Q&A Below are questions you’ve asked — and the questions we believe you might ask — about this process. If you have a question and don’t see an answer, please send your question to .
Q: I am assuming that we will do our quarterly report due end of July for Thrive?
A: Yes, all the contract deadlines for the current year apply through the end of June, so reports due for your CURRENT contracts representing activity through June 30, 2017 are all still relevant, and their due dates still apply, even if their deadlines are after July 1, 2017. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: Did you just say financial will be billed monthly instead of quarterly?
A: Yes, DEL uses a monthly invoicing process for contract payments. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: If you will be expecting actuals on monthly basis, will the deadline for the report be later in the month? How soon after the month completed as our county financials cannot be ready for at least 3-4 weeks?
A: Most likely the due date for the Monthly Expense Report will be towards the end of the following month (at least by the 30th). While we haven’t worked out the exact schedule, we have heard from a number of LIAs that later in the month for preparing actual expenses is preferred, so we are moving in that direction. DEL allows 30 days from receipt of invoice for payment and targets faster payments within 15 days. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: What happens when expenses aren't identified or don't get into a monthly report?
A: Expenses for a prior month that are not included in that month’s expense report can be included in subsequent month – with notes about those as prior month’s expenses. DEL will pay for contract expenses, and we understand the timing doesn’t always fit neatly within specified deadlines. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: What if your audit is not performed until later
A: DEL wants you to submit your MOST RECENT financial audit, whenever it was performed in the previous year. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: Governmental audits are on the state website can you access them or do you want the link?
A: If your most recent audit is available on the State Auditor’s Office web page, you may provide the link to your agency audit as your response to that requirement. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: Monthly report due date?
A: We haven’t worked out the exact dates yet. We are considering separating out the Monthly Enrollment Numbers from the Financial Invoice to give more time to the invoice preparation. Final answer is yet to be determined. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: In the past, only three people were allowed on the mailing list. Will you allow more than that? At our agency, I can think of 5 people who should be on the mailing list. I think this will facilitate the dissemination of information.
A: For communications purposes. we will maintain a general mailing list that may include all the people who should receive information from DEL regarding the HVSA; we are exploring a list-serve option for this. Currently for the contracts, DEL’s contract system has a place for 3 contacts related to roles who receive automatic updates (related to their roles)—Agency Director (person with signing authority), Contract Contact, and Fiscal Contact. We can put additional names in, but not with the automatic update capability. This will be an area that we can track within the Home Visiting Contracts Group to make sure the correct communication occurs with the right people. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: Just to be clear: both of these releases are to send us drafts of these documents, not for us to fill out and return. Correct?
Yes, we plan to release 2 sets of DRAFT documents for your review and input in the next 6 weeks. The first release will be next week and will include the Pre-Contract Questionnaire, the contract’s General Terms and Conditions, the Budget Template, and the sample DSAs from DOH. The second set of documents (released the first week of March) will be a generic Statement of Work, Monthly Financial and Enrollment Report templates, Quarterly Report Templates, and Monitoring Documents.
With the first set of documents, we wanted to give you ample time to allow for any desired legal review and questions for the GTCs and sample DSA. We also want you to see the draft Pre-Contract Questionnaire since we’ll be coming back with the final draft in March for you to complete. We are interested in hearing feedback on all the documents, and certainly available to answer any questions you may have. (Added 1/31/17)
Q: Will current grantees have to re-apply for our funding with DEL or will current contracts be transferred?
A: Current grantees will not have to complete a competitive application to re-apply for funding. Current grantees will go through a contracting process with DEL, which may include the capacity assessment. DEL will review the Thrive contract templates as the basis for writing contract templates for the HVSA. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will the payment structure remain the same under DEL?
A: DEL anticipates the contracts will remain a line-item budgeting process by funding with cost-based reimbursement. DEL invoicing will likely look different than Thrive. This is an area we may seek input and feedback from current grantees. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will current grantees have to re-apply for our funding with DEL or will current contracts be transferred?
A: There will not be a competitive reapplication process, though the contracts won’t directly transfer over. The HVSA contracts will go through DEL’s contracting process. Part of the planning ahead of us is to determine how the capacity assessments will be applied for the coming year(s). (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will the payment structure remain the same under DEL?
A: We know the budgeting process will be very similar with a line-item budget and cost-reimbursement model with regular (monthly) invoices. We have yet to finalize the budgeting process and would like input from grantees. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: What about funding for promising practices?
A: Currently there are eight different home visiting models – four are considered evidenced based; four are considered promising practices. We remain committed to a diverse portfolio of home visiting models from evidence-based, research-based and promising practices. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will TANF grants transfer to DEL?
A: Yes (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will there be an increased structure of support for home visiting at DEL, such as added staff?
A: Yes. DEL is developing staffing scenarios in collaboration with Thrive to determine options for adding team members to maintain integrity for program accountability, effective communication and advancement of home visiting state plan goals. This staff will be responsible for the transitioning contract administration body of work. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: If we move toward one contract per agency, how will different start and end dates for funding be handled?
A: DEL recently began analyzing options for a single budget and integrated reporting for organizations with various funding streams. DEL doesn’t have an answer/model right now but we will update you in coming months on progress here. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Information sharing, does DEL/Thrive anticipate new data sharing agreements?
A: DEL does not know yet if new data sharing agreements will be required. At this time, the current data sharing agreements with DOH will be continued. More information will be available on this as the planning process proceeds. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will the contract year be different?
A: Likely, yes. DEL typically issues all contracts on a state fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). It will likely take a contract cycle for all current HVSA organizations to move to this contract cycle. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will the state program leads stay at Thrive?
A: Yes. Thrive and DEL see an opportunity with this change to continue to enhance the Hub’s work in supporting programs individually through technical assistance (e.g., with their model) as well as with increased training opportunities. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Will it still be a single contract per agency if the organization provides more than one home visiting model of service?
A: This is an unknown we need to explore. There is only one organization currently with this structure, and it may require individual conversations to understand implications of one versus two contracts. (Added 9.21.16)
Q: Do you have a sense that the data requested from us will be changing with this process?
A: DEL and Thrive haven’t gotten far enough in the analysis to examine changes in the data request. As part of the analysis, we will look at current requirements for federal, state and TANF reporting, the annual capacity assessment, and monthly quarterly reports to examine current data sources and possible data sources. We expect some changes in data reporting and requests, but won’t know more until additional analysis is completed. (Added 9.21.16)