January 18, 1995

PROGRAM INSTRUCTION
AOA-PI-95-02

TO				:	STATE AGENCIES ADMINISTERING PLANS UNDER TITLE VII OF THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED

SUBJECT			:	Instructions for Filing the Financial Status Report (Form 269) and Supplemental Form for Funds Received Under Title VII of the Older Americans Act

LEGAL AND RELATED
REFERENCES		:	Older Americans Act of 1965, As Amended

The purpose of this Program Instruction is to:

	!	inform States of new requirements for reporting on the status of funds received under Title VII of the Older Americans Act and related expenditure requirements under the Act and

	!	transmit the requisite forms for reporting the information required:

P	the Financial Status Report (Form SF-269) for reporting the status of Title VII funds received by the State and

P	a supplemental form for reporting funding expended on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, pursuant to Sections 307(a)(21) and 306(a)(11) of the Act.

The Financial Status Report - SF-269

States should continue to report the status of Title VII funds they receive on the SF-269.  A copy, with Title VII designation, is attached.  Instructions are on the back of the form.  Please copy both sides of this form for future use.

For the purpose of completing the SF-269, States are not required to identify the separate amounts allocated for each Title VII chapter.

The Title VII SF-269 should be submitted to the AoA Regional Administrator, according to the following schedule:

	P	by April 30 for the first six months of a fiscal year

P	by October 30 for the last six months of a fiscal year

The SF-269 for a fiscal year's funding should be submitted on the above schedule until all funds have been expended or returned to the Federal government.  The final, closeout Title VII Financial Status Report must be submitted to the Regional Administrator within 90 days after the two years following the Federal funding period for which funds were appropriated.  Ninety days after the close of a Federal fiscal year is December 30.

We would like to remind you that funds must be obligated by a State during the Federal fiscal year for which they were appropriated; i.e., funds may not be obligated after September 30 of the year for which they were appropriated.  However, for the reason stated in the next paragraph, the obligation of funds in a given fiscal year need not be totally liquidated until the last day of the second fiscal year after the year for which the funds were awarded.

AoA, since FY 1989, has exempted States from following the provision of 45 CFR 92.23, which requires liquidation of obligated funds within 90 days following the close of the fiscal year for which the funds were appropriated.  The exemption was necessitated by the need for additional time for area agencies on aging to liquidate Title III funds.  The exemption extended the period of time for liquidation of obligated funds for two fiscal years after the fiscal year for which they were appropriated. In order to establish consistency between Title III and Title VII funds, AoA is extending this exemption to Title VII funds.  (A provision in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Title VII [See November 15, 1994 Federal Register, par. 1327.15(a)] which incorporates 45 CFR 92 will be deleted in the final regulations.)

Certification of Ombudsman Required Minimum Funding Levels

Due to a technical amendment to the 1992 Amendments to the Older Americans Act, the minimum ombudsman funding requirements in the Act did not become effective until fiscal year 1994.  For
FY 1994, the certification form should be completed and submitted to the Regional Administrator by January 30, 1995.  For FY 1995 and subsequent years, it should be submitted 30 days after the close of a fiscal year (October 30), along with the SF-269.

EFFECTIVE DATE	:	Final SF-269 for FY 1993 Title VII funds due December 30, 1995; Title VII SF-269's due April 30 and October 30 and December 30 (closeout) for FY 1994 and subsequent years; 

Certification of Ombudsman Required Minimum Level for FY 1994 due January 30, 1995 and October 30 in subsequent years.

ATTACHMENTS	:	A.	Financial Status Report for Title VII — SF-269 (Long Form) (Not included with electronic submission of this PI)
B.	Supplemental Form to Title VII 269: Certification of Ombudsman Required Minimum Funding Level

INQUIRIES:	State Agencies should address inquiries to Regional AoA Administrators, DHHS Regional Office.

					                                 
					Fernando Torres-Gil
					Assistant Secretary for Aging

copies:  State Long Term Care Ombudsmen

Certification of Ombudsman Required Minimum Funding Level

Certification of Federal and non-Federal expenditures in compliance with Sections 307(a)(21) and 306(a)(11) of the Older Americans Act, as Amended1

State Agency Expenditures:  I, the undersigned, certify that the State Agency expended the following funds in carrying out its Ombudsman Program under Section 712 of the Older Americans Act:

	Source				Base Year (FY '91)			FY 199 ___

	Federal - OAA Title VII		_________________2		__________________

	Federal - Title III-B
	 [OAA Section 304(d)(1)(B)]	__________________		__________________

	Other Federal			__________________		__________________

	State Funds				__________________		__________________

	Other (do not include "in kind")	__________________		__________________
		
				Total		__________________		__________________

				____________________________________________________________
				Signature and Title of Authorized State Official		Date

Area Agency Expenditures:  I further certify that, in compliance with the requirement of Section 306(a)(11) of the Act, each Area Agency on Aging in the State which expended Title III funds received under 304(d)(1)(D) of the Act on ombudsman activities in FY 1991 expended at least this amount on the Ombudsman Program, as defined in Section 712 of the Act, during the past fiscal year.

				_____________________________________________________________
				Signature							Date