New Round of Payment Quality Assurance Initiative (PQA) Released
Message Posted January 10, 2011
~ Several additional requirements added ~
~ Please e-mail me if you are selected ~
In August 2010, the SLD announced a new initiative called the Payment Quality Assurance assessment program (PQA) which is designed to gather specific information from applicants in order to calculate the rate of improper payments, a requirement under the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA). USAC indicated that only 20-60 PQA audits/quarter will be conducted nationwide and applicants are selected purely at random. The PQA request is sent to the entity's contact person via e-mail and is based solely on a single invoice (BEAR submitted by an applicant or SPI submitted by a vendor) that has been paid by USAC. It appears that the next round of PQA audits are being released this week and the scope of the requested items has been expanded from 3 items to 11+).
The e-mail will come from "pqa@usac.i-sight.com [mailto:pqa@usac.i-sight.com]" and upon receipt, applicants will have 10 business days to submit the following documentation:
A document that indicates the beneficiary’s non-profit or government subdivision/unit status. Examples include: most recent audited financial statement (stating the type of entity, or requiring compliance with Single audit procedures), business license, IRS not- for- profit determination letter.
For schools, libraries, and members of a consortium: A document that indicates status as a primary/secondary school/district, or library eligible under Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Examples include: items from request 1, website, other published or official document.
For schools only: list of endowments over $50 million relating to funding year, or confirmation that none exist.
For libraries only: Budget relating to funding year.
List of all entities that received goods and /or services associated to the BEN identified on the notification letter; not applicable if identified on Service Provider Bill.
Single Service Provider bill (associated to the Funding Request Number (FRN) identified on the notification letter. Please indicate on the bill:
-- The Funding Request Number
-- The goods or services pertaining to the FRN. Please provide a sufficient detail description of the goods or services received (i.e. long distance, POTS, server, WAN, DSL, T-1).
-- The dollar amount of the bill that was paid by USAC, or to be paid by USAC.
-- The recipients of goods or services.
List of all entities that received goods and /or services associated to the BEN identified on the notification letter; not applicable if identified on Service Provider Bill.
Copy of service provider bill, or check, showing discounted amounted or reimbursement from the service provider. If providing a reimbursement check from the service provider, please also provide documentation showing it was deposited, such as the cancelled deposit slip or relevant bank statement.
The Technology Plan Approval Letter for the FRN identified on the notification letter, except for requests for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) or basic telephone services.
For Consortia only: Letters of Agency for entities listed on the Form 471 for the funding year identified on the notification letter.
Signed Confirmation Letter.
Applicants then can expect to receive the results of their PQA assessment within 90 days of submitting the information. Although they are not technically called 'audits,' they should be treated as such because if an improper payment is discovered, USAC will then recover those funds. The larger E-rate program compliance audits are expected to resume in February 2011, although they will be conducted almost entirely off-site and are not expected to resemble the previous IPIA attestation audits.
If you are selected for a PQA audit, please let me know so I can track how many PQA recipients we have in PA and so I can help if you have any questions. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.
-- Julie
717-730-7133 - o
717-730-9060 - f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org
Penn*link
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