Coronavirus Disease 2019 Emergency Preparedness and Related Expenditures

BPRM Information Table (layout)
Effective Date: December 28, 2020	Printable PDF version

TO: ALL DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY HEADS

FROM: Robert F. Mujica Jr.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Emergency Preparedness and Related Expenditures

This item provides guidance for State agencies (including State departments and State authorities) related to special emergency preparedness and response expenditures. The process outlined here is intended to be used for the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), for which a Major Disaster Declaration for the State has been granted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

A. Revisions

Revisions to this bulletin since last updated on April 17, 2020 include:

Update to SFS Activity Codes to require agencies to isolate and distinctly report all costs related to the COVID-19 vaccination.
Ensuring that the Division and the Executive Chamber are timely informed of upcoming COVID-19 related purchases.
Update to the fiscal and procurement provisions of Executive Order 202 related to State Finance Law Articles 11-A and 11-B.
Update to required contract clauses for COVID-19 procurements, including the requirement that DOB approve requests to waive the required Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions).
Addition of Operating Agreements for Temporary Hospitals and Alternative Care Facilities (ACF) to require the State receive fair compensation associated with the use of State-owned facilities.

B. Statewide Financial System Procedures

Initiation of Process
It is critical that agencies track COVID-19 related spending with attention to detail. The Division of the Budget (DOB) created a unique Project ID and Activity IDs for use in the State Financial Management System (SFS) to identify costs specific to the COVID-19 response effort.

Agencies should continue charging COVID-19 related expenditures against their agency appropriations, unless specifically given alternate instructions by DOB. Agencies are required to include both the Project ID and an Activity ID on any transaction entered in SFS for the COVID-19 costs.

For any COVID-19 spending that occurred prior to the designation of a Project ID, agencies must immediately update the transactions to the appropriate Project and Activity IDs as listed below.

Agencies should work with their DOB examiners to modify or establish a KK Financial Plan budget pursuant to Budget Bulletin B-1216, as appropriate.

A list of SFS Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) frequently asked questions is available.

For technical assistance, agencies should reach out to SFS at: HelpDesk@sfs.ny.gov or (518) 457-7737.
Project ID
Agencies are required to use the COVID-19 Project ID in SFS in order to facilitate the tracking of non-personal spending and to potentially receive Federal reimbursement for emergency related disbursements. The Department of Health (DOH01) Project ID "COVID-19" should be used for all agency activities, services and expenses in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. DOH01 should be entered as the Project Costing Business Unit (PCBU) for transactions using the COVID-19 Project ID.

Activity IDs

Unique Activity IDs have been created in SFS to capture non-personal service costs associated with specific areas of spending concerning the COVID-19 outbreak. These Activity IDs are subject to change in order to be compliant with Federal guidance.

Please see below the list of activities currently set up in SFS to track the costs associated with DOH01 Project ID COVID-19:

Activities in SFS to Track the Costs Associated with DOH01 Project ID COVID-19
Cleaning supplies and equipment	COVID_CLN_SPPS
Other supplies and equipment	COVID_OTH_SPPS
IT and telecommunication equipment	COVID_IT_TLCOM
Public relations and educational materials	COVID_PUB_REL
Testing/monitoring	COVID_TESTING
Transportation/escort duties/travel	COVID_TRANSP
Quarantine facilities and associated activities (not including PS)	COVID_QRNT_FAC
Local assistance	COVID_LOC_ASST
Emergency Response Coordination Efforts	COVID_EMER_RESP
COVID-19 Vaccination (NEW) — All activities related to the cost of planning, preparation, release and distribution of the vaccine including but not limited to supplies, logistics, coordination, public relations, educational materials, transportation, travel, and local assistance should be split from the Activity Codes listed above and coded to this dedicated vaccination activity code.)	COVID_VACCINE

Direction for Agencies that Already use Federal Grant Project IDs
Agencies currently utilizing project and activity ID chart fields for Federal reimbursement purposes should continue to use the Federal project and activity ID codes for Federal reimbursement purposes. The expenses that are related to COVID-19 and to an existing Federal grant must still be tracked in SFS using the Federal project and activity ID codes and chart field 1, 2, or 3. If using chart field 1, 2, or 3, please request the first 10 characters of the appropriate activity ID as shown above, i.e. COVID_CLN. Please submit your request for these values by submitting the COA Change Request Form to the SFS Help Desk at helpdesk@sfs.ny.gov. Once the chart of account values that your agency requested for COVID-19 has been established by SFS, please use these values on transactions for COVID-19 costs related to federal projects. If there is a federal/state split for costs, use the federal project ID on the federal portion of the transaction along with the COVID-19 chart field 1, 2, or 3 values that were established for tracking. For the state portion of the transaction also use the COVID-19 chart field 1, 2, or 3 values that were established for tracking. Do not use the Department of Health COVID-19 project ID for costs on either the federal or state portion of the transaction.
Category Codes
Critical supplies necessary for the State’s response to COVID-19 have been identified and mapped to specific Category Codes. The Critical Supply Category Codes List can be found here. Additional items will be added to this list as they are identified. For all items included in the Critical Supply Category Codes List, agencies must enter the Category Code associated with the item on all COVID-19 transactions. For those items not specifically identified in the list, agencies must enter a Category Code that is appropriate for the item(s) being purchased. Further, the Item Description field must contain a detailed description of the item(s) being purchased.
Purchase Orders and Receiving
To the greatest extent practicable, agencies should use quantity based purchase orders, as opposed to amount based purchase orders, for COVID-19 purchases. Agencies are also reminded that receiving is a critical part of the procure-to-pay process. Timely receiving ensures immediate visibility into the delivery and acceptance of purchased goods and services and supports efficient processing of payments. Agencies must require receiving on all COVID-19 related purchase orders. It is imperative that agencies enter receipts in SFS at the time goods or services are received.
Agency Spending Control Application (ASCA) Request Number in SFS
For all COVID-19 related transactions that are associated with an approved ASCA (B-1184) Spending Request, including those COVID-19 related transactions that were completed before this guidance was released, agencies must enter the ASCA request number in the appropriate field in SFS. For expense reports, the ASCA request number must be entered in the B-1184 field. For purchase orders and vouchers, the ASCA request number must be entered in the DOB Approval Code field. For purchase orders staged from a contract, agencies will need to process a change order after the purchase order has been dispatched to enter the applicable ASCA request number in the DOB Approval Code field.
Procurement Card Reconciliation
Agencies must reconcile Procurement Card (P-Card) transactions in SFS by COB every Tuesday. As part of this weekly reconciliation, agencies must enter the COVID-19 Project ID and applicable Activity ID codes for all COVID-19 related transactions. Agencies must also enter a purchase order (PO) for P-Card transactions of $10,000 or more and associate this PO with the relevant transaction when the charge is reconciled.
Employee and Non-Employee Travel Expenses
Employees and Non-Employees must submit COVID-19 related travel expense reports on a weekly basis in SFS. Users must enter the COVID-19 Project ID and applicable Activity ID codes for all COVID-19 related transactions. Enter the B-1184 reference number in the field labeled B-1184.
SFS Analytics Reporting
A new General Ledger report has been created in SFS Analytics, DW114 - COVID-19 Tracking, to facilitate the tracking and reporting needs related to COVID-19. This report provides insight into financial transactions at varying points of the purchasing process.

SFS has created a new query that can be used to view real-time Purchase Order (PO) data related to the COVID-19 project ID at the PO line level of detail. The PO_DETAIL_BY_PROJECT query is available in Query Manager or Query Viewer in SFS Reporting Tools to all users with any reporting role.

C. Leave Accrual Tracking System (LATS-NY) System for Charging Time Worked

The following codes have been made available in the LATS-NY application for Business Services Center (BSC) customer agency employees to track time worked on COVID-19 activities:

COVID-19 Regular Hours
COVID-19 Overtime Hours
COVID-19 Out of Title Overtime/Extra Service Hours

Allocating time spent related to COVID-19 should only be considered when the activities are directly related to COVID-19 preparedness and response. Adjustments in LATS can be made retrospectively by returning the timesheet for updates, as appropriate.

For other agencies using the LATS-NY application, that are not BSC customer agencies, the codes provided above should be established in LATS-NY to track time worked on COVID-19 activities.

For further guidance, BSC customer agencies may contact the BSC at (518) 457-4272, and other agencies may contact DOB at (518) 474-0429.

Agencies that do not utilize LATS-NY must track time designated for COVID-19 preparation and response and related spending in a manner sufficient to comply with the tracking and reporting requirement listed in Section D.

D. Agency Reporting Requirements on Year to Date Disbursements

It is critical that DOB be able to track and report on year-to-date disbursements associated with COVID-19 preparation and response activities at a meaningful level of detail. To track the COVID-19 related spending consistently across agencies, a template (Attachment A) has been created to enable agencies to indicate year-to-date disbursements by financial plan category. For financial categories other than non-personal service, agencies are also expected to supply a description of activities associated with year-to-date spending from the list of SFS activities defined above. Costs for all agency personal services allocated to activities associated with COVID-19 must be tracked by category of personal service (i.e., regular, overtime) and total personal service costs must be accompanied by a description of the associated COVID-19 activity from the list of SFS activities defined above (i.e., personal services for quarantine activities, personal services for COVID-19 testing). For the purposes of this tracker, Fringe and Indirect Charges should not be included, DOB will account for these expenses centrally.

Each week, on or before noon on Thursday, agencies should submit their weekly updates to the tracker, providing detailed year-to-date spending results (through the prior business day) associated with COVID-19 activities. Weekly updates to the spending tracker should be submitted to NYSDOB@budget.ny.gov. Each subsequent week, the actual spending within a given month should be used to overwrite the previous weekly update until the results for that month are final. If the agency has nothing to report, they must send an email to NYSDOB@budget.ny.gov stating they have no cash disbursements related to COVID-19 to report.

E. Agency Spending Controls Procedures

Until further notice, all agencies must initiate a B-1184 spending request in the Agency Spending Control Application (ASCA) immediately upon the determination that a COVID-19 related procurement is necessary, and must notify: (1) their DOB Unit Chief, (2) the Deputy Secretary, and (3) dob.sm.ASCA@budget.ny.gov that the request has been made and should receive expedited attention. It is critical that agencies inform Chamber and the Division of upcoming COVID-related purchases – especially those that are time sensitive, mission critical or of significant value – as soon as information is obtained so there is sufficient lead time to review and consider the request. Is it also important that Chamber and DOB are informed timely as some COVID-related requests are interdependent with other efforts and dependencies must be understood.

When sending the email, agencies should include the B-1184 tracking number as well as the primary agency contact able to respond to questions regarding the request.

If an agency does not receive approval or acknowledgment within one hour, they should call their DOB Unit Chief or take other proactive follow-up measures.

F. Overtime Compensation for Overtime Ineligible Employees

Blanket overtime authorization is granted for staff in Grade 27/M-2 and below positions who work in excess of 47.5 hours per work week, provided that such overtime is both essential and directly related to activities associated with the State’s preparation and response to COVID-19. Agency heads will be responsible for determining which overtime requests fulfill the “essential and directly related” criteria. The granting of overtime for otherwise ineligible employees should only be considered when directly related to COVID-19 preparedness and response and only if no other alternatives exist.

Staff authorized to incur overtime shall be paid at a rate equal to one and one half times the regular hourly rate for time worked in excess of 47.5 hours per week. Authorized payments for otherwise overtime ineligible staff in Grade 27/M-2 and below positions which are submitted to the State Comptroller shall be considered pre-approved by DOB.

Extraordinary overtime compensation requests for staff in positions above Grade 27/M-2 shall be reviewed and approved by DOB on a case-by-case basis. A formal request for a Waiver of Overtime Compensation Rules (Attachment B) will be necessary to demonstrate that such extraordinary overtime is critical to activities associated with the State’s preparation and response to COVID-19.

Agencies are expected to maintain an accurate accounting of all extraordinary overtime expenditures associated with COVID-19 and DOB will monitor bi-weekly agency overtime reports to track increased hours and compensation.

Questions regarding overtime compensation for overtime ineligible employees should be directed to Joseph Conroy, Chief Budget Examiner at DOB.

G. Extra Service Compensation for Overtime Ineligible Employees

Overtime ineligible employees performing extra service directly related to the State's COVID-19 preparation and response in a position different from their regular position may receive additional compensation for hours worked beyond 47.5 hours per week in the aggregate of both positions. The agency of the employee's regular position is responsible for aggregating this time, whether it is in the employee's regular agency or a different agency.

Compensation for such extra service will be provided at the overtime rate of the extra service position, calculated as follows:

If the extra service position is allocated to the same grade as the employee's regular position, the employee will be compensated at the rate of one and one-half times the regular hourly rate of compensation of their regular position.
If the extra service position is allocated to a salary grade lower than the employee’s regular position, the employee will be compensated at the rate of one and one-half times the regular hourly rate of pay of the maximum salary of the lower grade position plus longevity increments in such lower grade position, but not in excess of one and one-half times the regular hourly rate of pay of the employee’s regular position.
If the extra service position is allocated to a higher salary grade than the employee’s regular position, the employee will be compensated at the rate of one and one-half times the regular hourly rate of compensation the employee would be entitled if permanently promoted to the higher position.

H. Business Procedures

Fair Pricing
Agencies should contact the OGS Buy Desk to ensure fair pricing and protect against price gouging as prohibited by New York State's General Business Law § 396-r. The Buy Desk can be reached at: OGSBuyDesk@ogs.ny.gov or by calling the Business Services Center (BSC) at (518) 457-4272 and asking for the Buy Desk. If agencies are receiving prices drastically different from similar products and services on contract, please reach out to OGS Procurement Services prior to purchase. Agencies can contact OGS Procurement Services at Customer.Services@ogs.ny.gov or (518) 474-6717 for assistance.
Procurement Card Usage
Agencies should be mindful of the spending limit of their Procurement Cards (P-Card).

BSC customer agencies that require an increase in their P-Card limit may contact the BSC at bscfinance@ogs.ny.gov or (518) 457-4272 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays to get their limit increased. Customers who require increases in P-Card limits outside those hours should contact their agency P-Card program administrator for help. All other agencies who need to adjust their P-Card limits should contact their agency P-Card program administrator for help.
Requisitions
Requisitions for high demand products may increase during an emergency. In order to ensure that requisitions are processed in a timely manner, agencies should submit their requisitions as early as possible. Be mindful that many vendors are only available to process requisitions on standard business days. OGS Procurement Services and the BSC Buy Desk are watching for trends and large quantity purchases for COVID-19 supplies across agencies. OGS will coordinate with the emergency chain of command for priority purchase and distribution.
Use of Preferred Sources and OGS Centralized Contracts
Agencies are reminded to purchase commodities and services in the order of precedence in accordance with State Finance Law § 163 for all products and services that fit the “form, function and utility” of the agency’s need, with Preferred Source offerings in first priority followed by OGS Centralized Contracts. Agencies may contact OGS Procurement Services at Customer.Services@ogs.ny.gov or (518) 474-6717 for assistance.
Executive Order No. 202
Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order No. 202 (EO 202) (Attachment C), and subsequent orders, which temporarily suspend certain laws, including: State Finance Law § 112 to eliminate OSC review and approval of certain contracts; Article 4-C of the Economic Development Law; State Finance Law § 163 to allow the purchase of commodities, services, and technology without following standard notice and procurement processes; and Articles 11-A and 11-B of the State Finance Law, and any regulations authorized thereunder, to the extent necessary to respond to the direct and indirect economic, financial, and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under EO 202 (et seq.), reasonableness of cost/price is still required. Documentation must include the rationale and need of the purchase. Purchasing requirements should still be followed, such as confirming item(s) not available on preferred source or OGS centralized contracts, so procurement moves to open market. Quotes from other vendors (or a notation that other vendors have no stock of the item) shall be recorded in the procurement record to support reasonableness of cost/price requirement. Note that if an item is needed to protect public safety and health, a cost/price can be reasonable even when inflated due to market scarcity and/or only available from a single vendor. Finally, the provisions of State Finance Law Articles 11-A and 11-B, including but not limited to those related to accrual and payment of interest as well as timeliness of contract execution and amendment, are suspended to the extent necessary to respond to the direct and indirect economic, financial, and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Required Contract Clauses
In addition to the Appendix A – Standard Clauses for New York State Contracts, agencies must also incorporate Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions) into all COVID-19 related purchases. All purchase orders for COVID-19 related purchases must be revised to make reference to Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions). Agencies must ensure that the Byrd Anti-Lobbying Certification included in Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions) is signed by an authorized signatory of the vendor and submitted with its purchase order as required by 31 U.S.C § 1352. Further, agencies must amend any existing contract that will be used for COVID-19 activities to include Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions). A copy of Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions) is attached to this Bulletin as Attachment D.

Waivers to the inclusion of Appendix B – Additional Standard Terms (COVID-19 Related Transactions) with a COVID-19 related purchase may be granted on a case by case basis upon review and approval of the Division of the Budget. To request a waiver, agencies must contact the Division of the Budget, Legal and Procurement Unit at contracts@budget.ny.gov.
Operating Agreements for Temporary Hospitals and Alternative Care Facilities (ACF)
When an agency is entering into an agreement with a third party to operate, facilitate, and/or manage a temporary hospital or an ACF to help address surge in the response to COVID-19 in/at a State-owned facility, the agreement must include terms ensuring fair compensation to the State for use of the State facility, and/or the use of any State services or State-owned equipment, goods, or commodities in the provision of care. Such costs shall be imposed at the lesser of the rate of $380 per bed ¹ used per day or the actual cost of use of a bed per day in the facility as identified by the State. Agencies should notify their line examination unit of all proposed operating agreements with prior to contract execution. Any cost terms deviating from those herein require the approval of the Division of the Budget.
Procurement Records
To support the State’s efforts to obtain reimbursement from the Federal government on all eligible COVID-19 related purchases, agencies must ensure they keep adequate documentation and records. While agencies should continue to follow existing practices and maintain comprehensive procurement records in accordance with appropriate agency practice and the New York State Procurement Guidelines, agencies should also note that Federal reimbursement guidelines may include additional requirements for information and documentation. To best position the State for reimbursement, agency procurement records must document the pertinent decisions made, approach used to complete the procurement, information justifying cost, and all other relevant information that supports the overall purchase, including the following as may be applicable:
- Documentation of need/request (if possible, who is requesting: agency’s program name or individual);
- Type of commodities, equipment, supplies or services and quantities used;
- Dates used; type of work performed;
- Receipt for replacement items or local rate;
- Receipts or invoices with proof of payment;
- Description of equipment and attachments used, including year, make, and model Size/capacity (e.g., horsepower, wattage);
- Locations, days, and hours used with equipment/usage logs;
- Operator name, time used, work performed (will be cross-referenced against labor records);
- Federal cost codes or local rates – schedule of rates, including rate components; and
- Rental or lease agreements with procurement, invoices, receipts and days used.
Agencies must ensure that any COVID-19 related purchase is documented and coded in accordance with this Bulletin.

Attachments

Footnotes

¹Based on actual cost incurred under existing agreement to establish an alternate care site.

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