August 9, 2017

CIRCULAR LETTER 2017-19

GRANT ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT

COUNTY ENGINEERS / SUPERINTENDENTS OF HIGHWAYS

MUNICIPAL ENGINEERS / DIRECTORS OF PUBLIC WORKS / MAYORS
METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS DIRECTORS
TOWNSHIP HIGHWAY COMMISSIONERS
CONSULTING ENGINEERS

The Illinois Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) was established
under Public Act 98-0706 as 30 ILCS 708 on July 16, 2014. This public act put
into place a new system for administering, tracking, and reporting upon grant and
funding opportunities from the State of Illinois. One objective of the GATA is to
establish a centralized location, or portal, where all of the grant and funding
opportunities available from the State of Illinois are located. This public act also
introduced several new requirements for grantees to be eligible to receive
funding from the state.

The GATA requires registration as a grantee in order to be eligible to receive, or

continue to receive, funding from the various agencies of the State of Illinois.
Every local public agency desiring to continue receipt of transportation funding
must register under the GATA. This includes the receipt of monthly motor fuel
tax distributions. The registration process may be initiated by following the
procedures outlined in the attached document. Each grantee will be required to
establish a FEIN, a DUNS number, establish a SAM CAGE Code, select an
indirect cost rate, and complete an Internal Controls Questionnaire (ICQ).

The GATA has also created a Catalog of State Financial Assistance (CSFA),
which is a listing of all the grant and funding opportunities available to grantees
from all the various state agencies. The CSFA is available on the GATA website.
In combination with the CSFA, there will be a Notice of Funding Opportunity
(NOFO) produced for each grant and funding opportunity, which will outline the
details and specifics for that grant or funding program. The Central Bureau of
Local Roads and Streets will continue to issue Circular Letters in conjunction with
the NOFO to announce transportation grant and funding opportunities for the
local public agency highway departments.
CIRCULAR LETTER 2017-19
Page 2
August 9, 2018

Local public agencies interested in applying for grant opportunities will need to
complete a set of application documents for the specific grant opportunity. This
includes a uniform grant application (which is a universal document regardless of
the grant or funding opportunity), a uniform budget template (also a universal
document), a conflict of interest form, a programmatic risk assessment
questionnaire, and a program specific application (where applicable by program).
These documents, along with any program specific submittals, will need to be
submitted to the proper state agency contact person by the application due date
as outlined in the NOFO.

The state agency will review the submitted applications and make selections for
project funding by the date specified in the NOFO. Local public agencies
selected to receive funding will receive an award letter and a Notice of State
Award (NOSA) outlining the details of the award and the specific conditions
associated with the award. The specific conditions for the award will be
developed by the state agency based upon the local public agencys completion
of the ICQ and the programmatic risk assessment questionnaires. The local
public agency will be requested to accept the NOSA through their GATA portal
log in location. The local public agency should also take advantage of the NOSA
to determine those specific conditions which they may correct within their
agency.

Once the completed NOSA is in place, the local public agency may proceed with
an engineering or joint funding agreement as appropriate.

If the construction contract for the awarded funding will be placed on a local
letting, with the local public agency administering the contract, the joint funding
agreements between IDOT and the local public agency, for all phases of the
project using state or federal funds, will need to be completed on the GATA
Uniform Intergovernmental Agreement (UIGA) form. These revisions will be
implemented with projects scheduled for a local letting on, or after, September
22, 2017. These procedures do not apply to motor fuel tax and township bridge
program funded projects.

If the construction contract for the awarded funding will be placed on a state
letting, with IDOT administering the contract, the joint funding agreements
between IDOT and the local public agency, for all phases of the project, may be
completed on the traditional BLRS forms. To clarify, if the construction phase of
a project will be placed on a state letting; the preliminary engineering, design
engineering, right of way, construction and construction engineering may all be
processed on the traditional BLRS forms.

There are three IDOT programs which do not follow the above guidelines: 1) the
Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP), Economic Development
Program (EDP), and Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) program. These programs
will use the GATA agreements for all phases of the engineering and construction
work regardless of whether the project will be placed on a state or local letting.
CIRCULAR LETTER 2017-19
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August 9, 2018

Questions regarding the applicability of the UIGA form for a project and the
completion of the UIGA form may be directed to your District Local Roads and
Streets office.

General questions regarding GATA and the GATA process may be directed to
the Grant Services and Administration Section by emailing
[email protected].

Questions regarding this circular letter and how it applies to specific Local Roads
and Streets funding programs may be directed to Mr. Thomas Winkelman, Local
Program Development Engineer, by telephone at (217) 782-0675 or by email at
[email protected].

Sincerely,

Maureen E. Kastl, P.E.

Engineer of Local Roads and Streets

TW/

Attachment

cc: Mike Staggs, FHWA - Illinois Division

Joel Moore, Illinois Association of County Engineers
Joe Schatteman, Illinois Municipal League
Bryan Smith, Township Officials of Illinois
Charlie Montgomery, Township Highway Commissioners of Illinois
 Illinois Department of Transportation
Grant Accountability and Transparency Act
Pre-Award Registration Information

In alignment with the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) and Federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR
200), entities receiving funds from programs that fall under GATA and 2 CFR 200, must complete the below
requirements prior to receiving an award from the State of Illinois.

There are four steps:

1. Grantee Registration
2. Grantee Pre-Qualification
3. Fiscal and Administrative Risk Assessment/Internal Control Questionnaire
4. Indirect Cost Rate Declaration

1. Grantee Registration
There are three ways to register:

1. Individual 1 entity, 1 registration

2. Centralized primarily for Local Governments Counties and Municipalities with multiple
departments and divisions where the funds/awards go to the county or municipalitys highest level
and then to the specific division or department.

The highest entity level would register for all departments and divisions. All entities that fall under this
centralized registration would be listed/identified in a Grantee Note by the registrant or the registrant
can obtain assistance from [email protected] to enter in the additional entities for them.

All of the awards for any of the entities listed would go to the registered FEIN, DUN and GATA
registration (a.k.a. Organization ID) numbers listed on the centralized registration.

One Internal Control Questionnaire (ICQ) would be completed and ONE Indirect Cost Rate would be
identified for all entities identified under the registration.

3. Parent/Child primarily for Local Governments Counties and Municipalities with multiple
departments and divisions that have their own DUNS numbers AND receive the funds/awards
directly. The funds/awards DO NOT go through the highest level. The highest entity (the parent)
level would register their FEIN and DUNS, complete an ICQ and select an indirect cost rate just for
their use. Each department and/or division (the children) would then register their DUNS, complete
an ICQ and select an indirect cost rate just for their individual use.

To complete the Grantee Registration:

Go to the Illinois.gov Public Authentication Portal: www.grants.illinois.gov/portal
From there you will need to create a new account with a username and password.
A personal or business email address is required to establish an account.
Authentication verifies the relationship between an individual and the organization
they represent.
Performed once for each individual associated with a registration.
Once you login, you will enter your DUNS number and it will take you to the main menu
for your organization. You can manage your GATA account from there.

2. Grantee Pre-Qualification
(Required one-time at the organization/entity registration level; periodically validated)

To be qualified to do business with the State of Illinois an entity must be registered with or under a
centralized registration that has:
a) A current DUNS number (click HERE to view instructions on obtaining a DUNS number);
b) A current SAM CAGE Code (click HERE to view instructions on obtaining a SAM Cage
Code);
c) Not be on the Federal Excluded Parties List (click HERE to verify utilizing the Quick Search);
and
d) Be in Good Standing with the Illinois Secretary of State, if applicable. (click HERE to verify).
 Entities on the Federal Excluded Parties List are not eligible to do business with the State of Illinois.
Entities may remediate all other pre-qualification issues.

3. Fiscal & Administrative Risk Assessment/ICQ (Required annually at the organization/entity level)
All registered entities must complete an ICQ annually. All state agencies will utilize the results of the ICQ for
all entities associated with the registration. Currently FY17 and FY18 ICQs need to be completed by all
registrants receiving funds during those time periods.

4. Indirect Cost Rate System (CARS)

Once the ICQ has been approved, the person who completed the ICQ for the registered/prequalified entity will
receive an e-mail invitation from Crowe Horwath to negotiate an indirect cost rate. This responsibility can be
changed or re-assigned if needed. The CARS system can be accessed with a log in and password at any
time, except during regularly scheduled updates which occur on Wednesday evening (2hrs).

For additional information please refer to Appendix V to Part 200State/Local Government Wide Central
Service Cost Allocation Plans of 2 CFR 200.

Visit the Grantee Links tab on grants.illinois.gov to learn more about the GATA process.