The Federal Department of Education operates a grants management system known as G5 which was developed in 2007. The G5 system is a full lifecycle, end-to-end, grants management system encompassing the intake of applications, peer review, award, payment, performance monitoring, and final closeout of the grant award.
The UEI number for each state agency functions as an account on G5. Therefore, each state agency must use the same UEI number for all its grants. To receive funds through G5, each agency is required to register their UEI and the State’s Tax Identification Number (TIN) with the System for Award Management (SAM).
OSC BSAO initiates payment requests based on the project’s Accounts Receivable balance in SFS. Payment requests are approved or rejected automatically based on the amount of available funds in the G5 account. OSC BSAO receives immediate notification of approval or rejection for all online payment requests. Approved requests are then paid to the State the next business day via the ACH system.
The G5 system also provides for a book entry feature to make adjustments between grants without having to initiate a payment request. Funds can be returned via G5 provided there are other grants that are being drawn in an amount equal to or greater than the amount being returned.
The Federal Department of Education and state agencies can view relevant data online, such as up-to-the-minute account balances, account history, and the status of payment requests affecting their accounts. The G5 drawdown page contains a “Last Day to Draw” field that is strictly enforced by the system. Since OSC BSAO draws down funds based on expenditures that are recorded in Accounts Receivable, this necessitates prohibiting agencies from expending funds too close to the “Last Day to Draw” date. This prohibition is controlled by entering a budget definition end date within the project parent budget in Commitment Control that is seven days prior to the “Last Day to Draw” date on G5..
Guide to Financial Operations
REV. 06/01/2023