Section 301.15 - [Effective 10/1/2025] GrantsTo States with approved plans, a grant is made each quarter for expenditures under the plan for the administration of the Child Support Enforcement program. The determination as to the amount of a grant to be made to a State is based upon documents submitted by the IV-D agency containing information required under the Act and such other pertinent facts as may be found necessary.
(a)Financial reporting forms -(1)Form OCSE-396: Child Support Enforcement Program Quarterly Financial Report. States submit this form quarterly to report the actual amount of State and Federal share of title IV-D program expenditures and program income of the current quarter and to report the estimated amount of the State and Federal share of title IV-D program expenditures for the next quarter. This form is completed in accordance with published instructions. The digital signature of the authorized State program official on this document certifies that the reported expenditures and estimates are accurate and that the State has or will have the necessary State share of estimated program expenditures available when needed.(2)Form OCSE-34: Child Support Enforcement Program Quarterly Collection Report. States submit this form quarterly to report the State and Federal share of child support collections received, distributed, disbursed, and remaining undistributed under the title IV-D program. This form is completed in accordance with published instructions. The digital signature of the authorized State program official on this document certifies that the reported amounts are accurate. The Federal share of actual program expenditures and collections and the Federal share of estimated program expenditures reported on Form OCSE-396 and the Federal share of child support collections reported on Form OCSE-34 are used in the computation of quarterly grant awards issued to the State.(b)Submission, review, and approval - (1)Manner of submission. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) maintains an On-line Data Collection (OLDC) system available to every State. States must use OLDC to submit reporting information electronically. To use OLDC, a State must request access from the ACF Office of Grants Management and use an approved digital signature.(2)Schedule of submission. Forms OCSE-396 and OCSE-34 must be electronically submitted no later than 45 days following the end of the each fiscal quarter. No submission, revisions, or adjustments of the financial reports submitted for any quarter of a fiscal year will be accepted by OCSE later than December 31, which is 3 months after the end of the fiscal year.(3)Review and approval. The data submitted on Forms OCSE-396 and OCSE-34 are subject to analysis and review by the Regional Grants Officer in the appropriate ACF Regional Office and approval by the Director, Office of Grants Management, in the ACF central office. In the course of this analysis, review, and approval process, any reported program expenditures that cannot be determined to be allowable are subject to the deferral procedures found at 45 CFR 201.15 or the disallowance process found at 45 CFR 304.29 and 201.14 and 45 CFR part 16.(c)Grant award -(1)Award documents. The grant award consists of a signed award letter and an accompanying "Computation of Grant Award" to detail the award calculation.(2)Award calculation. The quarterly grant award is based on the information submitted by the State on the financial reporting forms and consists of: (i) An advance of funds for the next quarter, based on the State's approved estimate; and(ii) The reconciliation of the advance provided for the current quarter, based on the State's approved expenditures.(3)Access to funds. A copy of the grant documents are provided to the HHS Program Support Center's Division of Payment Management, which maintains the Payment Management System (PMS). The State is able to request a drawdown of funds from PMS through a commercial bank and the Federal Reserve System against a continuing letter of credit. The letter of credit system for payment of advances of Federal funds was established pursuant to Treasury Department regulations. (Circular No. 1075).(d)General administrative requirements. The provisions of part 95 of this title, establishing general administrative requirements for grant programs and 2 CFR parts 200 and 300, establishing uniform administrative requirements and cost principles, shall apply to all grants made to the States under this part, with the following exceptions:(1) 2 CFR 200.306, Cost sharing or matching and(2) 2 CFR 200.328, Financial reporting.40 FR 27147, June 26, 1975, as amended at 51 FR 37731, Oct. 24, 1986; 61 FR 67240, Dec. 20, 1996; 81 FR 3021 , Jan. 20, 2016; 81 FR 93560 , Dec. 20, 2016 81 FR 3021 , 1/20/2016; 81 FR 93560 , 12/20/2016; 89 FR 80072 , 10/1/2025 Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control numbers 0960-0239 and 0960-0235