[CAFR-Contacts-News] FW: COVID-19 In Relation To Costs

Fri Apr 3 20:19:44 PDT 2020

Hello CAFR Contacts,

As this situation is extremely fluid, and understanding that we're operating quickly to provide information to leadership, I need to amend the guidance that went out earlier, though I hope it will be limited in the number of agencies it impacts, for the upcoming week only.

If your agency has incurred more than $1 million in "in relation to" costs (for all periods up through April 3), leadership wants that information communicated to ECC (see below). If you have less than $1 million in "in relation to" costs incurred for all periods up through April 3, follow the guidance contained in the email sent earlier today at 3:20 pm. For clarity, "for all periods" means there is no beginning date, so it would be all "in relation to" costs incurred related to the COVID-19 pandemic up through April 3, not just those for March 28 - April 3.

Nothing is changing in the reporting of direct costs; they should continue to be reported for a weekly basis based on process date that reconciles to R*STARS data (unless granted an exception).

For those agencies that have more than $1 million in "in relation to costs" up through April 3, please provide the following information in the body of the email to ECC containing your weekly report:

1.      Costs incurred but not yet in R*STARS (SPOTS transaction, bills not  yet in R*STARS, etc.) to the best of your agency's ability.

2.       Costs in R*STARS

3.       Whether the costs in #'s 1 and 2 will be fully/partially reimbursed through a federal grant (e.g., Yes or No)

4.       If Yes to #3, what percentage will be reimbursed (to the approximate 10 - 15%), if your agency is able to make the estimate. If not, please indicate so.

We expect a very limited number of agencies have incurred more than $1 million of "in relation to" costs up through April 3, so this should not impact many agencies. Again, if you do not have more than $1 million in "in relation to" costs incurred up through April 3, follow the guidance contained in the email below. Nothing will change for your agency for the ECC report for the week ending April 3.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Thank you,

Rob

From: CAFR-Contacts-News <cafr-contacts-news-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> On Behalf Of CHASE Stacey A * DAS via CAFR-Contacts-News
Sent: Friday, April 3, 2020 3:20 PM
To: CAFR-contacts-news at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
Subject: [CAFR-Contacts-News] COVID-19 In Relation To Costs

Good afternoon CAFR contacts!

SARS and ECC previously recommended that agencies identify a mechanism to track "in relation to" COVID-19 costs separate from the "response" costs charged to Project Code "COVID1" and Phase "19". During a conference call with the Chief Financial Office earlier this afternoon, SARS and ECC received guidance indicating that agencies are now required to track and report all "in relation to" COVID-19 costs to ECC on a weekly basis.

Understanding that each agency has unique structures and may have various funding sources available to recover the "in relation to" costs, agencies may use a tracking mechanism that works best for their particular business needs.

SARS and ECC are in the process of updating the Agency COVID Cost Tracker spreadsheet to include the additional reporting requirements requested earlier today. The new reporting requirements associated with "in relation to" COVID-19 costs are not required to be reported on the upcoming weekly ECC report due April 8; however, agencies should have a mechanism in place to ensure those costs will be included on the weekly report due April 15 and subsequent reports thereafter.

We greatly appreciate your patience while we navigate through these difficult waters. We appreciate all that you do and are doing our best to identify solutions that balance the needs of the agencies with the needs of the enterprise.

Take care everyone,
s

Stacey A. Chase
Senior Financial Reporting & Policy Analyst
Chief Financial Office
Department of Administrative Services
Phone: 503-947-8567
https://www.oregon.gov/das/financial/acctng/pages/index.aspx

Data Classification: Level 1 - Published

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