April 22, 2025
I am following up on an earlier email to all members re: the ‘Defend the Spend’ emails HHS is sending to some (federal) grant awardees when the awardee attempts to draw down grant funds such as SAMHSA CCBHC grant funds.
First, see the HHS Announcement (at bottom of this email). It includes advice from HHS (and specifically the Administration for Children and Families) for head start agencies attempting to draw down federal award funds. The guidance in blue is what should be followed.
Also, I asked our attorney Adam Falcone a question about whether providers required to respond to a request for justification should try to align (in the response) the justification for the drawdown of funds with Trump policy priorities. Here is Adam’s smart response to me:
We are not recommending that the justification relate back to Trump’s priorities because: (1) we have not seen any guidance from agencies that specifically requests that type of justification and (2) that would be, in our view, unconstitutional because if only those priorities were approved for funding, it would allow the executive branch to overrule the appropriation decisions of Congress. Instead, the justification should describe generally what the funds will be used for and how they relate back to the approved budget for the federal award, i.e., “salaries and fringe”, “subcontractor/vendor payments”, etc.
And finally, earlier today I got in touch with the National Council who shared the following advice from our attorney in common, Adam Falcone who was responding to a question about what to say when you get a letter asking for justification for a award funds drawdown request:
I would recommend a very plain vanilla response to the questions that refers back to the grantee’s Notice of Grant Award and cites the applicable CFR referenced in the NGA. Something along these lines:
The drawdown is for immediate cash needs, as required by [2 CFR 200.305 or 45 CFR 75.305, as applicable] for Award Number [listed in block 11 of NGA] related to ([insert Federal Award Project Title from block 14 of the NGA]). These funds will be used for costs incurred under the approved budget set forth in the Notice of Grant Award (NGA) and are necessary for [insert general description of costs to be paid, e.g., salaries, fringes, vendor payments].
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From: HSES Announcements <notice@hsesannouncements.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 3:58 PM
To:
Subject: PMS Now Requires Federal Awarding Agencies to Approve Payment Requests
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On March 17, 2025, PMS introduced a new mandatory field in the payment request screen at the grant subaccount level, which requires justification from your organization explaining the purpose of the payment at the subaccount level. You are encouraged to include detailed justifications of 1,000 characters or less. Federal awarding agencies will now review payment request justifications and either approve them or request more detail. If a revised justification is needed, your organization will receive an email from defendthespend@hhs.gov that will direct you to a website hosted on doge.gov. Both hhs.gov and doge.gov are valid U.S. government domains that may be interacted with for award related matters. As a result of this change, we have seen that processing times for new payment requests may be different than those experienced previously. To help your payments go through as quickly as possible, we recommend the following: Simplify your request structure. Limit the number of grant subaccounts. Write a clear justification. Protect privacy. Respond quickly to clarification requests. Sincerely, |