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OFFICE OF (340) 774-4750 THE COMMISSIONER Fax: (340) 776-4028 GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS Mailing Address: 2314 Kronprindsens Gade Charlotte Amalie, VI 00802 C DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE April 24, 2009 FINANCE MEMORANDUM NO. 017-09 TO: ALL DEPARTMENT AGENCY HEADS SPECIAL ATTENTION TO: Federal Program Managers FROM: Angel E. Dawson, Jr.‘ Commissioner Re: Established Best Practices for Drawdown of ARRA Funds As a follow-up to Memorandum No, 011-09, the Department of Finance (DOF) has established a separate bank account (“ARRA Account”) and coding structure within the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to track Recovery Act funds. These best practices allow the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI) to meet the primary objectives of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (“Recovery Act”) of 2009: accountability and transparency. Thus far, our due diligence has yielded positive results in the segregation of Recovery Act funds within the SmartLink (PMS) system; particularly for those departments and agencies that utilize SmartLink and have expedited a copy of their Recovery Act grant award letters to DOF. Note that, the Treasury Division of the DOF will continue to spearhead the efforts required to communicate the details of the ARRA Account to the appropriate external entities (i.c., GAPS, ASAP, etc.) responsible for managing the systems utilized by departments and agencies to drawdown Recovery Act funds. Street Address: 76 Kronprindsens Gade Charlotte Amalie, VI 00802 Finance Memorandum No. 017 -09 April 24, 2009 With this in mind, DOF has developed the following standardized processes that departments and agencies must follow to ensure Recovery Act funds are accessible and properly reported in a timely manner: I. Prepare memorandum to DOF containing the following information: a. Request for chart of account codes-- i. For New Grants: Object codes, Activity, Department, Division and Project/Location ii, For Existing Grants: Object codes and Existing Project Code b. Name of the system used to draw down your federal funds i. EIN and Account PIN(s) If. Attach copy of Recovery Act federal grant award letter to memorandum (Step I). lil. Transmit memorandum (Step I) and Recovery Act federal grant award letter (Step ID to the Commissioner of Finance, via hand delivery. Upon completion of processing of the aforementioned package (Step IID, written notification will be forwarded to your department/agency, with copies forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). Finally, while DOF is a ready and willing to provide effective and efficient access to Recovery Act resources (funding), the process outlined will not gain the necessary momentum unless a high priority is given to the primary trigger in this process: Transmittal of the Recovery Act federal grant award letter to DOF, OMB and OEO. Ata minimum, please act immediately to execute the steps outlined above, which serves to exemplify the Government of the Virgin Islands’ commitment in meeting the basic tenets of the Recovery Act. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Ms. Clarina Elliott, Director of Accounting at 774-4750, Ext. 2313. As always, your time, consideration and cooperation is greatly appreciated. ee! Honorable John P. deJongh, Jr., Governor, OOG Louis Penn, Sr., Chief of Staff, OOG Valdamier O. Collens, CPA, MBA Laurel Payne, Director, Treasury, DOF Julito Francis, Executive Director, PFA