reporting the data in an
accurate manner, as the Survey contains formulas
to automatically calculate totals. The electronic
version contains formulas to add totals. It also
includes an electronic edit page (see Attachment B)
to check for total sources of funds equaling total
uses of funds, and comparing estimates of uses of
funds against the statutory imits such as the 10%
limit on administrative costs; and
o facilitate our entering and processing of the data
in creating national tables.
CONTENT: Enclosed is your State's LIHEAP Grantee Survey for
FFY 2001, and the instructions for completing the
Survey.
Preprinted Information
The Survey is individualized for your State, as we
have preprinted the following information on the
Survey:
o Your State's Federal block grant allotments (net
of Indian set-asides), net emergency contingency
funds, net reallotted FY 2000 funds, and net
leveraging incentive award funds, as applicable
for FFY 2001. Your State's estimate of its carry
over of FFY 2000 funds to FFY 2001 that your State
reported on the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY 2000.
o Your State's estimate of its FFY 2000 LIHEAP
leveraging funds to be obligated in FFY 2001.
o Your State's estimate of unobligated FFY 2000
emergency contingency funds to be obligated
in FY 2001.
Please update all the preprinted information, as
appropriate. The federal block grant, emergency
contingency funds, and leveraging funds should be
accurate. If the federal data are not correct,
please contact our office to discuss the matter.
Also, please do not change the format of the
Survey by adding or deleting rows or columns. If
the Survey cannot accommodate information that you
need to display, consider using the notes' section
or contact our office to discuss the matter.
Important Points
Your attention to the points below will minimize
our need to contact you for clarification or your
survey responses, thus expediting the completion
of the survey process. This will enhance our
timeliness to compile and report the survey's
results. We request that particular attention be
paid to the following points:
o The estimated total "Uses of Funds should equal
the total "Sources of Funds."
o Uses of Funds represent a State's obligation of
funds, not expenditure of funds. (In some cases,
obligated block grant funds are not actually
expended until after the end of the FFY.)
Block grant funds that were not obligated by the
end of the FFY 2001 are to be reported as funds
carried over to FFY 2002, subject to the 10%
limit.
o There were seven distributions of emergency
contingency funds in FFY 2000:
· The first 4 distributions ($5 million on 10/18/99,
$45 million on 1/25/00, $130 million on 2/10/00,
and $120 million on 2/16/00) were subject to all
the terms and conditions that normally apply to
LIHEAP block grant funds, including the requirement
that at least 90% of the funds be obligated in the
FFY in which they are awarded. No more than 10%
of these funds could be carried over for obligation
in FFY 2001.
· There were 3 additional releases of emergency
contingency funds (distributions 5-7) in FFY
2000-$35 million on 7/25/00, $2.6 million on
8/23/00, and $400 million on 9/23/00. For these
releases, special terms and conditions were
attached that did not impose the normal requirement
that at least 90% of the funds be obligated in the
FFY in which they are awarded. Thus, they were
not subject to the 10% limit on a carry over to FFY
2001, These funds were to be obligated by 9/30/01,
or they had to be returned to the Federal government.
The FY 2000 funds available under distributions 5-7
of emergency contingency funds that were obligated
in FFY 2001 are to be reported in item 4 under
Sources of Funds for FY 2001.
The FY 2000 unobligated emergency contingency
funds awarded under distributions 5-7 should
be added to the allocation of FY 2001 block
grant funds, FY 2001 emergency contingency
funds, and FY 2000 reallotted funds to
determine the 10% limit on the carryover of
the combined funds to FFY 2002.
o Please exclude Department of Energy funds in
response to the LIHEAP weatherization assistance
item.
o Please review and respond to all items in the survey,
as appropriate. The types of information requested
are noted by the following symbols:
· $0 for financial data;
· "?" for text information such as listing the
source of other funds and;
· xxxxxx's for items that are not applicable.
o Estimated uses of funds should not exceed the
statutory limits of :
· 10% for administrative costs;
· 15% (25% with a waiver from HHS) for
weatherization;
· 10% for a carry over of unobligated funds
(including unobligated FFY 2000 emergency
contingency funds from Distributions 5-7 that
was obligated in FFY 2001);
· 5% for assurance 16 activities; and
· no greater than 0.08% or $35,000 of funds
available for identifying and developing
leveraging resources activities.
· Please complete the Survey as completely and
quickly as possible. Do not delay completing
your State's Survey until better information is
available. Estimates of obligated funds are
acceptable if actual counts of obligated funds
are not available.
Confirmation
It is most important for us to confirm that you
have received your State's Survey. Please call
(202-401-6527) or e-mail Katina Lawson
(klawson@acf.dhhs.gov) by December 7, 2001 to
confirm whether you received the Survey and
instructions. Katina will follow up with those
States that have not gotten back to her by
December 7. Again, please send the completed
Survey to our office by December 21, 2001.
INQUIRIES TO: Katina Lawson, Program Analyst
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services, ACF, HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Telephone: (202) 401-6527
Fax: (202) 401-5661
E-mail: klawson@acf.dhhs.gov
ATTACHMENTS: (A) Sample of a completed LIHEAP Grantee Survey/Excel 97 (49k)
(B) LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FY 2001
(C) Instructions for the LIHEAP Grantee Survey
for FFY 2001
(D) Sample Edit Page/Excel 97 (49k)
_____________/s____________
Clarence H. Carter
Director
Office of Community Services
Top of Page
URL: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/liheap
Posted on: 1/11/02
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