May 13, 2009

INDIANA BULLETIN NO. IN 300-9-19

SUBJECT:   LTP- Instructions for Implementation of Fiscal Year 2009 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Air Quality Initiative

Purpose:     To establish the process and actions necessary to implement the FY09 EQIP Air Quality Initiative program in Indiana, rollout the FY09 EQIP Air Quality Initiative program, and release the “EQIP Air Quality Initiative Indiana State Guidelines”.

Expiration Date: September 30, 2009

Action Required By: August 15, 2009

This bulletin applies only to implementation of FY09 EQIP Air Quality Initiative application types.  This initiative is only eligible in Clark, Dearborn, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Hamilton, Hendricks, Jefferson, Johnson, Lake, Marion, Morgan, Pike, Porter, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties.

Indiana NRCS received an initial allocation of $866,098 in FA for the FY 2009 EQIP Air Quality Initiative.  These funds must be obligated into contracts by August 15, 2009. 

The “EQIP Air Quality Initiative Indiana State Guidelines” (attached) include EQIP Air Quality provisions, the schedule of implementation, the current FY EQIP practice list, practice payments and caps, and special provisions or considerations that apply to the Indiana EQIP program.  The “EQIP Air Quality Initiative Indiana State Guidelines” will be posted on the Indiana web site under Programs, EQIP and will also be available on the Indiana Electronic Directives web page with this bulletin.

The Application Evaluation and Ranking Tool (AERT) is located within ProTracts, it includes National, State and Local ranking priorities.  The AERT tool will be used to rank all eligible applications.  Field offices will be able to utilize the ranking tool as soon as local resource concerns have been identified and sent to the Area office per IN BULLETIN 300-9-6.

All interested persons have the right to sign an NRCS-CPA-1200 application.  The applicant’s general information will be entered into ProTracts and a NRCS-CPA-1200 application will be generated for the applicants’ signature. Review the 1202 appendix with the producer and provide them with a copy.  The Appendix must be signed and dated after contract approval but prior to contract obligation.

Producers must provide the following to meet basic EQIP eligibility requirements: 1. Evidence of signatory authority when an entity is involved, 2. Evidence of control of the land for the contract period, and 3. Evidence of meeting the agricultural producer requirement.

Once an application is entered in ProTracts the applicant eligibility must be checked. The “Update eligibility” feature in ProTracts is currently not available for 2009 application verification.  Therefore, as an interim process, AGI, HEL/WC need to be manually checked using FSA subsidiary records at https://indianocean.sc.egov.usda.gov/Subsidiary/Subsidiary.do  (Use the Eligibility tab).

NRCS will determine if the applicant and land meet the basic EQIP program eligibility requirements and will manually change application status in ProTracts to “Eligible” via “Manage Applications”.  This will allow Toolkit plans to be uploaded and AERT ranking to be completed on the application. Prior to any payments being made on funded contracts, eligibility and payment limitations MUST be rechecked using the participant eligibility screens in ProTracts. This feature will be available in Mid-June.  Participants need to be made aware that no payments will be issued until proper eligibility verifications are used on the contract.

For applicants that meet the interim eligibility requirements, proceed with scheduling a field visit and preparation of the conservation plan, if not already completed. A field visit and Toolkit plan is required to be completed before ranking the application.

If the applicant is ineligible, stop any further work on the application until all interim eligibility issues are resolved. Determine the eligibility issue using the Eligibility tab in FSA subsidiary records.  If the applicant is ineligible then determine specifically what the eligibility issue is and generate the “Pending” letter from ProTracts.

Provide the “Pending” letter from ProTracts to the producer in person or mail it Certified-Return Receipt.  This letter explains what eligibility element(s) the producer does not meet and what needs to be done. It is the applicants’ responsibility to provide the required information within 30 days notification.  If the information is not provided within the 30 days, NRCS has no obligation to follow-up and will service other applications.  Document any eligibility notification in the case file.

Upload the conservation plan to ProTracts and rank eligible applications using the AERT. Ensure that all practices used in the ranking are included in the conservation plan and contract, and that all practices in the plan and contract address a resource concern identified in the ranking. Only practices on the application that are addressing an existing resource concern should be ranked.

When the plan and ranking are complete, advise the Area Conservationist, or designee, that the application is ready for second level Quality Assurance Review (QA). When the QA is completed, the reviewer will change the application status to “Preapproved” in ProTracts. The Area Programs Specialist will select “Preapproved” applications for funding based on ranking score and will change the status to “Approved” and notify the Area Conservationist. 

Applications with an “Approved” status in ProTracts can not be edited.  This includes the application, ranking, and Toolkit plan. If edits are necessary, the application status must be changed back to “pending” and will be eligible for consideration in the next round of funding, if available.  Area Program Specialists must be contacted to reset an application to “pending”.  Do not allow an incorrect application to become a contract with the intention of completing a modification later to correct it.  Modifications are restricted to in-scope changes and may not be allowable.

District Conservationists will print out the “Approved” NRCS-CPA-1202 with the Area Programs Specialists electronic signature and have the applicant(s) sign it. Attach the signed NRCS-CPA-1202 appendix to the NRCS-CPA-1202.  The applicant and DC also need to sign the NRCS-CPA-1155 and the Ranking Report from AERT. When all of the above documents are signed, check the Applicant signature “signed” box in ProTracts, and provide copies of all documents to all participants on the contract receiving payment shares.

The signed NRCS-CPA-1202 signature page needs to be scanned to the Area Conservationist, or designee, as notification/request for obligation of funds.  Once the NRCS obligating official (AC) accepts the obligation, their electronic signature is added to the 1202.  DCs need to print a copy of this for the case file records.  Participants’ manual signature will not be on this copy.  Once NRCS obligates the contract it is officially a contract and subject to cancellation/termination and cost recovery policy per 440-CPM, Part 512.46 D.

NRCS National Headquarters extended the contract obligation deadline to August 15, 2009 for all programs. We have structured the implementation schedule in the “EQIP Air Quality Initiative Indiana State Guidelines” to take advantage of this new timeframe to identify qualified applicants and process plans.

The revised schedule is basically as follows: On June 23^rd all “Pre-approved” (QA completed at area level) applications in ProTracts will be considered for first round funding.  On July 1^st remaining “Pre-approved” (QA completed at area level) applications in ProTracts will be considered for second round funding.  On July 15^th Programs will confer with ACs to sweep and redistribute any remaining funds if necessary.  All funds MUST be obligated to contracts by August 15, 2009.

Fund Codes:

There will be one fund code for all Air Quality Initiative applications. See the chart below.

For applicants meeting the “Historically Underserved” (HU) definition, the same fund code will be used in ProTracts, but the appropriate cost list in Toolkit and ProTracts (with the “HU” at the end of the filename) must be selected to develop the plan and contract.  Once the application is entered in ProTracts, ensure that the correct HU designation is marked in the ‘Applicant Info’ portion of ProTracts.

Due to the required structure for the account per NHQ, we will not be able to place funds at the Area level, or break it down into regular and HU.  Each of the 3 eligible areas will be allowed to use $288,699 for all of their Air Quality applications.  Area Conservationists will need to keep their own tracking sheet for the applications under the fund code to ensure fund integrity.  Applications in each Area will be selected by ranking score until funds are not available for your next ranked application.  At that point, it will be necessary to evaluate fund usage between the two accounts across the state and re-distribute funds as needed to the areas.

Any applications currently in ProTracts using the “EQIP General” fund code, or the old historically underserved fund codes will need to be corrected. District Conservationists will need to select the appropriate new fund code when they upload the conservation plan or edit the application.  Be sure to hit the save on the ProTracts menu to save the changes.

Cost lists:

The cost-lists (payment schedules) have been released in ProTracts for use and the Toolkit cost lists were sent out for uploading.  Refer to the chart above to match the correct cost list to the fund code.

Ranking:

An AERT ranking tool has been released for the EQIP Air Quality fund code to facilitate application ranking.  When you pick the fund code in ProTracts the correct ranking tool will automatically be available.  All ranking tools for the EQIP Air Quality Initiative are the same. 

Any questions regarding this bulletin or guidance document should be directed to Teresah Caire, ASTC-Programs at Ext. 320, or Jim Dunaway, EQIP Program Manager at Ext. 334.  Specific AERT and Payment Schedule questions should be directed to Shannon Zezula, State Resource Conservationist at Ext. 388.

/s/

JANE E. HARDISTY

State Conservationist

Attachment

DIST: O

Helping People Help the Land

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer