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Sub-Recipient Reporting Frequently Asked Questions

Below you will find FAQs related to the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool.

General Reporting

  1. Who is required to report and when?
    • All entities with a fully executed contract must submit a report each month. Your monthly report is due by midnight on the last day of each month for the current month.
  2. What is a fully executed contract?
    • A fully executed contract is one that has been signed by the sub-recipient, returned to CPA, signed by the Deputy Comptroller and assigned a contract number (a CS or CLS Number).
  3. How do I report?
    • The Comptroller’s office has deployed the electronic SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool to use for your monthly reporting. All reporting MUST be completed online in the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool. Paper reports will not be accepted.
  4. How do I get a user ID and password?
    • You must have a fully executed contract.
    • You must view either the SEP Kick-off Webinar or the EECBG Kick-off Webinar.
    • Once you have viewed the appropriate Kick-Off Webinar, you will need to complete and submit a Sub-Recipient Contact Sheet (PDF, 83KB).
    • Return the completed Contact Sheet to secostimulus@cpa.state.tx.us or fax to (512) 936-0042. If this form is not filled out in its entirety it will be returned to the sub-recipient for completion.
    • You will receive two e-mails once the Contact Sheet is processed; one with a user ID and one with a temporary password.
    • After you first sign-in to the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool, you will be prompted to change your temporary password and answer a security question.
    • NOTE - It takes up to 24 hours for the request of a new password or a reset password to cycle through the system and become active.
  5. Where do I find the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool?
  6. What is reported on the last day of the month?
    • Sub-recipients must report all activity that occurred during that month including, but not limited to, problems that they may have encountered, procurement efforts, vendor payments, work completed, hours worked, specific activities conducted such as number of audits performed and renewable energy installed. If sub-recipients did not report all activity in a previous month, they may add those activities to their current monthly report to ensure all data is up to date.
  7. What do I do if we haven’t done anything on our project or if we have no updates to report?
    • Sub-recipients will have to report each month to document progress on their project until the Grant Project Completion Acknowledgement is approved. Sub-recipients must report on all activity that occurred during that month including, but not limited to, any problems they may have encountered, procurement efforts, vendor payments, work completed, hours worked, specific activities conducted, such as number of audits performed and renewable energy installed.
  8. Do I need to submit a report if we have spent all of our funds?
    • Sub-recipients MUST report by midnight on the last day of each month until their Grant Project Completion Acknowledgement is approved by the Comptroller.
  9. What are some general reporting tips to help subrecipients report completely and accurately?
    • Report data from and progress in the current month only. Do not report cumulative data unless you were directed to do so by your Grant Coordinator.
    • Pay attention to the unit of measure for each entry. For example, if the measurement is kilowatts (kW) make sure you are entering kilowatts, not watts.
    • Report only completed milestones. Do NOT report a milestone until the month in which it is completed. For example, if the metric asks for count of systems installed, only count the full system once in the month when it is completely installed.
    • If you paid any vendors in the current month, you must report your vendor payments. You can do this by selecting the vendor payment button at the beginning or end of the report.
    • You are required to report progress to date as a percent of project completion on the monthly report. Consider the required tasks and/or deliverables to be completed under your grant agreement and estimate how far the project has progressed to date.

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Program Reporting Metrics

  1. What are Program Reporting Metrics?
    • Program reporting metrics measure progress toward your specific energy-related project(s) as defined in the Statement of Work for your contract. For example, if your project includes retrofitting HVAC systems, there are six metrics that could measure your progress:
      • Number of energy efficient HVAC units purchased;
      • Square footage of buildings under management;
      • Number of energy tracking software packages purchased;
      • Number of energy efficient IT systems or software packages purchased;
      • Number of energy efficient pieces of office equipment purchased;
      • Number of energy management systems installed.
  2. Why are you asking us to provide this new information to you now?
  3. Who do I contact if I have questions about the metrics that were added to our report?
    • Please e-mail your Grants Coordinator at secostimulus@cpa.state.tx.us with your question(s) and include your CS/CLS contract number. With this information, your Grants Coordinator will be able to quickly find your report and address your question(s).

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Reporting Jobs Data

  1. What is a created job?
    • Per the U.S. Department of Energy, a created job is a newly created and filled position, or a previously vacant position that has been filled and that is funded by the Recovery Act, i.e., a job for which the wages or salaries are either paid for or will be reimbursed with Recovery Act funding.
  2. What is a retained job?
    • Per the U.S. Department of Energy, a retained job is an existing position that is now funded by the Recovery Act, i.e., a job for which the wages or salaries are either paid for or will be reimburse with Recovery Act funding.
  3. Why do I have to report jobs created/retained in hours?
    • The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) require jobs data to be gathered in “hours worked” and calculated into full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. The total number of reported hours worked that SECO receives from all its sub-recipients will be used to calculate FTE jobs created or retained by dividing the hours worked in a traditional full-time schedule (520 hours) by the reported total hours worked for its required reports to OMB and DOE.
  4. When do I report hours that were worked?
    • Report hours worked for employees whose wages or salaries are either paid for or will be reimbursed with SECO Stimulus grant funds in the month the hours were actually worked. You only have to report hours worked ONE time. Do not continue to report the same hours worked for the same employee unless the employee works additional hours in a month subsequent to the month you first report that employee’s hours.
  5. What should I do if I don’t know the source of funds that will be used to pay employee wages or salaries?
    • Report the hours worked in the month you receive your reimbursement and the SECO Stimulus funds have been paid to the employee.
  6. Which hours do I need to report?
    • Report all hours worked that are paid for or will be paid for with SECO Stimulus grant funds. Also report, all hours worked by your vendors (i.e., consultants, engineers or construction contractors) that will be paid with SECO Stimulus funds. Track all hours for jobs created or retained as a result of your SECO Stimulus project, regardless of the funding source, and report those hours on your final close-out report to SECO Stimulus.

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Financial Reporting

  1. What are obligated funds?
    • Obligated funds are the total amount of all binding agreements that will result in SECO Stimulus grant expenditures.
  2. What are expended funds?
    • Monies actually paid-out or spent are expended funds.
  3. What are leveraged funds?
    • Leveraged funds are the amount of funds spent on your SECO grant project activities leveraged from other non-federal sources including local, state, in-kind or utility funds that would not have otherwise been spent except for your Recovery Act funds. Leveraged funds do not include SECO Stimulus grant funds or funds put into your project as required match. Leveraged funds do not include funds that are already part of your project budget (such as required match amount). For example, if you have $23,030 of SECO Stimulus funds for your project and you put in $1,000, the $1000 are leveraged funds. If $100,000 of your project is funded by SECO Stimulus and you are contractually required to match that amount with $20,000 of your funding and your local utility company adds an additional $10,000 into your project, the $10,000 are leveraged funds.
  4. What are non-federal funds?
    • Non-federal funds are funds from non-federal sources, such as private, state or local government, or any sources that are not the U.S. Department of Energy or any other federal entity.
  5. Who is a vendor?
    • A vendor is any entity other than you that you pay with SECO Stimulus, leveraged or matched funds.
  6. What is vendor payment information?
    • Payments made with Recovery Act funds to individuals or companies for the purchase of goods or services related to your SECO grant project.
  7. Why is vendor payment information needed?
    • SECO is required to report sub-recipient vendor payment information to the Office of Management and Budget in its Recovery Act reports.
  8. How do I report Vendor payments?
    • Report each and every payment made to your vendors with SECO Stimulus funds. Each payment MUST be reported separately. Do not combine any payments to vendors, even if you pay them more than one time during the month.
  9. What information do I need to enter a vendor payment into the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool?
    • You will need the vendor’s full name, mailing address (including the zip code plus 4 digits, i.e., xxxxx-xxxx) OR the vendor’s DUNS number, the goods and/or services the vendor provided, the date of the vendor invoice, how much was paid the vendor, and the date the vendor was paid.

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National Historic Preservation Act/Texas Historical Commission Reporting

  1. How do I know if my property is historic?
    • Historic properties are defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure or object included in or eligible to be included in the National Register of Historic Places (NR). For purposes of the SECO Stimulus grant or loan any property that is 45 years or older or is a County Courthouse that is part of the grant or loan project must be reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) which is the Texas Historic Commission (THC) in Texas to determine if the property falls under this definition.
  2. How do I determine if our project is exempt from historical preservation reporting?
  3. Are there exceptions to a review by the Texas Historic Commission?
  4. Who must report historical preservation information?
    • Every Sub-recipient MUST answer the first historical preservation question in the SECO Stimulus Recipient Reporting Tool: Were all your projects exempt from the Section 106 consultation with the Texas Historic Commission?
  5. What does Section 106 consultation mean?
    • This refers to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 (United States Code, 16 USC 470f, and Code of Federal Regulations, 36 CFR 800) which requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their actions on historic properties through a consultation process.
  6. Why is a Section 106 consultation necessary?
    • Since your grant or loan is made with federal funds, complying with Section 106 of NHPA is necessary.
  7. How do I start a Section 106 consultation?
  8. How do I report my historical preservation data?
    • If all of your projects are exempt, you do not need to answer the three remaining questions that follow: Were all your projects exempt from the Section 106 consultation with the Texas Historic Commission?

      However, if some of your projects require a consultation with the Texas Historic Commission, report the number of projects in response to the question: How many projects involve a building/property 44 years of age or older or a County Courthouse?

      If your building(s) were previously reviewed by the Texas Historic Commission for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), put the number of building(s) reviewed in the blank following the question: How many projects involve a building/property 44 years of age or older or a County Courthouse?

      The total of your answers to the previous questions should be the response to the last question.
  9. Why do you want to know about Community Development Block Grants?
    • We inquire about this for two reasons: 1) the U.S. Department of Energy is requesting this information be reported to them, and 2) more importantly for sub-recipients, if the property in question has already undergone a Section 106 consultation, further review by THC may be unnecessary, especially if the project that is being undertaken was part of the Section 106 consultation.

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