Section 144-286-III - FINANCIALA. DESIGNATION OF LOCAL AGENCIES:1. A community agency requesting approval as a WIC local agency must submit a written application in a format prescribed by the State Agency.2. The State Agency must provide written notification of incomplete applications to an applicant agency within fifteen days of receipt of the application.3. The State Agency shall notify the applicant agency in writing of the approval or disapproval of the application within thirty days of the receipt of a complete application.4. The State Agency shall provide the applicant agency with the reason(s) for disapproval of the application and advise the agency of the right to appeal.5. When funds are not available for Program initiation or expansion, the State Agency shall return the application to the applicant agency within thirty days and maintain a record of the name and address of those agencies that have applied. The State Agency will notify the applicant agency when funds become available.6. Local agencies shall be selected and funded in accordance with the priority system defined at 7 CFR § 246.5(d) (1) of the WIC Program Federal Regulations.B. AGREEMENTS1. A local agency must submit one copy of the draft agreement to the State Agency in the format defined in the most recent edition of the WIC Financial Manual and according to deadlines defined by the State Agency.2. A local agency must submit one copy of the final agreement to the State Agency in the format defined in the most recent edition of the WIC Financial Manual and according to deadlines defined by the State Agency.3. Improperly submitted final agreements shall be returned to the local agency by the State Agency, except that, in the sole discretion of the State Agency, corrections may be negotiated by telephone, email and made by facsimile.4. The State Agency reserves the right to refuse any and all agreements.5. Local agencies are responsible for the fulfillment of all terms of agreements and subcontracts.6. Any expenses incurred prior to the signing of the final agreement by all parties or after the expiration or termination of the agreement are not allowable and will not be reimbursed.7. All copies of the final agreement must be submitted properly dated and signed with original signatures.8. Any agreement received by the State Agency after the prescribed deadlines may be subject to a funding penalty.9. The local agency will keep a copy of the final agreement on file at its office.C. AGREEMENT MODIFICATIONS1. Requests for agreement modifications must be made in writing to the State Agency at least six weeks prior to the termination date of the agreement.2. Agreement modifications of Rider B require a formal, written amendment approved by the State Agency and signed by all necessary parties.3. Agreement modifications of Riders A and C may be accomplished either by a formal, written amendment or by a letter of approval from the State Agency.4. Changes in the budget must be made through the agreement modification process prior to the termination or expiration of the agreement.D. BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS1. Local agencies shall keep the Uniform Federal Assistance Regulations ( 7 CFR Part 3015) and the Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State and Local Governments ( 7 CFR Part 3016), and OMB circulars (A- 87, A-122, A-102, A-110, A-128, A-133), and WIC Program Policies and Procedures Manuals and shall adhere to all of the cost principles and provisions contained therein.2. Restricted income must be applied against expenses for which the funds are restricted. These expenses are not subject to payment by WIC Program funds.3. Unrestricted income received by a local agency may be used as seen fit by the local agency, provided the following criteria are met: a. The funds are not previously described in the budget;b. The WIC Program does not participate in the costs, including indirect costs, of producing such funds; andc. The agency Board of Directors has established how the funds will be used.4. The State Agency shall determine allowable local agency administrative expenditures based upon the principle of cost sharing.5. Local agencies may not claim a percentage of surplus funds prior to redistributing funds through cost sharing.6. Local agency budgets must include all Program direct and indirect costs.7. Reimbursement for mileage cannot exceed the state allowance. Meals and lodging shall be determined by local agency policy. If no local agency policy exists, State laws, rules and policy must be followed.8. No local agency staff may travel out-of-state for local agency purposes without prior approval from the State Agency, unless specifically provided for in the final agreement.9. Local agencies must maintain records necessary to document client certifications, provision of services to clients, food instrument issuance and redemption, nutrition education and formal hearing requests.10. In the event the local agency experiences under delivery of twenty percent or more of service (food dollar expenditure) or under expenditure of twenty percent or more of administrative funds during the prior three-month period the State Agency may initiate an agreement modification.11. The State Agency will not reimburse local agencies for expenditures in excess of the total agreement amount.12. Prior approval is required from the State Agency and as necessary from the Food & Nutrition Services for the purchase of capital equipment not originally approved in the agreement.13. Prior approval is required from the State Agency and FNS for any capital equipment costs exceeding three thousand dollars per item.14. The purchase of any automated data processing equipment, regardless of price, must have prior approval from the State Agency and from FNS.15. When assets acquired with local agency funds are sold, no longer useable or used for purposes not authorized by the State Agency, the State Agency's equity in the asset shall be refunded in the same proportion as its participation in its costs. If assets are traded for new items, only the net cost of the newly acquired asset is an allowable expense.16. All equipment purchased with Program funds shall be the property of the WIC Program and shall remain so upon termination or expiration of the agreement.17. Each local agency shall maintain property records for all capital equipment purchased with WIC funds.18. Upon termination or expiration of the agreement, and prior to an audit by the State Agency, the State Agency will send a notice to the local agency of Program revenues received by the local agency that are in excess of allowable expenses. The local agency must return the excess revenue to the State Agency within thirty days of said notification. Untimely payments will be deducted from the current fiscal year grant.19. At least twenty percent of the administrative funds expended by each local agency for administrative costs shall be used for nutrition education activities.20. Failure to expend the required amount of the administrative funds on nutrition education shall automatically create a lien against the local agency for the difference between the reported expenses and the required amount of the administrative expenditures.21. Local agencies are required to revise or amend their budgets as established in the most recent edition of the WIC Financial Manual. All modifications must be made prior to the termination or expiration of the agreement.22. Reimbursement of expenses is limited to allowable expenses as defined in OMB circulars and established in the most recent edition of the WIC Administrative Manual.23. Any costs allocable to a particular funding agreement may not be deferred or transferred to another funding agreement in order to overcome funding deficiencies or to avoid restrictions imposed by the agreement.24. The State Agency may not reimburse local agencies for unreported expenditures later than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which said expenses occurred. FNS has final authority in authorizing payment.E. PAYMENT AND REPORTING1. The Department will advance the administrative payment for the first month of the fiscal year to each local agency. The advance shall equal one twelfth of the local agency's annual administrative budget. The invoice for the first advance must be submitted to the State Agency on or before October 1.2. Payments for subsequent months will be based on the previous month's actual expenses as reported to the State Agency; invoices for those payments must be submitted to the State Agency by the 24th of the month following the report month.3. Monthly reports (food and administrative) in a format determined by the State Agency must be received by the State Agency on or before the 24th of the month following the report month.4. The State Agency will not process local agency invoices when reports are not submitted according to schedule.5. Two monthly financial reports and two monthly nutrition education reports in a format determined by the State Agency must be submitted by the local agency for the months of October and November and, if necessary, December.6. Accruals not reported on the September report will not be allowable.7. Each local agency must maintain file documentation for cost breakdowns of nutrition education expenses, which include breastfeeding support and promotion expenses.8. All accruals incurred as of September 30th for the preceding federal fiscal year must be liquidated no later than November 30th of that year.9. Local agencies must report expenditures/obligations for the fiscal year in which they occur.10. Monthly food income and expenditures must be documented in the local agency's accounting records.F. AUDITSLocal agency audits will be performed by the State Agency in accordance with the requirements contained in the General Accounting Office generally accepted auditing standards, applicable Program guidelines and regulations, terms and conditions of the agreement, and applicable OMB circulars. Local agencies are also subject to audit by authorized representatives of the federal government.
10-144 C.M.R. ch. 286, § III