Overview

This article describes the changes made in this release for recipient reporting in assistance agreements and use of the SF-425.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• New Recipient Financial Reporting Panel
  • Recipient Financial Reporting Columns
    • The Report Type Column
    • The Due Date Column
    • The Status Column
    • The Action Column
      • Edit
      • Submit
      • View
      • Reopen
      • Waived Status Actions
    • Viewing Attachments
• FedConnect Message Center Changes
  • New Due Date Message
    • Subject Line
    • Message Body Text
  • New SF-425 Acceptance Message
    • Subject Line
    • Message Body Text
  • SF-425 Rejection Message
    • Subject Line
    • Message Body Text
  • New SF-425 Waived Message
    • Subject Line
    • Message Body Text
• SF-425 User Actions
  • Reopening a Rejected Report
• Financial Report Historical Records
• Sending a Report

New Recipient Financial Reporting Panel

The Recipient Financial Reporting panel is new on the existing Award Summary page in this FedConnect release. It contains a table that displays all of the financial reports associated with the assistance awards you open in FedConnect.

Navigation

To see the new Recipient Financial Reporting panel, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to FedConnect. The Message Center - Inbox page displays.
2. Click Awards. The Awards page displays.
3. Use the search features (if necessary) to find an assistance award.
4. Click an award link in the Title column. The Award Summary page displays.

The following picture illustrates how the new Recipient Financial Reporting panel might look on the existing Award Summary page. Your results might vary.

Recipient Financial Reporting Columns

The new Recipient Financial Reporting panel contains the following columns:

• Report Type
• Due Date
• Status
• Actions

Each column is described in a little more detail, below.

The Report Type Column

The Report Type column displays the frequency type for each report in the list. Possibilities include:

• Quarterly
• Semi-Annual
• Annual
• Final

The Due Date Column

The Due Date column displays the due date for each report that displays in the table in the Recipient Financial Reporting panel on the Award Summary page in an assistance agreement.

The Status Column

The Status column displays a status label for each report in the list. These are the statuses you might see, along with a brief description:

• Draft displays for reports where the SF 425 is available in FedConnect. It can be viewed or edited.
• Queued displays for completed and submitted reports that are waiting to be sent to the agency by a batch process, behind-the-scenes. Such reports cannot be edited, but you can read them.
• Submitted displays for SF 425 reports successfully received in the agency's procurement system. Such reports cannot be edited, but you can read them.
• Accepted displays for SF 425 reports that were reviewed by an agency representative who then marked it as accepted in their procurement system. Such reports cannot be edited, but you can read them.
• Rejected displays for reports reviewed by an agency representative who then marked it as rejected in their procurement system. Such reports cannot be edited, but you can reopen them. This is described in more detail, below, in Reopening a Rejected Report. 
• Waived displays for reports that for one reason or another someone at the agency relinquished the requirement for. There is no report in the table in this case, but there is a row in the table to document this decision.

The Action Column

The Action column displays various messages related to what actions you can take on the reports in the list. These actions are based on the status of the reports.

Edit

You can edit reports that are in Draft status. To do so, just click the Draft link in the Action column, and the Federal Financial Reporting page displays, and you can begin editing the fields on the page as necessary.

Submit

You can submit edited reports that are in Draft status. To do so, click the Edit link in the Action column, then edit the fields on the Federal Financial Reporting page. When you are done, click Submit at the bottom of the page.

View

You can view the data entry page for reports that are in Queued, Rejected, and Submitted status. You can view the form (only) for reports in Accepted status. Click any of those status links in the Action column to view the form.

Reopen

You can reopen reports that have been rejected. This allows you to fix what the agency objected to and then resubmit the report. When you reopen a report, FedConnect deletes its attachments, and the message, The Financial Report for Assistance Agreement [form number] for the reporting period [dates] is rejected. Please note when the contract is reopened any attachments will have been removed and must be re-added before resubmitting," displays.

Waived Status Actions

When a report is in Waived status, nothing displays in the list for you to do—there is no report in the list but there is a row, for accurate record keeping.

Viewing Attachments

The Get Attachment button displays in the Actions column when a report has been accepted. Click Get Attachment to open the attachment and view it, save it, etc.

The following picture illustrates how the Get Attachment button might look. Your results might vary.

FedConnect Message Center Changes

There are four messages you might see in the Message Center in FedConnect, related to the SF-425. They are for:

• New reports that are due within a configured number of days
• Notice of acceptance of an SF-425 financial report
• Notice of rejection of an SF-425 financial report
• Notice of a waived SF-425 financial report

New Due Date Message

In this release we added a new message for new reports that are due within a configured number of days (as configured in PRISM on the Financial Reports page for report configuration.

Subject Line

The subject line of the message is as follows:

“Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM]  -[REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] Financial Report Due [due date]”

Message Body Text

The body text in the message is as follows:

"The [report type] Federal Financial Report ([SF 425]) is due on [due date] for [Assistance Agreement]. You can access complete the report here.”

The word "here" is a hyperlink to the new form completion page

New SF-425 Acceptance Message

In this release we added a message to acknowledge acceptance of the SF-425.

Subject Line

The subject line of the message is as follows:

“Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] -[REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] Financial Report Accepted”

Message Body Text

The body text in the message is as follows:

“The Financial Report for Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] for the reporting period [REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] is accepted.”

SF-425 Rejection Message

In this release we added an SF-425 rejection message.

Subject Line

The subject line of the message is as follows:

“Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] -[REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] Financial Report Rejected”

Message Body Text

The body text in the message is as follows:

“The Financial Report for Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] for the reporting period [REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] is rejected.”

New SF-425 Waived Message

In this release we added a message that is sent upon an SF-425 being waived.

Subject Line

The subject line of the message is as follows:

“Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] -[REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] Financial Report Waived”

Message Body Text

The body text in the message is as follows:

“The Financial Report for Assistance Agreement [DOCNUM] for the reporting period [REPORTINGPERIOD_STARTDATE] - [REPORTINGPERIOD_ENDDATE] has been waived.”

SF-425 User Actions

This section describes the user actions you can take on SF-425 recipient financial reports in FedConnect.

Reopening a Rejected Report

When an assistance financial report is rejected, you will be notified via a rejection message in the Message Center in FedConnect. 

In addition to the notice of rejection message in the Message Center in FedConnect, there is also a pop-up window that displays when you reopen a rejected financial report. To say it another way, when you click Reopen in the Actions column in the Recipient Financial Reporting panel on the Award Summary page, the Report Rejected pop-up window displays. After doing so, the report's status returns to Draft.

Navigation

To see the Report Rejected pop-up window, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to FedConnect. The Message Center - Inbox page displays.
2. Click Awards. The Awards page displays.
3. Use the search features (if necessary) to find an assistance award.
4. Click an award link in the Title column. The Award Summary page displays.
5. Click Reopen in the Actions column for a rejected report. The Report Rejected pop-up window displays.

The following picture illustrates how the Report Rejected pop-up window might look. Your results might vary.

Financial Report Historical Records

The data you enter in financial reports is saved in FedConnect to maintain historical data integrity. 

Sending a Report

When a report is in either Draft or Rejected status, you can edit and submit (send) it to the agency. This section describes the steps to do so.

When you edit a report, some of the data in the fields is pre-filled for you, by someone at the agency, when they send the request for the report. They complete the fields in their agency's procurement software system, and then it gets sent from their system to FedConnect. The list below is a list of the fields that are often sent to you from the agency's procurement system, and that might be pre-filled for you. 

• Issuing Office (Block 1)
• Assistance Agreement Number/PMS Document Number (Block 2)
• Recipient Organization Name (Block 3-1)
• Recipient Street 1 (Block 3-2)
• Recipient Street 2 (Block 3-3)
• Recipient City (Block 3-4)
• Recipient State (Block 3-5)
• Recipient Province (Block 3-6)
• Recipient Country (Block 3-7)
• Recipient Zip/Postal Code (Block 3-8)
• Recipient UEI (Block 4a)
• Report Type (Block 6) (Quarterly, Semi-Annual, Annual, Final)
• Assistance Agreement Period of Performance Start Date (Block 8)
• Assistance Agreement Period of Performance End Date (Block 8-1)
• Report Period End (Block 9)
• Cash Receipts (Block 10a)
• Total Federal Funds Authorized (Block 10d)
• Acceptance Date
• Comments

Navigation

To see the new Recipient Financial Reporting panel, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to FedConnect. The Message Center - Inbox page displays.
2. Click Awards. The Awards page displays.
3. Use the search features (if necessary) to find an assistance award.
4. Search for the award you want to send the report for.
5. Click the award's in the Title column. The Award Summary page displays.
6. Click Draft or Rejected in the Status column next to the report you want to edit and send. The Federal Financial Reporting page displays.
7. Complete all required fields, and/or any optional fields as you see fit.
8. When you are done completing the fields you can do one of these three things:
   • Click Save if you are not yet ready to send the form, but want to save the work you just completed. You can click Save at any point after you have made entries in the fields on the page, and then come back and complete and submit the form later. To return to the Award Summary page after you have saved your work, click Close, then at the prompt, click Close again.
   • Click Submit if you are confident the report is ready to be sent (submitted) to the agency. Click Submit ONLY if you certain that you are ready to send the form. This is not something you can undo later.
   • Click Close if you want to back out of the form without saving anything, or after you click Save if you are ready to navigate back to the Award Summary page. You can click Close at any point, and then come back and attempt to complete and submit the form later. 

The following picture illustrates how the Submit pop-up window might look after you click Submit on the Federal Financial Reporting page. Your results might vary.