Awarding Agency FAQs


Why can’t I see when a subaccount is on restriction?

To see a restriction that has been placed on a subaccount, you will need to use the CAR-E (Organization Characteristics Extended) Inquiry. For information on how to use this inquiry, you may go to the Adhoc Inquiry Screen, and select the question mark in the upper right hand corner of the screen. When you see the list of Adhoc Inquiries, select CAR-E.


What do the different Transaction Codes mean?

To see the meaning of the transaction codes on the inquiry screens, you may go to the Adhoc Inquiry Screen, and click on the question mark in the upper right hand corner of the screen. You will see a list of Adhoc Inquiries. Select any inquiry for information about that inquiry.


How do I find out if a new grantee already has a PMS account?

For HHS accounts, use the FI (Partial EIN or PIN Search Provides Full EIN) and Name (Search of Partial Name Provides Full EIN and PIN) Inquires to search for the grantee organization. For information on how to use these inquiries, you may go to the Adhoc Inquiry Screen, and click on the question mark in the upper right hand corner of the screen. When you see the list of Adhoc Inquiries, select an FI or NAME. For NON-HHS accounts, use the Expanded Inquiries – User Code Inquiry for your agency’s assigned user codes (one user code at time). Once you select the user code, select “Continue”. A list will be displayed. You can use CTRL+F to search the list for the EIN and name of the organization.


Grant Expiration FAQs

PSC developed the Payment Management System (PMS) to assist awarding agencies and their grant recipients to identify grants with expired balances for timely recovery of the expired funds and closure of the grants. Currently, PMS identifies grants that are more than 90 days beyond their performance period end date and have remaining fund balances. PMS flags payment requests which include such expired fund balances and hold them for agency review and payment determination.

Below are a few Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the PMS grant expiration functionality.


What is the PMS grant expiration process?

When a federal grant expires, recipients can only use remaining grant funds to liquidate expenses incurred during the performance period. Federal grants management policy specifies that within 90 days of the performance period end date, the grant recipient must submit its final financial report and have drawn all funds spent for the grant unless the awarding agency extends the grant award.

The awarding agency needs to determine if they will enter a grant extension into PMS, notify PMS-Information System Branch that a grant or CAN is exempted, or approve each payment request that the grantee submits for the expired grant. PMS cannot accept blanket approvals for expired grants.


What is the difference between an expired grant and a canceled grant?

Expired Grants - Grant accounts that remained open after their expiration date and had unspent funds in the form of undisbursed balances. Undisbursed balances are funds that the federal government has obligated by entering into a grant agreement, but the grantee has not drawn down (“disbursed”). These funds were obligated from the federal perspective. However, once the grant’s period of availability to the grantee has expired, the grant could be closed out and the funds deobligated by the awarding agency. Grant closeout procedures ensure that grantees have met all financial requirements, provided their final reports, and returned any undisbursed balances.

Canceled Grants - Grants funded using fixed appropriations, typically 5 year term. Under the provisions of Section 1405(a) of Public Law No. 101-510 amended 31 U.S.C. §§ 1551-1557 (commonly referred to as M-Account Legislation), all federal agencies are required to close fixed year appropriation accounts and cancel any remaining balances on any awards issued out of the fixed year appropriation accounts by September 30th of the 5th fiscal year after the period of availability.


What if some programs are exempt?

PMS has an exempt indicator for grant awards that fall under programs that never expire, even though there is a Budget End Date posted in the PMS. If the indicator is “Y” for the grant, then it would never go through the expiration process and never be flagged as expired.


What happens when a recipient requests payment from an expired grant (90 days past end date)?

PMS flags any payments requested from an expired grant, and contacts the awarding agency point of contact (POC) to approve or reject the payment request. The awarding agency is required to provide written approval or rejection for the payment request. If no written approval or rejection is received, the payment request is rejected 3 days after the awarding agency was notified of the expired grant payment request. The grantee is notified of the reason for the rejection.


Will PMS close the PMS account when the award(s) have expired?

No, the PMS accounts will remain open and available for future use. If a balance remains on a grant award(s) in a PMS account, the awarding agency is encouraged to deobligated the remaining funds and close out the grant. Closing transactions must always be initiated by the awarding agency. If the grant is not closed out, the funds will be removed from the account once the appropriation that the award was issued out of has canceled.