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EPA Records Schedule 003

Status: Final, 11/30/2008

Title: Grants and Other Program Support Agreements

Program: All Programs, with exceptions

Applicability: Agency-wide

Function: 205 - Federal Financial Assistance

NARA Disposal Authority:

This schedule authorizes the disposition of the record copy in any media (media neutral), excluding any records already in electronic form. Records designated for permanent retention must be transferred to the National Archives in accordance with NARA standards at the time of transfer.

Description:

Includes records that document all types of agreements with other federal, state, or local government agencies, universities, non-profit organizations, Tribes, and other institutions to which EPA is a party, and that support EPA's environmental programs (other than Superfund site-specific, and waste water construction and state revolving fund grants). Specific types of agreements include assistance agreements, grants, cooperative agreements, interagency agreements, agreements for "guest" workers, and other types of program support agreements administered by headquarters or EPA regions and that provide for research, demonstration projects, training, fellowships, investigation, surveys, studies, or other types of program support activities.

Also includes supporting documentation. Specific types of records include, but are not limited to, documentation of significant actions and decisions relating to and supporting the award of agreements, documentation of actions and decisions relating to the competition of agreements, announcements and solicitations of funding opportunities, justifications, requests and justifications for the non-competitive award of agreements, cost estimates, scopes of work, correspondence, applications, pre-award reviews, funding decisions, award documentation, documentation relating to the evaluation of proposals and applications, conflict of interest documentation, transmittal correspondence, agreements, agreement oversight activities, non-compliance documentation, dispute documentation, audit records, closeout documentation for completed agreements; and reports and evaluations resulting from agreements.

Excludes: Final products and deliverables (EPA 258), Superfund site-specific grants and agreements (EPA 001), and waste water construction and state revolving fund grants (EPA 232).

Disposition Instructions:

Item a: Record copy

Guidance:

Agreement closeout is when the Agency determines all administrative actions and required work is completed (submission of the final expenditure report, SF 269 - Financial Status Report, by the recipient) or when the agreement is terminated or annulled and any disputes settled. Final closeout documentation may consist only of an internal Agency memo.

The Grants Administrator (also called the Grants Management Officer), Grant Project Officer, and Financial Management Officer are responsible for the record copies of grant agreement records and implementing the disposition. Records can include unique program files maintained by the grant project officer or client or technical representative and documentation relating to the assistance agreement competitions. All other copies may be destroyed when no longer needed.

The following offices and managers are responsible for maintaining a complete record set and dispositioning documents as designated below:

Grants Management Officer (Grants Specialist) - Record copy of applications; reviews and amendments related to the application; administrative review checklist; certifications; agreements and any amendments; award documentation including documentation supporting the decision to make an award; requests for deviations; stop work orders; documentation relating to termination actions, disputes and appeals, annulments and audits; legal opinions; and increases and decreases; correspondence and other related documents. See EPA 183 for Grant and Other Agreement Oversight records.

Program Office (Project Officer) - Record copy of documents used for day-to-day technical assistance for the grant or interagency agreement such as draft and final products and deliverables; work plans and progress reports; draft documents and comments provided or other records of technical direction. Also includes copies of applications, awards, amendments and other administrative and financial documents; documentation relating to the competition of assistance agreements including announcements, correspondence with applicants, evaluation and selection documentation, and other documents relating to the selection or non-selection of applicants for award of an agreement; and documents relating to requests and justifications for the non-competitive award of assistance agreements and disputes.

Financial Management Officer - Record copy of reimbursement requests, payment vouchers, payment files, federal cash transaction reports; copies of financial status report and other related documents.

Grants and agreements that are being audited, appealed, or in any other kind of legal action can not be destroyed until the case is closed. See EPA 680 for the Grant Appeal File and EPA 183 for Grant and Other Agreement Oversight.

See EPA 274 for Unsuccessful Grant Application Files. Final products and deliverables are permanent records and are scheduled as EPA 258. Superfund site specific grants are scheduled as EPA 001; and waste water construction and state revolving fund grants as EPA 232. Contracts are covered under EPA 020, EPA 055, EPA 202, and EPA 258. The Grants Information and Control System is scheduled as EPA 575. EPA 009 covers the Integrated Grants Management System (IGMS).

Specific legal and policy citations include, but are not limited to:

Reasons for Disposition:

The retention has been extended from 7 to 10 years in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3731, the statute of limitations on civil false claims cases.

Item b for electronic copies created with word processing and electronic mail applications was deleted 08/14/2006 pursuant to NARA Bulletin 2006-04.

Custodians:

Multiple units

Related Schedules:

EPA 001, EPA 009, EPA 020, EPA 055, EPA 183, EPA 202, EPA 232, EPA 258, EPA 274, EPA 575, EPA 680

Previous NARA Disposal Authority:

NC174-118/IV/3, NC174-255/I/8 (TN28-C4/8), NC-412-75-6/9 (TN28-C8/9), NC-412-75-9/25 (TN28-C7/25), NC1-412-76-1/I/4 and 6 (TN28-D1/4 and 6), NC1-412-76-1/II/2 and 4 (TN28-D2/2 and 4), NC1-412-76-1/III/14, 17, and 19 (TN28-D3/14, 17 and 19), NC1-412-76-9/25 (TN28-C16/25), NC1-412-77-1/8 and 9 (TN28-C15/8 and 9), NC1-412-77-4/1 (TN28-B20/1), NC1-412-77-5/11a (TN28-C19/10a), NC1-412-78-10/6b, NC1-412-85-6/8 and 15 (TN28-C12/3 and C15/10), NC1-412-85-7/8 (TN28-C8/9), NC1-412-85-12/6 (TN28-C20/3), NC1-412-85-14/7 (TN28-C6/1), NC1-412-85-17/2, NC1-412-85-18/2, NC1-412-85-19/4, NC1-412-85-23/4a, NC1-412-85-25/5a and b, NC1-412-85-26/I/4, N1-412-86-1/8 (TN28-C11/3), N1-412-86-3/7, N1-412-94-2/1

Entry: 03/20/1991

EPA Approval: 11/16/2006

NARA Approval: 10/02/2008

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