Financial Reporting Form for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Tribal Lead Agencies (Form ACF-696T)

Program Instruction

1. Log No: CCDF-ACF-PI-2020-08
2. Issuance Date: December 7, 2020
3. Originating Office: Office of Child Care
4. Key Words: Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF); ACF-696T; Financial Reporting Form for Indian Tribes

To

Tribal Lead Agencies administering child care programs under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 1990, as amended and other interested parties.

Subject

Form ACF-696T—a Financial Reporting Form for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Tribal Lead Agencies.

References

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 9857 et seq.); Section 418 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 618); 45 CFR Parts 98 and 99; Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub.L.116-20); the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136).

Purpose

This Program Instruction is a reminder to CCDF Tribal Lead Agencies of the annual financial reporting requirements (i.e., ACF-696T), consistent with the terms and conditions of the CCDF program. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the Form ACF-696T under OMB 0970-0510.

Background

Attached is a copy of the Child Care and Development Fund Financial Report (ACF-696T). In addition to the Program Reporting Requirements set forth in 45 CFR Part 98, Subpart H, the regulations at 45 CFR 98.65(i) require Tribal Lead Agencies to submit financial reports annually as specified by ACF. Tribes are required to use the ACF-696T to report expenditures for the Tribal Mandatory, Discretionary, and construction and renovation funds issued under CCDF.

Tribal Discretionary funds awarded in GY 2020 must be obligated by September 30, 2021 and liquidated by September 30, 2022. If a Tribal grantee is unable to obligate the full GY 2020 Discretionary award within the required time period, the Tribal grantee must report in a letter to ACF no later than April 1, 2021 the dollar amount from the GY 2020 grant that it will be unable to obligate by September 30, 2021. These unobligated funds may be reallotted to other Tribal grantees.

Tribes must meet quality spending requirements that vary depending on the year that funds were awarded:

• For funds awarded in GY 2020, all Tribes, regardless of allocation amount, must spend at least 8% of expenditures on quality improvement activities.
• For funds awarded in GY 2018 and 2019, all Tribes, regardless of allocation amount, must spend at least 7% of expenditures on quality improvement activities.

Tribes with medium or large allocations ($250,000 or more based on GY 2016 allocations) must spend at least 3% of expenditures on quality improvement activities for infants and toddlers, as reported in Line 8 on the 696T (in addition to the quality spending requirement mentioned above).

Tribes may not spend more than 15% of their expenditures on administrative activities.

The ACF-696T is used to determine compliance with these spending requirements set forth in 45 CFR Part 98, Subpart H.

Tribal Lead Agencies must submit separate annual reports for each fiscal year in which CCDF funds were awarded. Therefore, a Tribe may be submitting as many as three separate ACF-696T reports this year—one for funds awarded in GY 2018; one for funds awarded in GY 2019; and one for funds awarded in GY 2020.

Revisions

Updates were made to the form to include reporting on Discretionary child care funds made available by the Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub.L.116-20) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136).

Action Required

Tribal Lead Agencies must submit their ACF-696T electronically through Online Data Collection (OLDC; see Action Transmittal No. OGM-AT-13-01). OLDC reduces paperwork, allows for quicker processing, automatically completes required calculations, and checks for potential errors.

Tribal Lead Agencies with OLDC assignments may access the system at: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssidocs/.

For Tribes that currently lack access to OLDC, please request access using the OLDC Request Form, which is available (along with OLDC help sheets, user guides, and tutorials) at: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/oldcdocs/materials.html. A completed OLDC Request Form should be emailed to your ACF Office of Grants Management contact (see attached) for each staff person who will play a role in using OLDC. ACF will create a User Identification (ID) based on the information provided on the OLDC Request Form. An email message is automatically sent to the staff member identified on the Request Form when an OLDC User ID and password is created for that person.

At the time of publication of this PI, Tribal CCDF reporting for FY 2020 in OLDC is delayed due to the incorporation of both CARES Act and supplemental disaster funds to the 696T report form. At this time we anticipate the new deadline will be January 30, 2021. However, ACF will send out a separate notification soon to inform Tribal Lead Agencies of the official new reporting deadline for FY 2020 once the 696T report form for FY 2020 is available¹.

Submission of Real Property Form

Tribal Lead Agencies with real property in which the federal government retains an interest (i.e., real property that was constructed or renovated in whole or in part with CCDF dollars) must prepare and submit the SF-429 with Attachment A on an annual basis at the same time as their annual ACF-696T Financial Report is due (i.e., a yet-to-be determined date for FY 2020 reporting and by December 29 in subsequent years). For more information, see Program Instruction CCDF-ACF-PI-2020-02 on the OCC website.

Non-Reporting Penalties

Failure to submit the ACF-696T report on or before the due date may be a basis for withholding financial payments, suspension, or termination.

Inquiries

Inquiries should be made to the appropriate ACF Office of Grants Management staff.

Attachments

1. A copy of Form ACF-696T (XLSX)
2. Instructions for completing Form ACF-696T (PDF)
3. Contact information for ACF Office of Grants Management Staff - Tribal
4. Request for Online Data Collection (OLDC) Access (PDF)

1 On February 16, 2021, ACF informed Tribal Lead Agencies that the deadline to submit FY 2020 ACF-696T reports is April 16, 2021.