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Uniform Guidance: Promising Practices in Implementation

Posted By CFO Council on July 05, 2016

Opening Remarks

  • Dave Mader, Controller, OMB
  • Rhea Hubbard, Policy Analyst, OMB
  • Gil Tran, Policy Analyst, OMB

Promising Practices in Implementation: Risk Assessment (Panel 1)

  • Andrea Brandon, Director, Financial Assistance Policy and Oversight, Department of Homeland Security and COFAR Co-Chair
  • Phil Maestri, Director, Risk Management Service, U.S. Department of Education
  • Moderator: Rhea Hubbard, Policy Analyst, OMB

Resources:
EDUC Entity Risk Report Example: http://go.usa.gov/x34pk
DHS Vulnerability Risk Assessment: http://go.usa.gov/x34dW
DHS Site Visit Checklists and Guidelines: http://go.usa.gov/x34dd
DHS FAPO Risk Assessment Tool Chart: http://go.usa.gov/x34dF

Contract vs. Subaward Determination (Panel 2)

  • Merril Oliver, Director, Governor’s Grants Office, State of Maryland
  • Carol A. Kraus CPA, Director, Grant Accountability and Transparency Unit, State of Illinois
  • Kim Moreland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, University of Wisconsin – Madison.
  • Moderator: Rhea Hubbard, Policy Analyst, OMB

Sub-recipient Monitoring (Panel 3)

  • Merril Oliver, Director, Governor’s Grants Office, State of Maryland
  • Carol A. Kraus CPA, Director, Grant Accountability and Transparency Unit, State of Illinois
  • Kim Moreland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, University of Wisconsin – Madison
  • Moderator: Rhea Hubbard, Policy Analyst, OMB

Resources:
AGA Contractor vs. Subrecipient Checklist: http://go.usa.gov/x34mJ

Promising Practices in Implementation: Personnel Services (Panel 4)

  • Laura Rainey, Director (Acting), Financial & IT Audits, Office of Inspector General, National Science Foundation
  • Moderator: Gil Tran, Policy Analyst, OMB

Indirect Cost Rates (Panel 5)

  • Beth Bowsky, Policy Specialist, Government-Nonprofit Contracting, National Council of Nonprofits
  • Carol A. Kraus CPA, Director, Grant Accountability and Transparency Unit, State of Illinois
  • Moderator: Gil Tran, Policy Analyst, OMB

Promising Practices in Implementation: Single Audit & CAROI (Panel 6)

  • Rich Rasa, Director, State and Local Advisory and Assistance, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education
  • Merril Oliver, Director, Governor’s Grants Office, state of Maryland
  • Moderator: Gil Tran, Policy Analyst, OMB

Resources:
CAROI Playbook: http://go.usa.gov/x34cB
AGA CAROI Guide: http://go.usa.gov/x34cB
AGA Tools: http://www.agacgfm.org/tools

Closing Remarks

  • Karen Lee, Branch Chief, Office of Federal Financial Management, OMB

Speaker Bios

Andrea Brandon is the Director, Financial Assistance Policy and Oversight, Department of Homeland Security (DHS). She provides executive leadership and strategic direction for financial assistance programs across the DHS. Andrea has broad experience in risk management, audits, internal controls, information technology, acquisition management, and financial operations in a federal career spanning 27 years. She has led several government-wide initiatives: FFAMIA Grants Streamlining; the CFO Council’s Grants Training and Certification Workgroup; and the FFATA Grant Sub-award Pilot Subcommittee. While at HHS, Andrea also led the Grants Management Line of Business Grants System consolidation effort. Andrea has recently been appointed as the co-chair of COFAR (Council on Financial Assistance Reform) and is the 2016 Winner of the National Grants Management Association Newton Award.

Phil Maestri is Director of the Risk Management Service for the U.S. Department of Education and has managed various activities within the Department involving financial planning and training, audit resolution, debt management and other accountability issues. He currently coordinates a number of efforts assisting states and other grantees to manage risks involved in implementing federal grant programs. As part of that responsibility he has been designated the chief risk officer for grants within the Department. Prior to joining the Federal Government in 1991, Phil spent 20 years working in the banking and financial consulting industry, most recently as regional vice president for a large national bank.

Kim Moreland is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs at the University of Wisconsin (UW) – Madison. The UW-Madison receives over $1.0 Billion in grant and contract awards annually, and consistently ranks in the top five in research expenditures in the NSF’s Survey of R&D Expenditures. Kim is on the Board of Directors of the Council on Governmental Relations and the Federal Demonstration Partnership. She is a former president of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), and currently chairs the NCURA Select Committee on Global Affairs. Ms. Moreland is a recipient of NCURA’s national Award for Distinguished Service in Research Administration and the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Administration.

Laura Rainey is the Director (Acting), Financial & IT Audits, with the Office of Inspector General (OIG), National Science Foundation, where she is responsible for promoting the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of NSF programs and operations. Ms. Rainey oversees the agency’s annual financial statement audit and FISMA evaluation. She also serves as the agency’s Single Audit Coordinator, where she evaluates the quality of audits conducted under the Single Audit Act and participates on inter-agency workgroups dedicated to updating Single Audit guidance for auditors as well as monitoring tools for the OIG community. Prior to joining NSF-OIG in 2006, Ms. Rainey worked for 14 years as an auditor with the Department of Defense OIG, and is a Certified Internal Auditor.

Carol A. Kraus, CPA, is the Director, Grant Accountability and Transparency Unit, for the state of Illinois. Carol started her career in public accounting specializing in auditing and consulting for state, local government and nonprofits. After leaving public accounting she has served in many capacities in state government and is currently leading the effort of grant reform by implementing uniform policies and procedures to streamline grant processes in Illinois.

Beth Bowsky is the Policy Specialist for Government-Nonprofit Contracting at the National Council of Nonprofits, a role in which she combines her educational background of social work and public administration with her unique blend of nonprofit and government experience toward encouraging and supporting fairer and simpler contracting and grant processes and procedures across the country, which includes implementation of the OMB Uniform Guidance.

Rich Rasa has served as the Director of the Education Department’s Office of Inspector General State and Local Advisory and Assistance staff since 1991. Rich was instrumental in establishing the Department’s Cooperative Audit Resolution and Oversight Initiative (CAROI), and he and his staff have participated in the initiative since its inception in 1994. Rich is also a founding Steering Committee member of the Association of Government Accountants Partnership for Intergovernmental Management and Accountability, since 2007. In 2010 Rich was awarded the President’s Award from the Association of Government Accountants for his work on the Intergovernmental Partnership. In 2013, he received the AGA President’s Award for his CAROI efforts and the AGA Intergovernmental Partnership Steering Committee awarded him The Innovator Award. Rich is a Certified Government Financial Manager.

Merril Oliver is Director of the Maryland Governor’s Grants Office after serving as the founding deputy director in 2004 for nine years. Oliver returned to Maryland from Puerto Rico, where she developed a centralized federal funds management office for Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla during 2014. As a member of the Association of Government Accountants Intergovernmental Partnership since 2007, she served as co-chair of multiple grants related workgroups. She was president of the National Grants Management Association from 2009-2012. Oliver also sat on the Board of Editorial Advisors for Thompson Publishing’s Federal Grants Management Handbook from 2004-2012 and is published in the Journal of Government Financial Management. In 2011, she was appointed by the Obama Administration to the Presidential Executive Order Workgroup on Improper Payments. She is a Certified Grants Management Specialist (CGMS).

Dave Mader has had a distinguished career in both the Government and private sector. He formerly served as an IRS assistant deputy commissioner, where he received the Distinguished and Meritorious President Rank Award and the Treasury Secretary’s Honor Award for his work. Before joining OMB, he was a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, leading the firm’s work with the Department of Treasury and many other Federal agencies. Dave is also a Fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration. Since joining OMB as Controller, Dave has been an inspirational advocate for strong financial management and partnership across government and beyond.

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