The Education Central Automated Processing System (EDCAPS) Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) was developed and implemented by the

Department to streamline payment processing and reporting for our grantees/payees. GAPS provides on-line capabilities to request payments from the Department and continuous access to current grant and payment information. Grantees/payees can draw funds by calling the GAPS Payee Hotline.

a. Drawdown Procedures:

The Drawdown Procedures will remain unchanged until GAPS is implemented. When GAPS is implemented, payees can request funds on-line. These funds will be processed ACH or FEDWIRE depending upon the current arrangements between the Department and the grantee/payee.

b. Reporting Procedures:

Reporting requirements for all institutions will be audited as part of their annual audit. Grantees will no longer be required to submit monthly, quarterly or annual reports or certifications. Information concerning GAPS reporting requirements for all institutions will be required to be audited on an annual basis.

These new procedures will affect all grantees/payees.

Yes. All grantees/payees will be required to request funds by grant award (document) number. Grantee/payee and award information (summary authorization balances) will be transferred from EDPMS to GAPS.

Under GAPS, grantees/payees will request ED funds by grant award number. The grant award number is a unique, eleven-character number that identifies each grant award issued by a specific office to a specific grantee. (The change from a 10 to an 11 digit award number was made to make the award numbers "2000 compatible.") The grant award number can be found on the grant award notices issued to grantees by Department program offices. Grantees/payees should contact the program offices for award numbers. Below is an example of a grant award number:

P031B921234

P=Principal Office designator

031=CFDA numeric suffix of the program

B=Alphabetic sub-program identifier

92=Last two digits of the funding fiscal year

1234=Unique identifier

Only the documents that you are able to draw down funds for your institution, as identified by your DUNS number will be displayed.

Contact the Department of Education Program Office that awarded you the authorization or the Hotline to process the required forms or other information.

For FEDWIRE,

Same day if the request is made before 12:30 EST,

1 day if after 12:30 EST.

For ACH,

2 days.

On the start date of the performance period or the federal funding period as defined on the grant notification.

Payees can access GAPS to request funds from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. GAPS Payee Hotline Support (1-888-336-8930) will be available during the same hours of operation. The GAPS Payee Hotline phone number is the same as the Drawdown phone number.

There is no longer a total available account balance amount. There is now an available balance for each award. You may view the available balance by selecting Create Payment Request and viewing the information by PR/Award No. For detailed information on awards, click on the associated row number button. There is also an GAPS Activity Report available that contains all of your account information.

The program offices will continue to notify grantees at the time new authorizations or changes in existing authorizations are made.

Due to the inconsistencies with how the banking community operates and how they interface to the Federal government, this option is not available to you.

You can modify any payment request for any award that is displayed by clicking on the Modify Payment Request button. To refine your search, you may want to enter a Start Date, an End Date, and click on the Find button to display all payment requests that can be modified. Payment draw downs that have been deposited to your bank account will need to be adjusted via the appropriate Adjust Drawdown Amounts button on the Payment Request Menu or by making a refund to the Department of Education. Non-modifiable payment requests will not be displayed on the Modify screen.

Only award payments that can be modified are displayed on the modify screen. The view screen simply displays a history.

There are no reprogramming requirements for grantees/payees to process payments through GAPS. It is not necessary to project future expenditures for awards. It is only necessary to estimate immediate cash needs.

Drawdown requests by grant award can be based on estimates of immediate cash needs. The information in GAPS reflects actual expenditures. Grantees/payees can periodically adjust their drawdowns to reflect actual expenditures so that GAPS has accurate award data.

The grantees/payees are responsible for ensuring expenditure data in GAPS is accurate. This data will be audited as part of the Single Audit.

GAPS is a system that uses Web-based technology. It offers several features designed to provide grantees/payees with easy access and usability to request and report on Education funds by grant award. In addition, grantees/payees will be able to request funds on-line and see the results of payment requests immediately.

The procedures that grantees/payees follow to receive payments under the reimbursement documentation are directed by the reimbursement analysts on the case management teams. The reimbursement analysts will process the request through GAPS.

With GAPS, grantees will be able to adjust or redistribute their prior drawdown requests. Grantees/payees can "move" the funds from one award to another. This functionality will be carried out in a separate adjustment screen (not the same screen as the drawdown screen). Grantees are still required to only draw funds as needed to meet immediate disbursement needs.

When a transaction is rejected due to some error condition, the grantee/payee will receive an immediate message prompting them to correct and resubmit the transaction. Refer to the GAPS Activity Report to confirm that adjustments have been accepted.

The grantee/payee's information is available on-line. The grantees/payee can produce a report covering any time period while it is on-line. Grantees/payees without Internet access can call the Department's GAPS Payee Hotline and a report will be mailed or faxed.

The Single Audits performed will require the statement of activity from GAPS to be audited. There will be no other reporting requirements. The statement of activity will report on all activities such as drawdowns, refunds, returns, adjustments, etc.

Yes.

No. Grantees/payees are required to return excess cash when it has an amount in excess of its expenditures and immediate needs for each authorized program. Excess cash from one program can be used to offset a cash deficit or to meet an immediate need in another program where authorizations exist. Before returning funds, grantees/payees should try to take care of the extra cash by making a drawdown adjustment.

When a grantee/payee returns funds, a single return payment can be sent to the Department, accompanied by a memo entry in the record identifying the individual grant awards by amount. The refund can be sent to the Department via Fedwire or ACH (electronic funds transfer). The grantee/payee will be required to identify the grant awards which the excess cash applies or funds will not be accepted.

Lockbox address where checks may be sent:

U.S. Department of Education
P.O. Box 952023
St. Louis, MO 63195-2023

Once your bank account contains the previously requested payment drawdown, you have two options for handling any overdrawn amounts.

1.You may spend the overdrawn amount on another grant as long as it can be done within three business days of receipt of the overdrawn payment and as long as another grant has sufficient funds from which to draw.

2.Adjust the draw down amount by decreasing the initial grant amount by the overdrawn amount and increasing the grant amount for another award via the Adjust Drawdown Amounts button. Enter the appropriate adjustments, then click on the OK button.

If it is impossible to spend the money on another award, return the excess cash amount to the Department of Education by check or ACH. Designate the specific award to which the refund is to be applied.

Payment Request Status

Ready for Scheduling: Payment requests waiting to be scheduled by Disbursement Scheduling Official. These can be modified.

Approved and Ready for Scheduling: Payment requests which were routed for ED approval, subsequently approved by the Payments, Program, or Accounts Receivable office and are ready for scheduling. These cannot be modified.office and are ready for scheduling. These cannot be modified.

Placed on Unapproved Schedule: Payment requests included in a Disbursement Schedule, but not yet approved by the Disbursement Scheduling Official.

Removed by Scheduling Official: Payment requests removed by the Disbursement Scheduling Official. Requests go to the Payments Office for approval.

Scheduled: Payment requests scheduled for disbursement by the Disbursement Scheduling Official. These requests are awaiting certification.

In Transit: Payment requests included in a Disbursement Schedule, sent to FRB, but not yet confirmed by Treasury.

Rejected: Rejected by FRB. This only applies to FEDWIRE payments.

Confirmed: Payment requests sent to and confirmed by Treasury.

Returned: Payment requests confirmed by Treasury and later returned by FRB.

Waiting for Payment Office Approval: Payment requests routed for Payment office approval.

Waiting for Program Office Approval: Payment requests routed for Program office approval.

Disapproved: Payment requests which were routed for approval and subsequently disapproved by the Payments or Program office. These can be modified.

Canceled: Payment requests canceled because Grantee, Award, or CFDA program was placed on stop-pay, Payees bank was deleted or changed, or the Payee was reassigned.

Waiting for A/R Offset Determination: Payment requests routed to the Accounts Receivable office for Manual Offset.

Duplicate Payment: Direct loan payments routed to the program office for review.

Reporting requirements to the program offices (the Department of Education Program Office that awarded you the authorization) will remain unchanged. The EDPMS 272 report has been eliminated.

Payees will be mailed a GAPS reconciliation statement. If there are discrepancies the grantee/payee should contact the Department. Payees may contact the Department's GAPS Payee Hotline at 1-888-336-8930 with questions. For Authorization questions, grantees/payees should contact their Program Office.

Payees can access GAPS via the Internet. To access the system using the Internet, payees will need a computer and Web browser. For those payees who do not have access to the Internet, they will be able to request funds through the Department's customer service desk.

Any computer with an Internet connection capable of running Netscape Navigator 2.0 or later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 or later. This includes PCS, Macintosh or Unix Platforms.

Payees will be able to make a request for payment or receive assistance for information about their awards in several ways: by calling the Department's GAPS Payee hotline at 1-888-336-8930.

The PIN number is replaced by the DUNS number. Payees use their old PIN number and password to log onto GAPS the first time. The payee will be provided their new user ID and password at that time. They are then requested to change their password.

The Department of Education Payee's Guide is available at http://e-grants.ed.gov/egWelcome.asp. The guide provides detailed instructions on all new GAPS processes.

A GAPS training Website has been developed to familiarize grantees/payees with the payment request process. Grantees/payees can download the GAPS Payee's Guide, which is designed to be used as a tutorial for the training website. For more information on accessing the GAPS Payee's Guide, please see Question #49. This training Website is located at http://e-grants.ed.gov/egWelcome.asp.

The User ID is GAPSUSER and the password is TRAINING.

GAPS production user ID's and passwords are to be used on the GAPS production web site, located at: http://e-grants.ed.gov/egWelcome.asp

If grantees or payees have additional questions or would like more information, they should contact the Customer Service Hotline at 1-888-336-8930. Grantees can also send questions and concerns via E-mail to: EDCAPS_USER@ed.gov.

The DUNS number is an identification number for grantees/payees and is part of a government wide project to use single identifiers for grantees of federal funds.

Before one can receive a grant or contract from the Department of Education, the issuing program office must register that person's organization with the Department. The Department identifies organizations by name, address, and one of two identification numbers:

If you are currently participating in the Department of Education programs, the Department already obtained DUNS numbers for all grantees and payees. If you did not receive the DUNS number in the mail, they can be obtained at no charge by calling 1-800-333-0505.

Call the GAPS payee hot line at 1-888-336-8930. They will assist you with DUNS number resolution issues.

Award documents that made up the accounts associated with each of the EINs will all be accessible via your user id and password that is associated with your DUNS number.

The URL is: http://e-grants.ed.gov/egWelcome.asp If using a Netscape browser, enter the URL in the Go to: field near the top of the screen. If using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, enter the URL in the Address field at the top of the screen.

You should check to see if the GAPS internet site is operational. If it is, proceed to the next step. If it is not, contact your internal technical support as soon as possible to begin troubleshooting.

You should try to find out if you can get to another Internet site. If you cannot, there may be a problem with your Internet service or provider. Contact your on-site technical representative or Internet service provider (for dial-up users) and call back once Internet access is obtained.

You'll need to request a new GAPS id and password from the Department of Education by submitting an external access security form. The Department of Education will issue GAPS user ids and passwords to those individuals authorized by the payee to access GAPS to request funds and report expenditures. All new user ids and passwords will be sent to such offices as the CFO, Treasurer, or Bursar, responsible for the cash accountability of funds for your organization. User ids and passwords cannot be faxed or given over the phone, and may not be shared by multiple users.

Check with your local payee administrator first. The Department of Education can set passwords back to their original settings over the phone but cannot verbally confirm them. If you don't know your initial user id or password, you will need to resubmit your application for GAPS access to the Department of Education. User ids and passwords cannot be faxed or given over the phone, and may not be shared by multiple users.

Netscape 2.0 or higher, Internet Explorer 2.0 or higher, or an equivalent browser supporting tables and Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Please check with your on-site technical support or your Internet service provider (for dial-up users) to confirm your version.

The following represents the minimum recommended configuration:

The Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) is the system within the Education Central Automated Processing System (EDCAPS) financial management system that provides financial management support services for the grant life cycle. Functions supported by GAPS include:

A grantee is an entity that applies for and receives a grant award from the U.S. Department of Education. The grantee is responsible for ensuring the grant is administered in accordance with program regulations.

A payee is an entity identified by the grantee to request and manage Federal funds on behalf of the grantee. The grantee and payee may be the same entity.