From: SSVF
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2018
11:15 PM
To: SSVF
Subject: SSVF Program Update Friday,
October 20, 2017
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged
Topics:
1. Save the Date: SSVF National Webinar November 9, 2017 at 2 PM Eastern
2. New: VA's Coordinated Entry Systems (CES) Guidance to VA Medical Centers (VAMC)
3. Grantee FY 2017 Reporting Requirements in GIFTS: FY 2017 Quarter 4 Certification for Active Surge Grantees and FY 2017 End of Year Closeout Certification
4. FINAL FY 2017 HHS Subaccount Transfers
5. FY 2018 Grant Award Resolution Requirement in GIFTS
6. Resource: SAMHSA’s Request for Applications to Participate in the SOAR TA Project Due November 17, 2017
Save the Date: SSVF National Webinar November 9, 2017 at 2PM Eastern
Topic: SSVF FY 2018 Program Planning
The SSVF National Grantee Webinar will review updates related to the FY18 SSVF Program Guide and the Uniform Monitoring Packet.
A registration link will be provided.
New: VA's Coordinated Entry Systems (CES) Guidance to VA Medical Centers (VAMC)
On October 17th, VA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management released a memo to Network Directors, Network Homeless Coordinators and VA Medical Center staff which issued guidance regarding the roles and responsibilities of the VA medical center homeless programs in each of their local Continuum of Care (CoC) and the CoC’s coordinated entry systems. Within the guidance, VA recognizes that coordinated entry systems are a critical element in our continued efforts to end Veteran homelessness, as it ensures coordination of community-wide services for Veterans experiencing homelessness, system-wide awareness of the availability of housing and services, and easy access to and appropriate prioritization for these resources by Veterans who are in critical need. The memo emphasizes that VA’s participation is essential to the success of this national effort and addresses in detail, the VA medical center’s required level of participation in several key components to a fully-developed CES: case conferencing, By-Name-Lists (BNL), assessment tools, and data sharing. While the guidance emphasizes participation in these elements to the fullest extent possible, it also recognizes the real challenges that VA medical centers are presented with as a result of the frequent mismatches in the geographical catchment areas between CoCs and VA medical centers, as well as instances where larger VA medical centers are tasked with coordinating services with multiple CoCs. The memo addresses these challenges when outlining the specific requirements of each key component, recognizing that while full participation may not be feasible in each area of CES for these reasons, the goal is to be as fully participatory as possible. It is anticipated that each VA medical center will be reaching out to their partner CoCs about this guidance and the subsequent collaborative effort that will be required to meet the requirements.
Grantee FY 2017 Reporting Requirements in GIFTS: FY 2017 Quarter 4 Certification for Active Surge Grantees and FY 2017 End of Year Closeout Certification
The transition from one fiscal year to a new fiscal year typically brings a high volume of administrative requirements. The SSVF Program Office has provided reporting instructions and deadlines to grantees via webinars and program updates. Please continue to review these details carefully and check your grant’s SSVF GIFTS online portal to determine what requirements apply to your specific grant.
FY 2017 Quarter 4 Certification Requirements: This reporting requirement is for the Surge grantees that are still operating within the 3-year project period. This applies to all Surge grant numbers beginning with C2015 that are scheduled to end on 3/31/2018 AND all Surge grants beginning with C15 that received an extension to continue operations during FY 2018. These Surge grantees will have a “SSVF Quarterly Certification” Requirement visible in the GIFTS online portal. This requirement is due no later than November 1, 2017. Access the SSVF GIFTS portal at https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_2115/?SA=AM.
FY 2017 End of Year Closeout Certification: This reporting requirement applies to all other SSVF grantees with project periods that ended on 9/30/2017, including those with 30-day extensions. The SSVF Program Office has begun activating the online GIFTS requirement form for those grantees with End of Year Closeout activities due by November 14, 2017. The grantees with 30-day extensions will receive their notifications and GIFTS requirement forms in the coming week, which are due on December 15, 2017. Notifications have gone to these grantees and they will begin receiving the VA customized FY17 Financial Expenditure Report templates via email. These reports are a required attachment to the GIFTS online form. A Companion Guide for completing the GIFTS End of Year Certification and the Financial Expenditure Report is available in the GIFTS section of the SSVF website:https://www.va.gov/homeless/ssvf/index.asp?page=/official_guide/reporting_and_monitoring_requirements .
If you have questions, please contact SSVF@va.gov. Access the SSVF GIFTS portal at https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_2115/?SA=AM.
FINAL FY 2017 HHS Subaccount Transfers
Please be reminded that HHS Subaccount Transfers will be processed on a weekly basis through December. Grantees that require a final transfer of funds among the HHS subaccounts in order to complete the grant close-out should complete and submit the open requirement form in GIFTS titled “Final Subaccount Transfer”. Please do not send transfer requests to the Regional Coordinator or the SSVF general inbox. To avoid denials of the subaccount transfer requests, please access your HHS grant account within the Payment Management System to carefully review the authorized subaccount balances; any previous Program Changes, mandatory sweeps or disaster relief efforts throughout the year may have resulted in changes to these authorized balances. Be sure you are basing transfer requests off of the current AUTHORIZED balances of each subaccount rather than remaining balances. If your submission is not completed properly it will be denied and will need to be resubmitted. Note: HHS subaccount transfer requests are not necessary for transfers under $1000. In order to close out the award, grantees may complete final drawdowns from the different subaccounts with a variance in final expenditures within each subaccount that is less than $1000. Appropriate backup documentation is needed for future monitoring or audit purposes. If you have questions about how to complete the template or verify your authorized subaccount balances (prior to submitting your request) please contact your Regional Coordinator.
FY 2018 Grant Award Resolution Process in GIFTS
This reporting requirement applies to all funded grantees (new and renewal) in FY 2018 AND all Surge grantees that received extensions to continue SSVF operations during FY 2018. In preparation for the FY 2018 SSVF grant term, the Program Office is collecting grant agreement information from all grantees providing SSVF services during FY 2018. The purpose of this Resolution is to verify key program components, update contact information, confirm service areas, households to be served, homelessness prevention threshold scores, and verify HHS subaccount totals for the approved FY18 budget. While completing this form, grantees should consider that any significant changes that occur after the resolution process may require a Program Change Request in subsequent Quarters. Therefore, it is essential to plan ahead and carefully consider the Resolution form, as it relates to the approved FY18 budget.
The Grant Award Resolution Companion Guide provides instructions to grantees for completing the sections of the Resolution form within the GIFTS system as well as instructions for completing requirements outside of the GIFTS system. The SSVF Grant Resolution Requirement form has been assigned to the current GIFTS Account Holder and email notifications went out on Monday, October 16, 2017.
SSVF Grant Resolution submissions are due no later than Tuesday, October 31, 2017. Please begin preparing for this deadline, as there are many components requiring grantee feedback. Grantees will need the following materials in order to complete the requirement by the established deadline.
• Final, Approved FY18 SSVF Budget (this would be the budget submitted with the February 3, 2017 application submission OR the revised submission of this budget to reflect final funding award)
• Homelessness Prevention Screening Threshold Score
• Subcontractor MOUs (signed and current), if applicable
• NEW! FY18 HH Served and Resource by CoC (Microsoft Excel template to download from SSVF website)
The grantee portal can be found at https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_2115/ and the Resolution Companion Guide is available in the GIFTS section of the SSVF website: https://www.va.gov/homeless/ssvf/index.asp?page=/official_guide/reporting_and_monitoring_requirements. If you have any questions about completing the online requirement form, please contact SSVF@va.gov.
Resource: SAMHSA’s Request for Applications to Participate in the SOAR TA Project Due November 17, 2017 The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) Technical Assistance Center is accepting applications from Continuums of Care (CoCs) that have not yet participated in the federally sponsored SOAR Technical Assistance Program.
SAMHSA's SOAR program assists states and localities to expedite access to the Social Security Administration's (SSA) disability programs – Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) – for persons who are experiencing or at risk for homelessness and who have a serious mental illness, a co-occurring substance use disorder or other serious medical condition.
CoCs are invited to submit a brief, 3-5 page application in response to the Request for Applications (RFA) participate in the SOAR TA Project by November 17, 2017. A message of interest and intent to file an application is requested, but not required, by October 24, 2017. The RFA and the documents may be accessed at: https://soarworks.prainc.com/article/coc-soar-ta-2018?utm_source=HUD+Exchange+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=facee63217-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_10_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f32b935a5f-facee63217-19238913
Participation in SOAR requires local commitment and collaboration while working closely with the SOAR State Team Lead to ensure that the effort is consistent with that of other communities in the state. In many states, the local and/or balance of state CoCs are actively involved in SOAR implementation at both the state and local levels.
For more information or if you have questions about the RFA, please contact Kristin Lupfer, Project Director, SAMHSA SOAR Technical Assistance Center via e-mail at klupfer@prainc.com or by phone at 518-439-7415, ext. 5262.
Thank you.
SSVF Program Office
NOTE: If you are receiving this email in error, please disregard. We request your patience as the SSVF Program Office continues to address system issues with the grants management database