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EAP Policy Manual FFY24 Chapter 7 Assurance 16 Page 15 • Printing and postage. • Utilities and office space rental necessary for A16 staff performing direct program services. For Proactive ESS only Certain costs for items that contribute to or enable household participation in a Proactive ESS activity may be allowable. For purposes of this section, EAP defines three cost categories: • Items related to or that enable achieving an activity goal (e.g., a credit report provided as part of a financial literacy class; a furnace filter and/or energy kit provided for use as part of an energy conservation education activity). • Items that reduce a barrier to participation (e.g., daycare, food, transit). • Payments to households or similar items (e.g., food or gas cards, savings bonds, cash). While all costs submitted with Proactive ESS Plans will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis for eligibility and reasonableness, items in categories one and two may be allowable, while those in category three are not allowable. Expectations for Documenting Expenses Recognizing that the goals of A16 activities – and the processes of performing them – are qualitatively different than administering benefit payments, EAP contends that tracking A16 payroll by individually logged activities and time is both overly cumbersome, and potentially counterproductive. Consequently, Commerce does not expect Service Providers to log each individual activity in eHEAT, or to maintain records linking individually identifiable A16 activities directly to employee time sheets. Service Providers do, however, need to account for their A16 expenses by A16 Activity Category and, for Energy Self-Sufficiency only, the corresponding A16 Activity Sub-Categories. That is, Service Providers need to be able to accurately break down their A16 expenses by the following categories: • Outreach. • Responsive Energy Self-Sufficiency. • Proactive Energy Self-Sufficiency.