Section 570.800  Grant Awards, Terms and Conditions

To issue a grant award, the Department and grantee will enter into a grant agreement.  This agreement will describe the requirements the grantee must fulfill, based on the goals and objectives in the application, and how the grantee will ensure compliance with all applicable stipulations and conditions.

a)         The Grant Review Committee may award all of the requested funds to the applicants that are selected for funding, or may award reduced funding for one or more applicants.  The Committee's decision will include, but not be limited to, the following:

1)         The total amount of grant funds available;

2)         The number of grant proposals selected for funding;

3)         Whether a selected project contains elements that the Committee determines, based on the review process in Section 570.700, should not be funded or should be partially funded; and

4)         Whether the requested funding exceeds the described activities of the research  project, based on the review process in Section 570.700.

b)         If the Committee determines that the number of selected projects must be reduced to accommodate the amount of grants funds available, the criteria in Section 570.700 will be used to reduce the number of projects.

c)         The Department will prepare award transmittal letters and a grant agreement for approved projects.  Mailing of the transmittal letter and grant agreement to the applicant for acceptance shall constitute notification of award.

d)         Applicants whom the Department determines not to be eligible for grant funds will be notified in writing of this decision.

e)         The grant agreement will contain, at a minimum, the following:

1)         Identifying information of the grantee, including name, mailing address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address;

2)         A description of the grant's purpose;

3)         Information on how quarterly payments to the grantee will be made;

4)         A detailed budget of permissible expenditure of grant funds;

5)         Reporting requirements applicable to the grant, including the filing of quarterly reports, at a minimum, that describe the project's progress and a detailed report of funds expended, according to the budget;

6)         The time period of the grant; and

7)         Certification that the grantee will comply with all applicable provisions of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act.

f)         Grant funds that the grantee does not expend or obligate by the end of the grant agreement shall be returned to the Department within 45 calendar days (see Section 4(b)(5) of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act).  The 45-calendar-day time frame begins the day after the grant agreement expires.  Returned funds will be deposited into the fund from which the original grant disbursement to the grantee was made.

g)         Grantees are required to keep complete and accurate accounting records of all grant funds received from the Department.

h)         If a grantee dispenses part or all of the grant funds to another person or entity for obligation or expenditure, those dispensed funds shall be viewed and treated as grant funds.  Thus, the person or entity that receives the grant funds from the grantee will be subject to all applicable Sections of this Part (see Section 12 of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act).