MBI/SSTP Grantee Brief OrientationSection A – Compliance

Section B – Finance and Reporting

ILRI-N2AfricaFinancial Reporting Training Workshop

16th October 2015InfoCenter, ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa

Gezahegn Ayele (PhD), Deputy Country Director, AGRA-SSTPDemelash Balcha, Finance Head, MBI

SECTION A - Compliance

Provision 1: Allowable costs

Attachment 4 – Standard Provisions. Special attention to:

Provision 1: Allowable Costs:• It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure that

costs incurred are (1) reasonable: costs which are generally recognized as ordinary and necessary and would be incurred by a prudent person in the conduct of normal business; (2) allocable: incurred specifically for this award; and (3) allowable: conform to any limitations in this award.

Provision 7: Capital Equipment & Inventory ReportsProperty means equipment, supplies, real property, and intangible property, each defined individually below,

(1) Equipment means tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year, and an acquisition cost of ETB 1000.00 or more per unit. (2) Supplies means tangible personal property excluding equipment.

(3) Real Property means land, including land improvements, structures and appurtenances, including permanent fixtures.

(4) Intangible Property includes, but is not limited to, intellectual property, such as trademarks, copyrights, patents and patent applications, and debt instruments, such as bonds, mortgages, leases or other agreements between a lender and a borrower.

You are required to:a. Maintain property in good conditionb. Have management procedures to protect propertyc. Maintain an accurate inventory of all property

Maintenance:i. Accurate record of description of propertyii. Physical inventoryiii. Control system to safeguard the property - Insuranceiv. Upon completion of the project request for disposal instructions – disposition report

Every month of May you must submit a Capital Equipment & Inventory report.

Inventory trackingGoods received must be entered into the organizations inventory management system. When items are destroyed, lost or stolen, this information must also be recorded.

Information to be tracked in the inventory system should include:1. Description of the item2. Serial number3. Source of equipment4. Who owns the item5. Acquisition date6. Acquisition cost7. Location8. Condition

Recruitment of new key personnel

Must keep record of the competitive process followed with a Scope of Work and a 1420 form must be completed.

Key personnel: individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way to the scientific development or execution of the project, whether or not they receive salaries or compensation under the grant. i.e. their absence from the project would be expected to impact the approved scope of the project.

This applies to new staff and not staff that were already employed by the organization (unless you will be issuing a new contract) and who were then transferred to the project.

Vehicle hire

If your application includes renting/ hiring of vehicles you must notify MBI and/or AGRA in advance and confirm the number of days you will be hiring/ renting the vehicle(s) for during that year.

If hire/ rental is expected to exceed 180 days, you must obtain prior approval from MBI and/or AGRA, once the approval is granted, you will be notified in writing to go ahead if approved or not to go ahead if declined.

Provision 26: Reporting Host Government Taxes

Your award has a provision that requires you to make the effort to claim back VAT and customs duties. Make every attempt not to pay VAT or custom duties.

How you do it?Visit the ministry & find out the process to claim back VAT or customs duties. Obtain the form, fill it out and submit it (keep record of this). Best effort means the tax expense is an allowable cost, doing nothing is not.

VAT & customs duties (not sales tax): (For each single transaction over $500)• Keep receipts and report to AGRA SSTP • Reporting period October 01 to September 30 every year• Report due date 28 February

Provision 6: USAID Eligibility Rules for Procurement of Commodities and Services:

The recipient must obtain prior written approval from MBI and AGRA before procuring any of the following commodities: (you should apply for approval 4-6 weeks in advance)(i) Agricultural commodities, (ii) Motor vehicles, (iii) Pharmaceuticals,(iv) Pesticides, (this includes Agro chemicals)(v) Used equipment, (vi) U.S. Government-owned excess property, or (vii) Fertilizer.

Pesticides/ Agro Chemicals also applies to procurement of any hormones (including growth hormones), insecticides, fungicides and herbicides.

Also note, under Agricultural commodities falls the purchase of the following including purchase of seeds of any of the following:wheat, rice, corn (maize), soybeans, sorghum, flour, meal, beans, peas, cotton, vegetable oils, and animal oils and fats.The specified geographic code for procurement is 937. Code 937 – this includes the United States, the recipient country (country where your grant is received for), and developing countries excluding advanced developing countries and any country that is a prohibited sourceList of advanced developing countries and prohibited source countries will be shared through e-mail for your information.

Provision 9: Marking & Branding

There is a marking plan for Program material produced using USAID and AGRA logos. You must seek approval from AGRA SSTP 3 weeks in advance.

1. You would design whatever it is that you are going to use for as program material and share it with AGRA SSTP for approval.

Note:USAID logo top left – larger or equivalent to the other logos in size, AGRA logo bottom right.

2. For radio programs to acknowledge USAID and AGRA you must request the working from AGRA SSTP. Example:This (publication, video, report, or other information/media product) was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-13-00040, and managed by The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In your request for approval also include: quantity of program material required/ will be produced, cost per unit and total cost of item and confirm whether funding for this is included in your MBI and/or AGRA approved budget or whether your organization is funding this.

Provision 24: International Travel Provision 24: Travel and International Air Transportation:

• Direct charges for travel costs for international air travel by individuals are allowable only when each international trip is in your budget that was approved by AGRA.

• Additionally you must obtain, prior approval from AGRA before travel takes place for international travel. Travel approval must be requested from AGRA at least 3 weeks in advance.

The travel request must include:1. Name and title of person travelling2. Dates of travel3. Destination 4. Purpose of travel5. Detailed budget explaining costs to be incurred (Only economy class travel allowed)

**Always be aware of Standard provision 24. c. Fly America Act Restrictions (refer to the standard provision)

Note: This applies to project staff and consultants for international travel.

ConsultantsSelection of consultants must be done competitively if possible and if not, a justification must be provided for direct source/ sole source. Documentation that you will need to submit to MBI and/or AGRA SSTP for approval to hire the consultant:

1. The details of the selection process2. Consultant’s full name (and his/her home country)3. Terms of Reference (description of work they will do, why the consultancy is needed, site of performance/ country and duration)4. A detailed budget – clearing showing number of days of consultancy and daily consultancy rate.5. The CV of the preferred choice6. The Biodata 1420 form filled out by the potential consultant – all sections completed7. Invoice

All the above must be submitted to MBI and/or AGRA 4 weeks in advance for approval before proceeding to hire the consultant.

Provision 32: Construction/ Repairs - Contracts

If any construction activities and/ or repairs are to take place according to allowable activities listed in the provision and approved in your budget, you must submit the following documentation to MBI and/or AGRA SSTP 6 weeks in advance and before proceeding to hire the contractor:

1. The scope of work- including details of activities/ work to be done (activities, objectives and deliverables)

2. The cost/ budget3. How the contractor has been selected and justification for the

choice. A competitive process must be followed and all the above details must be sent to MBI and/or AGRA SSTP for approval.

Section B – Record Keeping and Reporting

Record Keeping

You must maintain adequate records for the Project to enable MBI and/or AGRA to easily determine how the grant funds were expended. This includes:1. Invoices and Receipts for all funds expended2. Supporting documents for all activities 3. Timesheets for all staff under the project for both the SSTP

funded time and cost share.

Additionally with each report, you MUST send us scanned copies of all documentation, invoices, receipts (stamped paid), vouchers and timesheets relating to that financial report.

Budget line items

Any proposed change to budget line items must be submitted to MBI for approval Before 10 days of expenditure.

Reports

It is important all reports are submitted in a timely manner. The reporting schedule is as per your agreement letter.1. Financial and Technical report reports2. Any activity/ supporting reports3. Environmental Monitoring & Mitigation report4. Capital Equipment & Inventory report5. Audit report

Reporting period

The reporting period must be followed as set in the agreement letter.

1 April –June 30,2015 due date07 July 20151 July – Sep 30, 2015 due date 07 October 20151 Oct – Dece.31, 2015 due date 07 Jan, 2016

Sample Budget & Financial Report

Please see attached documents:1. A sample budget format2. The financial report

Financial Report

Following on you know your budgets well, we need to ensure the reports reflect what you have entered in the budgets.

Ensure you follow compliance. Ask if unsure.

**Send all reports in 1 email not separate emails.

Reports

The financial report should be the financial expression of what you have entered in the activity report.

Also, ensure any environmental impact is recorded in the environmental monitoring and mitigation report. For e.g.:i. If you buy pesticides – ensure the environmental

monitoring and mitigation is done.ii. If you are doing construction activities - environmental

monitoring and mitigation must be done.

Q&A’s

Thank you!

• Field operations and other: includes costs for establishing demonstrations (wage for planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing), per diems for supervising and implementing field activities, field level costs for seed multiplication (wage), and perdiem for experts for seed quality inspection

• Training on inoculant application, agronomic practices and extension approaches: perdiem.

• Training on quality seed production: perdiemFor a total of training sessions.

• Training on agribusiness, nutrition and marketing: a training sessions for 1.5 days consisting for trainees of farmers, local agro-dealers.

• Stationery and Office supplies: Includes stationery materials like training materials, printing materials (leaflets, broachers), note books, pens and others to be used on workshops, meetings

• Communications: Includes payments for media for broadcasting field days and project events using radio & TV.

• Local-Travel cost for field supervisions and input quality inspections: A total of 50 individuals consisting of project supervisors, regional project implimenters, and input quality control experts will make a total of five trips to project implimention areas, seed multiplication fields and inoculant production units to supervise and impliment demonstrations, inspect seed and inoculant quality.