Section 3: Requests for Reimbursement

Reimbursement Conditions

Reimbursement of costs under a traffic safety grant is contingent upon the following conditions:
  • The availability of appropriated funds.
  • Actual costs having been incurred (services provided, hours worked, etc.) in accordance with the approved project budget within the time frame specified in the grant period of the grant agreement, attributable to work covered by the agreement, and which has been completed in a manner satisfactory and acceptable to TxDOT.
Payment of costs incurred under the Texas Behavioral Traffic Safety Program Grant Agreement General Terms and Conditions is further governed by the following cost principles, as appropriate, outlined in 2 C.F.R. §200.305 (Payment).

Submission of Requests for Reimbursement

Subgrantees submit Requests for Reimbursement (RFRs) by:
  1. Selecting the applicable month RFR, which will be accessible thirty days before the due date (under “My Tasks” in the grant agreement).
  2. Completing the appropriate RFR budget category form pages.
  3. Submitting the RFR to the TxDOT Traffic Safety Project Manager by changing the status of the RFR (found under “Change the Status”) to “RFR Submitted.” RFRs are due monthly within 30 days after the end of the billing cycle.
RFRs are due within 30 days after the end of the billing cycle. After 30 days, eGrants will lock the RFR and a subgrantee will no longer be able to submit an RFR for that billing cycle. A subgrantee would then have to include the billing information from the previous billing cycle in the next scheduled RFR. Missed RFRs will have an impact on a subgrantee’s overall performance for the year. For example, a subgrantee with a grant that stipulates the submission of monthly RFRs should submit the October RFR by November 30.
RFRs will not be approved until the corresponding Performance Report is submitted and approved by the appropriate project manager through eGrants.
Project managers must review and approve the corresponding Performance Report before the RFR can be approved.
Subgrantees must submit the final RFR within 45 days of the end of the grant period.
In accordance with good accounting practices, the person submitting the RFR in eGrants should not receive monetary payment under the grant. If the person submitting the RFR is being compensated under the grant, someone of higher authority must approve the costs of the person submitting the RFR prior to inclusion in the RFR.

Payee Identification Number (PIN) (Texas Identification Number [TIN] and Mail Code)

Subgrantees must enter a valid Payee Identification Number (Texas Identification Number) (PIN/TIN) and mail code for their organization into the eGrants system in order to receive RFR payments or any other form of payments. If the PIN/TIN and mail code is not entered, not valid, or not entered correctly into the eGrants system, the RFR process cannot proceed.
The PIN/TIN and mail code can be entered into the eGrants system on the Legal Name Page for each organization prior to grant execution. The Legal Name link is located on the Organization Information Page. Select the link for the organization under the “My Organizations” section in eGrants in order to navigate to the Organization Information Page.
If the organization PIN/TIN and/or mail code changes, the updated PIN/TIN and/or mail code must be entered and saved in eGrants.
For more information on entering or changing an organization’s PIN/TIN and/or mail code in eGrants, see the
Payee Identification Number Instructions
on the eGrants Help Page.
For more information on obtaining a PIN/TIN and/or mail code, visit the
State Payee Payment Resources Page
on the State Comptroller’s website.

Assistance on Completing RFRs

Each project RFR form page has a corresponding eGrants help page that provides further assistance and guidance in completing the page. To view a help page, click on the “help link” while in any RFR page that you are working on. To view all the eGrants RFR help pages, see
eGrants Request for Reimbursements Help
.
The
eGrants Traffic Safety Subgrantee User Guide
provides detailed how-to procedural instructions for accessing and completing required RFRs.
An eGrants Payee Identification Number (PIN) Entry Tutorial is available for download from thePayee Identification Number (PIN)/Texas Identification Number (Tutorial) link in the Help section of the
eGrants Help Page
for any organization needing further assistance on entering or changing the organization’s PIN in the eGrants system.

Summary of Documentation

With each RFR, the subgrantee must submit documentation to support program expenditures by cost categories 300 - 700. The TxDOT Traffic Safety Division - Behavioral Traffic Safety Section (TRF-BTS) recommends that source documentation (i.e., receipts, invoices) be attached to the individual RFR pages for all budget cost categories whenever practical. However, there are two budget categories, that due to the nature of the claimed expenditures, preclude the necessity of providing source documentation.
For Salaries and Fringe Benefits (100, 200), the source documentation need not accompany the request for payment unless there is a demonstrated need for the requirement. A summary or recap of salaries and fringe benefits costs by budget line item (called an “outlay detail”) is sufficient for the RFR. These costs may be listed on the appropriate Outlay Detail form (see below). The listing must show invoice number and amounts, time worked, etc. Each item must be clearly identified and all extensions and totals verified as correct.
There are Outlay Detail forms available in the “General Tool Box” section on the
eGrants Help Page
for two of the cost outlay categories (Salaries and Fringe Benefits and Travel) shown in the following table.
Outlay Detail Form
Cost Outlay Category
Personnel and Fringe Benefits
Travel
Program Income Received
(See Section 6)
Program Income Distributed
(See Section 6)
The information shown on the outlay detail forms should be detailed enough so that a project manager performing a monitoring visit can select and review designated documents to verify that subgrantee source documentation exists to support all claims.
A project manager may, at any time, request that all source documents, including time sheets, invoices, and other records of costs incurred, be submitted with the RFR.
Salaries and Fringe Benefits (100, 200)
To substantiate the expenditures listed on the RFR Salaries and Fringe Benefits budget page, a subgrantee must attach to the RFR
one
of the documents shown below:
  1. A summary or list of documentation to support program salary and fringe expenditures on the
    Salaries and Fringe Benefits Outlay Detail Sheet
    (100, 200), found under “Outlay Sheets” on the eGrants Help Page, or
  2. A Financial Statement from the subgrantee’s organization that shows all employee’s salaries and fringe benefits paid for the reporting period.
The Salaries and Fringe Benefits Outlay Detail Sheet or the Financial Statement should include:
  • Dates incurred.
  • Employee name.
  • Time worked.
  • Salary rate.
  • Wages or salary paid.
  • Fringe benefits paid.
  • Date paid.
  • Document type/number.
Each item must be clearly identified and all extensions and totals verified as correct.
For more information on entering “Salaries and Fringe Benefits” expenditures into an RFR, see the following pages in the eGrants help system:

Travel and Per Diem (300)

All receipts or invoices must be attached to the RFR for incurred travel expenses such as airfare, hotels, meals and other travel-related expenses. The outlay detail sheet, or other supporting documentation, must be attached to substantiate the total number of enforcement or personal miles claimed for the RFR time period, or any other expenses requiring further clarification.
For more information on entering travel related expenses expenditures into an RFR, see the following pages in the eGrants help system:

Subgrantee Documentation

The Texas Behavioral Traffic Safety Program requires the subgrantee to maintain complete documentation of claims in the form of source documents in support of amounts claimed. Source documents include time sheets, invoices, receipts and other records of costs incurred.
Matching costs will be subject to the same financial review procedures as expenditures submitted for reimbursement and must be supported with appropriate documentation. To the extent reasonable, documentation for matching contributions should be supported by the same methods used by the subgrantee’s organization to support all other costs.
The subgrantee must retain all records, including source documentation for expenditures and matching costs, for four years from the date of final payment until completion of all audits, or until pending litigation has been completely and fully resolved.

Accounting for Program Income

Please see Section 6 for requirements on reporting program income.

Charge Numbers

eGrants automatically assigns a charge number to each proposal once the proposal is approved for funding.

Direct Deposit

Local subgrantees should be encouraged to use the direct deposit system whereby payments are directly deposited to the subgrantee’s bank account using electronic transfer. An organization’s PIN/TIN and mail code determines how payments are made. Contact the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to ensure that a PIN/TIN and mail code is set up to be paid via direct deposit.