Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements Policy #3: Transfer of Direct Service Funds

This content is part of a public comment period. For more information, refer to Minnesota Board on Aging – State Plan on Aging.

Authority Reference	OAA, Sec. 308(b)(4)(A) and (b)(5)(A) 45 CFR Part 1321.9(c)(2)(iii)
Operating Category	Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements

Policy

1. AAAs may request a transfer of funds up to 40 percent of their new obligational authority between Titles III C1 and C2 funds. Transfers up to this amount are permissible in the Older Americans Act and are referred to in this policy as being within the standard transfer threshold. MBA has the authority to approve or disapprove proposed transfer amounts up to the 40 percent standard transfer threshold as part of the Area Plan approval process.

A. AAAs may request a waiver to exceed the standard transfer threshold between Titles C1 and C2 by up to an additional 10 percent transfer. Consistent with Section 308 of the Older Americans Act, the waiver request must be based on demonstration the standard threshold amounts are insufficient to satisfy needs for services under subpart 1 or subpart 2 of part C. Such waiver requests should be submitted consistent with MBA Operations Policy #9: Waiver Requests.

· i. MBA will determine whether it supports AAA requests to exceed the standard transfer threshold by up to an additional 10 percent.

· ii. If the Board supports this, MBA must also submit a waiver request to ACL. MBA’s waiver request is subject to the approval of the Assistant Secretary on Aging.

2. AAAs may request a transfer of funds up to 30 percent of their new obligational authority between Titles III B and III C funds. Transfers up to this amount are permissible in the Older Americans Act and are referred to in this policy as being within the standard transfer threshold. MBA has the authority to approve or disapprove proposed transfer amounts up to the 30 percent standard transfer threshold as part of the Area Plan approval process.

A. AAAs may also request a waiver to transfer amounts between Titles III B and III C funds in excess of the 30 percent standard transfer threshold.

B. Waiver requests to exceed the 30 percent transfer amount between Titles IIIB and IIIC funds must demonstrate how additional criteria are met as required by Section 316 of the Older Americans Act. Those criteria include all of the following:

· i. AAAs have collaborated with other organizations that would be affected with respect to the proposal for which waiver is sought;

· ii. The proposal has been made available for public review and comment, including the opportunity for a public hearing upon request (and a summary of all of the comments received has been included in the application); and

· iii. Information to help MBA determine the probable positive and negative consequences of approval of the waiver application, and the probable benefits for older individuals can reasonably be expected to outweigh any negative consequences, or particular circumstances otherwise justify the waiver.

3. Funds may only be transferred between these Title III parts under grant awards issued in the same federal fiscal year.

4. Transfer limitations apply to the State as a whole. MBA does not have to apply equal limitations on transfers to each AAA.

5. If the aggregate transfer requests submitted by all AAAs for a given Area Plan or federal fiscal year exceed the statewide standard transfer thresholds, the MBA must first determine whether it will support the proposed transfers and submit a waiver request to ACL. Any MBA approvals of proposed transfer amounts exceeding the standard transfer threshold limits must be considered conditional and are not final unless and until ACL approves the waiver request.

6. No other transfer of funds is permissible. No transfers may involve Title III-D or Title III-E funds.

7. The MBA cannot delegate to an AAA or any other entity the authority to make such transfers.

Procedures

1. AAAs may request transfers for an Area Plan year as part of the annual Area Plan submission process.

2. MBA will review transfer requests as part of its Area Plan review process.

A. MBA has the authority to approve or disapprove proposed transfer amounts for each AAA between Title III C1 and C2 funds up to the 40 percent standard transfer threshold and between Title III B & III C funds up to the 30 percent standard transfer threshold as part of the Area Plan review, approval, and finalization process.

B. Requests to transfer amounts that exceed these standard transfer thresholds are subject to additional process and review. AAAs must submit a waiver request as described in MBA Operations Policy #9: Waiver Requests.

· i. A waiver request to exceed the 40% threshold between Titles III C1 and C2 by up to an additional 10 percent must include a demonstration of why existing funding is insufficient to meet needs for services under subpart 1 or subpart 2 of part C.

· ii. A waiver request to exceed the 30 percent threshold between Titles IIIB and IIIC must address all of the criteria described earlier in this Policy under 2(b).

· iii. Unless there is an emergency or other extraordinary circumstances, the AAA will have to show that if the waiver is approved, other AAAs will not be disadvantaged.

3. MBA will share AAA requested and approved transfer amounts with all AAAs.

4. MBA will act on requested transfer amounts at several points over a given year.

A. MBA will first consider whether to approve proposed transfers within the standard threshold requests as part of the Area Plan review and approval process. AAAs may only include transfer amounts up to the 40 percent standard threshold in their Area Plan budgets if approved by the MBA.

B. AAAs must submit a final Area Plan Year budget with a final transfer request in June of each year for the Area Plan year that is underway. If an AAA’s final transfer request exceeds the standard transfer threshold, the AAA must demonstrate that existing approved transfers up to the 40 percent threshold are insufficient to meet needs.

· i. If the final aggregate transfer requests submitted by all AAAs in June for a given Area Plan or federal fiscal year exceed the statewide transfer standard threshold, MBA must consider and determine whether to seek a waiver request from ACL to exceed the standard threshold levels. MBA would decide whether to proceed at its June meeting; if MBA supports the requests to exceed the standard threshold, MBA will submit the waiver request in July. ACL typically responds to waiver requests within four to six weeks of receipt.

· ii. The federal process requires MBA to submit both a waiver request and a separate related request to transfer funds. Waiver requests must be submitted prior to a request to transfer funds. The request to transfer funds typically is made following receipt of a waiver approval from ACL. Requests to transfer funds are due by August 1.

· iii. MBA will submit a request to transfer funds by August 1 of each year. ACL typically approves a request to transfer funds within a few weeks of receipt, if it has already approved a waiver request.

· iv. Upon written approval from ACL communicated in a letter and/or Notice of Award, MBA will issue revised Allocation Tables (aka Notice of Grant Award).

C. When unforeseen circumstances or urgent needs arise in a PSA, new transfer levels may be reviewed and acted upon by the MBA earlier in the year. MBA will review and act on such requests on a case-by-case basis.