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DEO LIHEAP Policies and Procedures Manual Page 34

.10 Maintaining Records A. Subrecipients must retain records of the program, including case records and supporting evidence of eligibility, as well as all payment information according to the record retention requirements outlined in the LIHEAP Subgrant Agreement between DEO and the subrecipient. B. Subrecipients must retain all financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and any other documents pertinent to their Subgrant Agreement for a period of five (5) years after termination of the Subgrant Agreement. If an audit has been initiated and if the audit findings have not been resolved at the end of five years, the documents must be retained until the audit findings have been resolved. .11 Payment Errors and Overpayments A. Subrecipients must practice fiduciary responsibility to ensure grant funds are used solely for allowable expenditures and establish a system to detect applications from the same address and social security number. It is the intent of DEO that: 1. Individuals applying for LIHEAP will receive the correct benefit amount and/or information to other resources available. 2. Fraud and favoritism and the appearance of fraud and favoritism be eliminated. 3. The administration of the program is efficient and cost effective.

B. Best Practices for Preventing Errors 1. The subrecipient should clear up any discrepancies prior to awarding a benefit to a household. 2. The subrecipient must employ due diligence and not put all the burden on the applicant. 3. The subrecipient must require that the applicant complete and sign the LIHEAP application form to establish eligibility and to decide a benefit amount. 4. Subrecipient staff should use a worksheet to record the actions taken in processing LIHEAP applications. The worksheets should be co-signed and dated by the intake staff and a supervisor or edit staff.