Section NR 166.16 - Financial assistance disbursements(1) REQUESTS FOR DISBURSEMENT. The recipient shall submit to the department requests for disbursement for eligible costs in the format specified by the department.(2) ADJUSTMENT. Before the final disbursement under the financial assistance agreement, the department may recommend to DOA that any request for disbursement be reviewed or audited.(3) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS. The department may withhold funds on the basis of any of the following: (a) The department may direct DOA to withhold financial assistance disbursements if the department determines that a recipient has failed to comply with project objectives or the terms, conditions, or reporting requirements of the financial assistance agreement.(b) The department may withhold 5 percent of the principal amount of a loan until all of the project closeout requirements under sub. (4) (b) are completed.(c) The department may withhold payment of costs that fall outside of the beginning or end dates of a contract or that are in excess of the estimated not-to-exceed amount in the contract until the recipient amends the contract.(d) The department may withhold payment of costs of a contract until the recipient submits the required documentation for the costs, including a copy of the department construction management engineer's approval letter for any change order for which payment is requested and any amendments to engineering or other professional services contracts for which disbursement of financial assistance for costs of the contract will be requested.(4) FINAL DISBURSEMENT AND PROJECT CLOSEOUT. (a) The recipient shall submit the final request for disbursement as soon as is practicable after final completion of project construction.(b) All of the following project closeout procedures shall occur prior to the final disbursement or as soon as is practicable after final completion of project construction if the recipient determines it will not be requesting any additional funds but did not previously label a request for disbursement as the final request:1. The department shall complete a final inspection and sign off on the scored project.2. The recipient shall submit to the department for review all change orders and amendments for all contracts associated with the project that the recipient did not submit before or during construction of the project.3. The recipient shall certify its acceptance of the project from its contractors and engineers on a form provided by the department. Note: A project acceptance certification form is available on the Environmental Improvement Fund website at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/aid/documents/EIF/Forms/forms.html or in paper form from the Bureau of Community Financial Assistance, Department of Natural Resources, Box 7921, Madison WI 53707-7921.
4. The recipient shall document final utilization of MBEs and WBEs on a form provided by the department. Note: An MBE/WBE utilization form is available on the Environmental Improvement Fund website at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/aid/documents/EIF/Forms/forms.html or in paper form from the Bureau of Community Financial Assistance, Department of Natural Resources, Box 7921, Madison WI 53707-7921. This form is also provided in the financial assistance agreement as an exhibit.
5. The recipient shall certify its compliance with federal requirements as detailed in the financial assistance agreement.6. The department shall inform DOA of the recipient's compliance with all applicable requirements of this chapter and the financial assistance agreement.7. After the department determines that the project closeout requirements under subds. 1. to 6. are completed, the department shall notify the recipient that the project is closed out, or, if there is a final disbursement yet to be sent to the recipient, the department shall notify the recipient of the date and amount of the final disbursement and that the project will be closed out on the date of the final disbursement.(c) If construction of a project is complete prior to the SDWLP loan closing for the project, the recipient shall submit project closeout documents within 90 days of the loan closing date.(d) If the recipient does not provide the required documents for project closeout of a completed project to the department for any SDWLP financial assistance agreement or any other financial assistance from the environmental improvement fund and applies for funding from the environmental improvement fund for another project, the department may deny financial assistance for the new project until the previous project is closed out according to requirements under this chapter.Wis. Admin. Code Department of Natural Resources NR 166.16
CR 06-023: cr. Register May 2007 No. 617, eff. 6-1-07.Amended by, CR 14-044: cr. Register June 2015 No. 714, eff.7/1/2015.Adopted by, CR 22-068: cr. Register October 2023 No. 814, eff. 11/1/2023