October 17, 2008

INDIANA BULLETIN NO. 440-9-1

SUBJECT:  PGM – Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Conservation Security Program (CSP) Annual Payments

(ACTION REQUIRED BY: December 15, 2008)

Purpose:  To provide Indiana employees information and instructions for processing FY09 CSP annual payments as directed by the National Bulletin 300-9-1.

Expiration Date: September 30, 2009

Background:  Public Law 107-171, Section 1238 c (2), states that the Secretary will make CSP contract payments as soon as practicable after October 1.  Recurring practice payment procedures are described in 440-Conservation Program Manual (CPM) Part 518, Section 518.84 and CPM Part 512, Section 512.61.

Explanation:  The following items must be addressed prior to certifying and approving payments in ProTracts.

1.      Utilize the Fund Manger reports for “Applications and Contracts with Eligibility Issues” and “Applications and Contracts with AGI Member Eligibility Issues” to identify and follow-up with participants who have eligibility issues.  If AGI eligibility is less than 100%, ProTracts will automatically reduce payments and these reductions will be shown on the NRCS-CPA-1245.  Once payments are processed with the AGI reductions, there is no provision to issue additional payments if the eligibility issue is eventually resolved.  National Bulletin 440-8-12 provided guidance on facilitating this AGI update with participants.  

2.      Beginning with the FY 2009 CSP annual payment, ProTracts will block payment of the current year items if any prior year item is not certified and approved.  The following message will appear “There are items in prior years that have not been paid.  You must pay or delete these items before proceeding with current year payments.”  Follow CPM Part 512.55 procedures for resolving these issues.  CSP modification buttons will be active during the annual payment process to allow changes in participant information which are critical to processing annual payments.  Please utilize the new search feature available in ProTracts for “Prior Year Items not Paid” found under “Manage Contracts – Pending Actions” to identify contracts that will have FY09 payment blocks.  Participants are required to maintain at least the benchmark level of treatment; therefore, changes in extent of a benchmark enhancement to a lesser amount would constitute a potential contract violation.  Changes upward would constitute a contract improvement modification.  This is not a contract improvement modification period. 

Financial assistance (FA) and technical assistance (TA) fund allocations to States will be initiated at National Headquarters.  FA needs were determined by the current contract obligations.  Indiana has received an initial allowance of $7,820,465.10 for FA.  However, the current year CSP contract items are scheduled for obligation on Monday night 10/20/08.  Therefore, payments should be ready to start processing beginning on Tuesday 10/21/08. 

Payment Notification Letters:  Attached you will find a generic letter to personalize with your local Service Center letterhead and contact information.  It can be merged with the CSP participant mailing list generated from ProTracts following the instructions below.

Steps to follow:

• Open ProTracts go to Manage Contracts
• Select CSP Program, your specific County or Service Center and FY for year contracts were obligated.
• Select “Go” and a list will be generated with a blue tool bar
• Select “Manage Letters” from this blue tool bar
• A new frame appears, select “Mailing List” from the pull down menu
• Generate your list and “Select All” will highlight all the contract participants for payment notification letters.
• IF there are multiple addresses on the contract, these will show up as having a link to the contract participants address information. You will have to go in and select the correct address.  Once all contracts listed have a single mailing address, you can proceed.
• Select “OK” and your list is exported to an Excel spreadsheet that is ready to be merged to your localized payment notification letter.
• Open your Letter updated to your contact information, get it on one page if possible by font changes.
• Use the tool “Letters and Mailings” in Word; follow the instructions (6 steps) and you will have all your letters ready to print and mail.

If you have any questions concerning this Indiana Bulletin, please contact MaryJo Woodruff at (317) 290-3200, ext. 311, or Teresah Caire, ASTC - Programs, at (317) 290-3200, ext. 320.

/s/

JANE E. HARDISTY
State Conservationist

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