1. 2 the american recovery and reinvestment act also referred to as “recovery act” or arra,...

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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also referred to as “Recovery Act” or ARRA, provides an unprecedented opportunity for NIH to provide two-year funding to help stimulate the economy, create or retain jobs, and accelerate the pace of scientific research. Along with this opportunity comes increasing expectations of accountability and transparency for which the government is held accountable for every dollar spent.

American Recovery and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Reinvestment Act

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The initial OALM Guidance on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was dated March of 2009. The revised version was released July 13, 2009 which is available on the OALM, Office of Acquisition Management and Policy – DAPE website along with all the pertinent attachments.

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American Recovery and American Recovery and Reinvestment ActReinvestment Act

ARRA funds are available for obligation until September 30, 2010. Awards shall be made only if funds are available, a bona fide need exists, and the contract is made consistent with FAR and applicable fiscal restrictions on the use of appropriated funds.

Funds remain available for disbursement (also called expenditure) through September 30, 2015. After September 30, 2015, all ARRA appropriation accounts that provided the special two-year monies to NIH will expire, making those accounts unavailable for expenditure to cover any unpaid invoices [31 U.S.C. Sec. 1552(a) and 31 U.S.C. Sec. 1553(a)]. However, NIH Institutes and Centers [ICs – also includes the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Office of the Director (OD)] are strongly encouraged to select those acquisitions which are most likely to accomplish the following objectives, as appropriate, within two years of award:

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Review and Approvals

All reviews and approvals of proposed contract actions made with ARRA funds must be done prior to award. (Please use the “Proposed Recovery Act Contract Action Approval Form” located on the OAMP website) Program Staff must coordinate with their Director, OA, and CO as to whether or not the proposed contract action complies with one or more of the Recovery Act principles listed:


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Preserves and creates jobs and promotes economic recovery

Assists those most impacted by the recession

Provides investments to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health

Invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits or

Helps to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.


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There are different approvals and review levels based on the dollar amount and type the actions:

– Research & Development (R&D)

– Non R&D (Over $500,000)

– Non R&D (Up to $500,000)


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Competition

All actions should be competed to the maximum extent practical. In the event an action is not competed sufficient market research must be conducted to support the award. A sources sought notice shall be posted in FedBizOpps for all ARRA funded contract actions anticipated to be non-competitive and exceed the micro-purchase threshold with the exception of 8(a), Ability One, in-scope modifications and orders issued under multiple award contracts whereby one of the exceptions to fair opportunity applies. Sources sought notices must be posted for a minimum of 10 calendar days.


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Terms and Conditions and Federal Acquisition Regulation Requirements

Follow the requirements in FAR Subpart 5.7 for pre-solicitation and award notices – FAR Case 2009-010;

Follow the requirements in FAR Section 4.605(c) to distinguish Recovery Act actions in the Departmental Contract Information System (DCIS) and the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS);


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Use these additional FAR requirements to implement the Recovery Act:

FAR Case 2009-008, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Buy American Requirements for Construction Material;

FAR Case 2009-009, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Reporting Requirements;

FAR Case 2009-011, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – GAO/IG Access; and

FAR Case 2009-012, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act –Whistleblower Protections.

The Recovery Act solicitation provisions and contract clauses are included in the NCI Workforms which can be found on the NCI OA intranet at http://oa-intranet.nci.nih.gov/workforms_set.htm. Additionally, the provisions and clauses for commercial items and simplified acquisitions can also be found on this website. These provisions and clauses will be mandatory for NIH awards obligating ARRA funds.

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Existing Awards

ARRA funds may be used for acquisitions prior to the effective date of the Recovery Act. However, solicitations must be amended to identify them as ARRA related actions. Also, the ARRA clauses mentioned above must be negotiated into the contracts as part of the award process and award reports must be amended to identify them as ARRA funds related actions. Co-funding of contract actions awarded with ARRA funds is acceptable by two or more ICs as long as co-funders used ARRA funds ONLY and all applicable rules are followed. Co-mingling of Non-ARRA funds with ARRA funds is NOT permitted.

All ARRA funds must be tracked and reported separately from NIH’s regular appropriations.


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In order to avoid co-mingling of funds a separate Line Item with the ARRA associated funding should be used when multiple lines of accounting are included under a contract/order. Line item accounting on these contracts is tied to specific tasks and tracked on an invoice log to ensure that all ARRA funds are clearly for a specific task associated with the ARRA approved acquisition that has separate pricing.

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Requirements for Entering Awards into DCIS

ICs must ensure that all reporting related to the Recovery Act is complete and accurate.

Use of all ARRA funding must be reported through DCIS/FPDS. ICs are encouraged to use PRISM to access DCIS.


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When entering data in DCIS on any action (including modifications) funded by the Recovery Act, ICs must enter the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) in the Description of Requirement field (DCIS Item 6M). The TAS code should be entered with TAS:: preceding the code and ::TAS following the code. The code itself should have spaces between the segments, i.e., Agency code (2 characters) would be entered followed by a space then the Account code (4 characters). The entry would appear as follows: TAS::XX XXXX::TAS

Add the words “Recovery Act” to the Description of Requirements field immediately following the TAS.

Please see Attachment G on the OAMP-DAPE website under the “Recovery Act” Guidance located at http://oamp.od.nih.gov/Division/DAPE/dape_links.asp


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FedBizOpps Notices & Reporting

The word “RECOVERY” must be in the title for all FBO notices (sources sought, presolicitation and award notices)

When creating a presolicitation notice in FBO, identify whether or not it is a Recovery Act action by selecting the “yes” radio button for the “Is this a Recovery and Reinvestment Act action” field.

Presolicitation Notices of TO/DOs $25,000 and above (which includes GWACs, MACs, FSS contracts, whether single or multiple award) must be posted for “information purposes only”.

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FedBizOpps Posting and Notice Requirements

NOTE: The NIH Business System (NBS – PRISM) cannot be used for posting pre-solicitation and award notices to FBO when ARRA funds are utilized for an acquisition. All presolicitation and award notices for contract actions funded in whole or in part by the Recovery Act must be posted directly on the FBO website. An individual FBO User Account is required for this process. Those without FBO accounts should immediately register on the FBO website. If you have any questions, please contact Raymond Dillon at 301-496-2507 or [email protected].

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Requirements for Posting Award Notices

Synopses of proposed award notices in FedBizOpps shall follow the procedures at FAR Section 5.301, except that the following supersede the exceptions at FAR Section 5.301(b) (3) through (8):

For any contract action exceeding $500,000, including all modifications and orders under task and delivery order contracts, publicize the award notice and ensure that the description required by 5.207(a)(16) includes a narrative of the products and services (including construction) that is clear and unambiguous to the general public.

For contract actions of $25,000 but less than and including $500,000, including all modifications and orders under task and delivery order contracts issued under an existing contract that was both fixed price and competitive, the award notice shall indicate that it is “for information purposes only”.

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Regardless of dollar value, if the contract action, including all modifications and orders under task and delivery order contracts as defined in FAR Section 5.703, is not both fixed-price and competitive, the award notice must include the rationale for using other than fixed-price and/or competitive procedures.

All award notices must include the word “RECOVERY” as the first word in theTitle field prior to the actual title of the award notice. Additionally, to assist with tracking the use of ARRA funds, the Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) D-U-N-S number for the awardee(s) shall be included in all award notices.

When creating an award notice in FBO, identify whether or not it is a Recovery Act action by selecting the “yes” radio button for the “Is this a Recovery and Reinvestment Act action” field.

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Reviews of American Recovery and Reinvestment Contracts/Orders

OAMP will be conducting reviews of ARRA award files for compliance. The “NIH Final Recovery Act Checklist” (Attachment E) must be in the file of all awards along with all supporting documentation of reviews and approvals. It is encouraged that each IC develop their own internal controls for compliance to be used as well. Some suggestions are;

– Develop Standard Operating Procedures specifically for ARRA funded awards

– Perform annual contract quality assessment reviews of contract files of ARRA funded awards to ensure compliance

– Ensure that ALL public notices of awards, modifications and presolicitations included “RECOVERY ACT” in the title and descriptions

– Ensure that all the proper and current ARRA clauses have been included with awards and modifications

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QUESTIONS?

1. 2 the american recovery and reinvestment act also referred to as “recovery act” or arra,...

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