Recipient Reporting Information

In accordance with Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), all awards funded by ARRA require quarterly reporting through FederalReporting.gov. This reporting system was developed to serve as a central tool that will be used by recipients to transmit information on projects and activities funded by ARRA. This tool will be used for recipient reporting only, however, reports and information submitted through FederalReporting.gov will be made available to the public on the Recovery.gov website to achieve an unprecedented level of transparency into how Federal funds are spent.

ARRA RECIPIENT REPORTING REQUIREMENT

Section 1512 requires awardees to submit a quarterly report no later than 10 calendar days after each calendar quarter in which the recipient receives the award (Jan 10, April 10, July 10, and Oct 10). Reports are cumulative each quarter and include information such as the award number, award amount, award description, primary place of performance, project status, and number of jobs created/retained.

REGISTRATION WITH FEDERLREPORTING.GOV

Recipients must be registered as authorized parties prior to submitting reports on FederalReporting.gov. The registration function will be available no later than August 17, 2009. Thereafter, prime recipients, delegated sub-recipients and Federal agencies can register on the website. Since prime recipients must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database, and all reporting entities must have a DUNS number, reporting recipients who do not already meet these requirements should take immediate steps to prepare for registration. Registration occurs only once, prior to the first reporting cycle.

OMB GUIDIANCE

On December 18, 2009, OMB issued "Updated Guidance on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - Data Quality, Non-Reporting Recipients, and Reporting of Job Estimates" (M-10-08). This updated guidance incorporates lessons learned from the first reporting period under the Recovery Act, and includes further instructions for recipients to report job estimates on a quarterly, rather than a cumulative basis. On June 22, 2009, OMB issued âImplementing Guidance for the Reports on Use of Funds Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009â (M-09-21) . The document provides government-wide guidance for carrying out the reporting requirements included in Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In addition, to assist recipients in reporting on their expenditures of funds received under the Recovery Act, OMB created a Recipient Reporting information website which includes important information regarding recipient reporting such as the recipient reporting data model, reporting templates and recipient FAQs.

NSF GUIDIANCE

NSF has developed supplemental guidance to that provided by OMB to assist NSF recipients in submitting consistent and quality data on a quarterly basis as required under ARRA. This guidance provides a cross-walk of the data elements listed in the Recipient Reporting Data Model issued by OMB, and is supplemented, where necessary, with additional guidance from NSF. To further assist the ARRA reporting community, NSF has developed a tip sheet of Common Reporting Errors Guidance.

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Recovery Board) implemented an Automated Data Change (ADC) tool on April 1, 2011, to enable users of FederalReporting.gov to request changes to prior quarter reports. NSF has developed guidelines for its ARRA recipients that supplement Chapter 16 of the FederalReporting.gov User Guide.

RESEARCH.GOV

Many of the data elements that are required to be submitted in the quarterly recipient reports can be found on Research.gov, using the Research Spending and Results Service. From the main page of Research.gov, click the Research Spending and Results link to navigate to the search page. Type the applicable Award ID Number into the Awardee or Award Information box and click Search. A help sheet on how to find awards and the ARRA related data elements required for recipient reporting is available online to help the NSF recipient community.

This is just one of the many services Research.gov offers. Visit Research.gov today for help on completing your recipient report and to access information and services from multiple research agencies. Research.gov is a modernization of FastLane that is being done in partnership with other research agencies. Research.gov enables organizations and principal investigators to the check status of proposals submitted, find award information, and submit federal financial reports in an easy-to-use, online way.

OUTREACH

NSF holds numerous outreach opportunities for the research and education community. In addition to in-depth discussions about the proposal and award process at NSF, information related to ARRA as well as corresponding recipient reporting requirements is also provided. The NSF Regional Grants Conference is one such opportunity. The Foundation also works extensively with research administration professional organizations such as the National Council of University Research Administrators and the Society of Research Administrators to inform the community of NSF policies and procedures. Further outreach with the Council on Government Relations and the Federal Demonstration Partnership are additional avenues for informing the research community of developing policies and procedures. For a glimpse of upcoming outreach opportunities please visit the NSF Events Calendar. For recent presentation material visit the Policy Office in the Division of Institution & Award Support.

RESOURCES

CONTACTS

For registration or FederalReporting.gov system questions, contact the helpdesk at FederalReporting.gov.

For NSF-specific questions regarding Recovery Act recipient reporting, contact policy@nsf.gov.