11-09-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 As with all uses of payments from the Fund, the use of payments to acquire or improve property is limited to that which is necessary due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. In the context of acquisitions of real estate and acquisitions of equipment, this means that the acquisition itself must be necessary. In particular, a government must (i) determine that it is not able to meet the need arising from the public health emergency in a cost-effective manner by leasing property or equipment or by improving property already owned and (ii) maintain documentation to support this determination. Likewise, an improvement, such as the installation of modifications to permit social distancing, would need to be determined to be necessary to address the COVID-19 public health emergency. Previous guidance regarding the requirement that payments from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020 focused on the acquisition of goods and services and leases of real property and equipment, but the same principles apply to acquisitions and improvements of real property and acquisitions of equipment. Such acquisitions and improvements must be completed and the acquired or improved property or acquisition of equipment be put to use in service of the COVID-19-related use for which it was acquired or improved by December 30. Finally, as with all costs covered with payments from the Fund, such costs must not have been previously accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020. 59. If a small business received a Small Business Administration (SBA) Payment Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grant or loan due to COVID-19, may the small business also receive a grant from a unit of government using payments from the Fund? Receiving a PPP or EIDL grant or loan for COVID-19 would not necessarily make a small business ineligible to receive a grant from Fund payments made to a recipient. As discussed in previous Treasury guidance on use of the Fund, a recipient’s small business assistance program should be tailored to assist those businesses in need of such assistance. In assessing the business’ need for assistance, the recipient would need to take into account the business’ receipt of the PPP or EIDL loan or grant. If the business has received a loan from the SBA that may be forgiven, the recipient should assume for purposes of determining the business’ need that the loan will be forgiven. In determining the business’ eligibility for the grant, the recipient should not rely on self-certifications provided to the SBA. If the grant is being provided to the small business to assist with particular expenditures, the business must not have already used the PPP or EIDL loan or grant for those expenditures. The assistance provided from the Fund would need to satisfy all of the other requirements set forth in section 601(d) of the Social Security Act as discussed in Treasury’s guidance and FAQs, and the business would need to comply with all applicable requirements of the PPP or EIDL program. Treasury’s Office of Inspector General has provided the following guidance in its FAQ no. 65 on reporting and recordkeeping that would apply to the recipient: The prime recipient is responsible for determining the level and detail of documentation needed from the sub-recipient of small business assistance to satisfy [the requirements of section 601(d) of the Social Security Act], however, there would need to be some proof that the small business was impacted by the public health emergency and was thus eligible for the CRF funds. In the above OIG FAQ, “sub-recipient” refers to the beneficiary of the assistance, i.e., the small business. 299 299