The DOE Progress Report and Financial Report (SF-425) are used to meet DOE and program specific requirements, and must be submitted through PAGE (http://www.page.energy.gov).  The reports are currently due quarterly, within 30 days past the end of the quarter.

In program performance reporting, DOE intends to measure not only the impact of Recovery Act funds, but the impact of non-federal funds attracted in by Recovery Act funds (i.e. would not have been applied in the absence of Recovery Act funds). The determination of whether or not non-federal funds are “attracted in” by Recovery Act funds is left to the discretion of the recipient. A useful rule of thumb for recipients to determine whether or not the impact of non-federal funds should be counted is this: “Would the non-federal funds have been applied in the absence of Recovery Act funds?” If the answer is no, the impact of the non-federal funds should be included.
 
Thus, where EECBG projects are also supported by leveraged funds that have been attracted in by Recovery Act funds, metrics should report performance and impact based on total project value, not just that portion supported directly by Recovery Act funds. The project value is defined as the total cost of the project undertaken with support of Recovery Act funds.  If a building retrofit valued at $500K is supported by $250K of Recovery Act funds and $250K in non-federal funds that would not have been used without the Recovery Act funds, the performance metrics (i.e. number of buildings retrofitted, square feet retrofitted, GHG reductions, energy savings, etc.) should be based on the entire $500K project value, not just the $250K in Recovery Act funds.

Conversely, if the $250K in non-federal funds would have been used to retrofit the building regardless of whether or not Recovery Act funds were used, then only the impact of the Recovery Act funds applied to the project should be counted. If in this instance the recipient is unable to readily identify which specific measures were undertaken with Recovery Act funds (e.g. whether or not Recovery Funds alone were used to purchase an HVAC unit or more efficient lighting ballast), then the recipient should estimate the benefits accruing from Recovery Act funds as a direct proportion of the Recovery Act fund applied.  Therefore, if the $250K in non-federal funds noted in the example above was not attracted in by Recovery Act funds, the recipient would only report 50% ($250K Recovery Act funds/$500K Total Project Value) of the benefits accruing from the total project.

• Agricultural
• Commercial
• Industrial
• Institutional (e.g. hospital, educational, correctional)
• Other
• Public
• Residential
• Transportation
• All sectors

• Funds drawn down are reported quarterly to both OMB (via FederalReporting.gov) and DOE (via PAGE) in the following data fields:

OMB: Total Federal Amount ARRA Funds Received/Invoiced

DOE (Federal Financial Report/SF-425): Cash receipts

• Funds drawn down are not equivalent to funds expended. EECBG Program Notice 09-02B details when funds are considered to be expended for both RLFs and LLRs and should be used as the guide for determining when to report expenditures to both OMB and DOE.

• Job creation does not necessarily correspond with either the draw down or expenditure of funds. Section 5.9 of OMB Memorandum 10-08 notes that

“…a funded job is defined as one in which the wages or salaries are either paid for or will be reimbursed with Recovery Act funding.”

As such, hours worked in one quarter may not be reimbursed (i.e. funds drawn down and/or expended) until a subsequent quarter. Recipients should report job creation in the reporting quarter during which the work occurred, not when reimbursed.

Thus, in any one quarter, there exists the potential for an apparent disconnect between the funds received or expended and jobs created. This “disconnect” is a direct result of the job creation methodology outlined in OMB Memorandum 10-08 but should not be a matter of concern for recipients insofar as recipients are following both OMB and DOE guidance on reporting of financial data and job creation. Neither FederalReporting.gov nor PAGE prevent recipients from submitting reports with (0) jobs created.

Section 5.7 of OMB Memorandum 10-08 outlines the extent to which job creation should be reported:

“Prime recipients are required to generate estimates of job impact by directly collecting specific data from sub-recipients and vendors on the total FTE resulting from a sub-award. To the maximum extent practicable, information should be collected from all sub-recipients and vendors in order to generate the most comprehensive and complete job impact numbers available.”

As such recipients should, to the maximum extent practicable, report direct job creation resulting from implementation of their financing programs. Recipients should exercise their own discretion in what constitutes “practicable” and should only report jobs directly created or retained by the project.  

• Recipients are required to report energy savings and other applicable impact metrics (e.g. criteria pollutant reduction) on a quarterly basis to DOE. These metrics capture an estimate of how that portion of the project implemented in the reporting quarter contributes, on an annual basis, to any of the applicable impact metrics. As such, recipients with financing programs should report an estimate of the annual impact of that portion of the financing program implemented during the reporting quarter (e.g. value of loans issued). For example, if a recipient issues $400K worth of loans the second quarter of the year for building retrofits that are projected to save 415 MWh of electricity annually, 215.2 MT of CO₂eq annually, and 1.94 tons of criteria pollutants annually, they should report these impact metrics in their second quarter report to DOE in PAGE.  

• Number of buildings retrofitted: reported when the retrofit completed
• Square footage of buildings retrofitted: report only that portion of the building impacted by the retrofit. This is determined at the discretion of the recipient. If the new furnace impacts the heating of the entire building, report the sqft of the entire building. Lighting should only report the sqft of the hallway, room, or other space that the lighting serves.

• Outlays may not equal total monetary value of loans/grants given due to administrative expenses.
• Obligations: funds should be considered obligated when the loan/grant fund is established. When the loan/grant fund is established, the recipient has “obligated” funds used to capitalize the loan/grant pool. When loans/grants are made, that reflects the outlay of funds.

• Number of systems installed: should be counted when systems are operational and generating energy.
• Capacity of systems installed: should be measured in units of power most applicable to the system (e.g. kW, BTU/hr).

• Number of new and existing buildings covered by new code: should be counted when the new building code takes effect. If the specific number of buildings covered by the institution of the building code is difficult to ascertain, a reasonable estimate should be made by the recipient.

• Number of policies established/improved: should be counted when the policy takes effect.

Industrial Process Efficiency

• Reduction in energy consumption: Should be reported when efficiency measures are installed or enacted. Should be reported in terms of one of the following terms:
  • Reduction in natural gas consumption (MMcf)
  • Reduction in fuel oil consumption (gallons)
  • Reduction in electricity consumption (MWh)
• If the efficiency measure reduces energy consumption across different input energies (e.g. both fuel oil and natural gas), this metric should associated with the input energy estimated to experience the largest percentage reduction.

• Monetary value of financial incentive provided: Should measure total value of rebates or other financial incentives issued in the period of report, and reported in the period when the rebates or other financial incentives are issued.
• Total value of investments incentivized: Should include the total value of the investment facilitated by the financial incentive. For example, if rebates are provided for the purchase of solar PV panels, this metric should capture the full value of the panel and not just the value of rebate. If the specific value of the investment undertaken (e.g. value of total PV array) is difficult to ascertain, a reasonable estimate should be made by the recipient.

• This metric is focused on outreach to the general public (or some sector thereof). As such, this metric should not capture workshops, training & educational events attended by recipient staff.

SEP/EECBG jobs are no longer required to be included in PAGE reporting in order to reduce duplicative reporting requirements and reduce grantee reporting burden.  As jobs are still required to be reported to OMB through FederalReporting.gov, only one federal report will require these numbers.

• Building Codes and Standards
• Building Retrofits
• Financial Incentives
• Loans and Grants
• Renewable Energy Market Development
• Transportation