Campus Communication

March 8, 2010

From: Lori Cripps, Director, Extramural Funds Accounting

To: Department Research Administrators

Subject: ARRA Update

If you are responsible for administering awards funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), please read this message.

Updated OMB Guidance

In last December's ARRA communication, I noted that the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued updated guidance simplifying the methodology used to calculate the FTE reported on ARRA funded projects. Berkeley will begin using this updated methodology for the next ARRA Reporting Quarter ending March 31, 2010:

• Job estimates will be calculated based on hours worked in the current reporting quarter only. Recipients will no longer be required to maintain a cumulative total of hours worked in all prior quarters as part of the formula.
• All individuals working on an ARRA award, whether fully or partially, should be counted. You may use the percent of effort funded by an ARRA award for the reporting quarter as an FTE equivalent. A funded job is defined as one in which the wages or salaries are either paid for or will be reimbursed by ARRA funding.
• Job estimates should be reported based on the total available time in the reporting quarter (520 hours per FTE), regardless of when the grant period or employment period begins.
• Jobs Created and Jobs Retained will be reported together in a single numeric FTE field. Recipients will not be required to distinguish between a job created and a job retained when calculating and reporting FTE.

New ARRA Reporting Tools

We have updated the ARRA website to include new Jobs Created/Retained guidelines and sample FTE calculations. In addition, we have added an FTE Calculator job aid on the ARRA website. This new tool can be used by research units to simplify the "Number of Jobs" calculation on an ARRA quarterly report. In addition, the tool can be printed and used as documentation of the FTE estimate reported.

We are continuing to add enhancements to the ARRA Reporting Portal to expedite the administrative process. The "Award Description" entered for each ARRA fund will be carried forward to the next quarterly report for that fund. The Department Users will not need to re-enter information in this field for subsequent quarterly reports. The ARRA Reporting Portal will also carry forward Descriptions entered for Vendor Purchases over $25,000.

ARRA Reports for March 31, 2010

Reports are now open in the ARRA Reporting Portal for the reporting quarter ending March 31, 2010. We encourage departments to begin reviewing their ARRA funds prior to the end of the quarter. BAIRS updates the financial information in the ARRA Portal on the 1st and the 16th of every month. Departments must input and submit all ARRA quarterly reports to EFA no later than April 5, 2010.

Portal Access

Users must be authorized to input/submit data in the ARRA Reporting Portal. Department Managers should complete an ARRA Access Request Form to activate access for new employees or to deactivate access for departing employees. Access requests received by March 19, 2010 will be reflected in the Portal on March 31, 2010.

ARRA Forum - Wednesday March 17, 2010

We have scheduled an ARRA Forum to review the above changes and enhancements to ARRA Reporting, and to answer any user questions about the ARRA reporting process.

To register for this forum, log into Blu and select UC Learning Center from the Self Service menu on the left. In the UC Learning Center, enter BECTR405-031710 in the search box to register.

If you have any questions about ARRA reporting, please contact arra_efa@berkeley.edu.