• All of your invoices must correlate to your plan of work and follow the budget and narrative that you have set forth in your application.
• Submit your invoices monthly, or at the very least quarterly.***Waiting until the end of a project to submit a single invoice could result in your payment being delayed or withheld if there is lack of sufficient documentation to support the budget allocations that correlated to your plan of work. When quarterly reports are due, you may be asked for a summary of expenditures to date if you have not submitted an invoice during the quarter.
• The Sample Invoice Copy (.pdf) will show you the basic requirements to ensure timely payment processing.
• Attachment 4 – Subaward Agreement – University (.doc)

Questions on the invoicing process can be directed to either Jo Ann Warner (509.477.2168) or Jennifer Jansen (509.335.2867)

Your organization must have in place the requisite policies, procedures and personnel to ensure stewardship of Federal Funds and management of Federally supported projects, specifically including standards for financial management and procurement.

The contract that Washington State University has awarded your organization is a Cost Reimbursable Subcontract. This means that you must have the capacity to pay your vendors directly, (this includes any subcontractors and/or consultants). After you have paid your vendors, submit your reimbursement invoices for payment including copies of the following supporting documentation:

• Documentation from your accounting system of salaries and wages paid from the grant. Please include the individual paid, amount charged to the grant and if paid hourly, the number of hours and rate.
• Copies of all receipts, statements and/or invoices from vendors.
• All travel expenses should be recorded on a Travel Detail Sheet (Excel spreadsheet), or other form with comparable detail. Copies of hotel, air travel, rental car and other travel expenses are required. Meal and gas receipts are required unless you are using meal and mileage per diems. Please refer to your approved budget.
• Totals from your supporting documentation should equal the amount requested on your invoice. 
• Attachment-4-Non-University.doc

The following policy outlines the reporting and invoicing protocol for your Extension Risk Management Education grant.

When an invoice has been submitted for payment, the Western Center Grant Coordinator verifies the status of your online Progress or Final Report. Your online report must be current before the Western Center approves your invoice for payment. If a Progress or Final Report is past due, the Project Director will receive the following written notice via email:

“Payment of invoice (list invoice #) in the amount of (list amount) for your project, (list project name and subaward #) will be withheld pending satisfactory completion of your online Progress or Final Report that was due on (list due date). Thank you for your timely assistance with this matter.”

Should you fail to respond within 10 days, the Western Center will request the WSU Extension Grants Team contact your administrative contact person listed in your subaward agreement.  The latter may also contact you, the Project Director, to remind you that you are in arrears with your reporting obligations.

If there is a continued lack of response, WSU’s Office of Grant and Research Development will issue a written notice to your administrative contact and outline a time frame for response; i.e. “Progress or Final Report for (list project name and subaward #) must be submitted no later than 5PM PST on close of business day (specify exact date). Should there continue to be failure to respond steps may be taken to de-obligate any unexpended funds remaining under the subaward agreement.

*** If no programmatic activity has occurred within a quarter, you must provide satisfactory written justification for the absence of program delivery and notate this in the Progress Notes Section of your Progress Report.

• Online quarterly reporting is required as part of your contractual obligation under this grant (2011 Timeline).
• The following sections of your full proposal have been incorporated into your online report:
• Project Summary
• Proposed Risk Management Results
  • Proposed Results may not be edited
• Project Steps
  • Project Steps may be added to, edited or deleted to allow for flexibility in your program delivery.

Quarterly Progress Reports

• Assess progress you are making towards your producers reaching the proposed risk management results you have listed in your proposal.
• Check off the project steps completed towards your program delivery.
• Use the Progress Notes Section to provide brief comments pertinent to the successful delivery of your project.
• ***If no programmatic activity has occurred within a quarter, you must provide satisfactory written justification for the absence of program delivery and notate this in the Progress Notes section of your Progress Report.

Final Report

• Report to the risk management results that producers have learned, achieved and applied as a result of participating in your project.
• Upload project materials to the Ag Risk Education Library
  • PowerPoint presentations, curriculum, marketing materials, fact sheets and other relevant program material
  • Upload workshop evaluations/data relevant to the verification of risk management results
• Upon review and approval by the Western Center, Final Reports are posted to the Ag Risk Education Library, an online information center housing risk management education resource materials and completed risk management education projects. Your Final Report will be linked with these materials and projects for educators and other agricultural professionals to view.

Online Reporting Site

The following evaluations are examples that you can use and/or adapt for your target audience and risk areas that your project covers:

Market Risk Evaluation (.doc)

Short Term Evaluation (.doc)

Long Term Evaluation (.doc)

The following acknowledgment of support must be used in any presentations, media releases and all project materials of work funded by this grant:

“This material is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2010-49200-06203.”

In instances where space prevents the use of logos and/or funding sources are cited in news sources apart from project print and electronic materials, the following verbiage must be used:

“Funding for this project was provided by the Washington State University Western Center for Risk Management Education, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and (list any other funding source(s) here).”

Logo Requirements

The USDA/NIFA Official Identifier and the Washington State University Western Center for Risk Management Education logo must both be used on all printed materials, including those produced in electronic format. (Right click on the Western Center logo below and “Save Image As” to your desktop.) Click on the following link for the NIFA Official Identifier: http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about/offices/nifa_logo.html

Click the above for a larger image for print applications

The Extension Risk Management Education Grants Program is funded with dollars from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and is administered through four regional Risk Management Education (RME) Centers located at Washington State University, the University of Nebraska, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and the University of Delaware, along with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Fiancial Management (Digital Center). Our primary function through this competitive grants program is to provide risk management education for agricultural producers and their families.

The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) also provides risk management education funding through a competitive grant making process however, we have no institutional connection to their agency.

We would like to enlist the help of our program leaders by asking you to write thank you letters in January to the Members of Congress that represent you.

Your letters should convey the unique merits of your project and how our program resources have helped to benefit producers through improved risk management practices.

When you send your letters, we would also like to receive copies. They will be included in a portfolio of Western region funded projects that will be shared with congressional leaders.

It would be particularly helpful if congressional members are targeted who serve on the following ag committees:

• Senate Appropriations Ag Sub-committee
• Senate Ag Committee
• Senate Committee Assignments
• House Ag Committee
• House Appropriations Ag Sub Committee
• House Committee Assignments

The Project Director will be responsible for the entire project. Change in project director designation will require approval from the Western Center’s Director, Shannon Neibergs. The existing project director must send a letter to the Center Director requesting the change. Additionally, the newly designated Project Director must provide a letter which states his/her qualifications and experiences for assuming the responsibilities associated with the project. If the project director that was initially listed on the proposal is gone and unavailable for comment, please call the Western Center. Failure to notify the Center of a change in project director designation could result in payment being with held and/or de-obligation of any unexpended funds remaining under the grant.

A signed and dated letter must be written on the letterhead of the Project Director’s organization addressed to:

Shannon Neibergs, Director, Western Center for Risk Management Education, 222 N. Havana, Spokane WA 99202