The U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) released on December 14 an update on the Coronavirus Relief Fund (“CRF”) created under The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act (“CARES Act”).
This Guidance does not apply to American Rescue Plan Act’s (“ARPA”) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). ARPA was signed into law on March 11, 2021. The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020.
Under the CARES Act’s CRF, funds were provided to cover costs that were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 31, 2021 (the “covered period”). However, due to numerous circumstances— the Delta variant; supply chain backups; and litigation that delayed cities, towns and villages from receiving their funds in a timely manner—Treasury revised the guidance on incurred costs.
Treasury is now revising the guidance to provide that a cost associated with a necessary expenditure incurred due to the public health emergency shall be considered to have been incurred by December 31, 2021, if the recipient has incurred an obligation with respect to such cost by December 31, 2021. Treasury defines obligation for this purpose consistently with the Uniform Guidance definition in 2 C.F.R. 200.1 as an order placed for property and services and entry into contracts, subawards, and similar transactions that require payment.
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For more information, please see Treasury’s Frequent Asked Questions document that is associated with the new guidance.
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