1. What is the last day to process obligations, deobligations, and no-cost extensions in GrantSolutions?

The last day to process financial actions (obligations/deobligations) in GrantSolutions is Friday, September 20, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. EDT (4:00 p.m. MDT). The interface between FBMS SAP (finance) and GrantSolutions will be shut down at 6:00 p.m. EDT on September 20, 2024. 

The Financial Business and Management System (FBMS) will experience outages as outlined below.

• From September 21, 2024, to approximately October 3, 2024, FBMS will remain available with limited functionalities for year-end closeout. Actions that cause financial updates are prevented due to year end closing activities and clicking on any links within the tabs in FBMS will result in a user locked error.
• From approximately October 4, 2024, to November 3, 2024, the S4HANA conversion will begin, and S4HANA will be implemented. FBMS will not be available during this time. Information on the S4HANA conversion can be found on the BIO Hub at https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/sites/os-FBMS-S4-Mod.

GrantSolutions will remain available through the FBMS year-end closeout, S4HANA conversion, and implementation from September 21, 2024, through November 3, 2024. However, actions that may occur in GrantSolutions will be limited as follows:

• You may continue to create and publish Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), Directed Announcements, receive, enter, and continue to review applications and amendments, until the funding memo stage is reached in GrantSolutions.
• You may not approve awards and amendments in GrantSolutions during this time. These actions require the interface to FBMS which will not be available. The Grants Management Officer (GMO) cannot approve any awards and amendments.

On approximately November 4, 2024, the FBMS S4HANA conversion and implementation is expected to be completed. FBMS and GrantSolutions actions may begin regular operations and processing all actions. 

2. What about awards that I have started and could not complete by September 20, 2024? 

For in-progress awards that are not released by Friday, September 20, 2024 and have a financial impact (obligations/deobligations), you cannot work on these awards until FBMS start-up is completed. The expected date for new transactions is Monday, November 4, 2024.

Once the system is available to all users, you must change the award date to the current accounting period on open unreleased awards. You will not be able to release these awards until the PR has been recreated in SAP.  Further instructions will go out to the Regions on this process.

For in-progress awards that do not have a financial impact, you can continue to work on these awards and release them until October 3, 2024.

3. What happens to Purchase Requests (PRs) that are pending approval in SAP?

It is strongly recommended that you do not enter PRs that you will not be able to obligate by September 20, 2024.

4. What happens to Purchase Requests (PRs) that are approved and transmitted to GrantSolutions?

It is strongly recommended that you do not enter PRs that you will not be able to obligate by September 20, 2024.

5. Can funding opportunities be created in GrantSolutions and posted to Grants Management Module (GMM) and Grants.gov after September 20, 2024?

Yes. GrantSolutions will remain available for non-financial transactions. The interface between GrantSolutions and Grants.gov will remain active.

6. Is there a deadline for recipients to request payments through ASAP for Fiscal Year 2024 closeout?

Recipients must submit ASAP payment requests by 6:00 p.m. EDT (4:00 p.m. MDT) on September 20, 2024. Access to funds in ASAP will be suspended from September 20 to September 30, 2024 to close out fiscal year 2024. Recipients should withdraw the necessary funding for that period on or before September 20, 2024. Accounts will be available on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

7. What is the deadline to submit ASAP enrollments in order to meet the September 20, 2024 obligation deadline?

All ASAP enrollments must be submitted to the FASO-Systems Branch at fwhqfas@fws.gov no later than Friday, August 23, 2024. In order to meet the obligation deadline, recipients must complete all required steps in ASAP no later than Friday, August 30, 2024. ASAP enrollments that are not submitted by August 24, 2024 or recipient accounts that are not active by August 30, 2024 are not guaranteed to be processed to meet the obligation deadline. Awards should not be released in GrantSolutions before establishing a payment method for the recipient. Please refer to the Establishing an Intended Recipient’s Payment Method before Obligating Funds for a New Grant or Cooperative Agreement Award in the Financial and Business Management System (FBMS) for guidance.

8. What is the deadline to submit payment requests for ASAP waived recipients?

Payment requests for ASAP-waived recipients, including ITS payment requests for foreign recipients, must be submitted to the Interior Business Center (IBC) no later than close of business on Monday, September 16, 2024. IBC expects to start processing payments again on November 4, 2024.

9. What happens to invoices that ASAP-waived recipients sent to the Interior Business Center (IBC) after the FY24 year-end cut off of September 16, 2024?

FY 2024 invoices that are not paid before the final payment run will be paid in FY 2025. Vendors should be made aware that payment will not be possible until November 4, 2024, when we have access to the system again.

10. What is the deadline to submit ASAP waiver requests?

ASAP waiver requests must be submitted to the FASO-Systems Branch at fwhqfas@fws.gov no later than Friday, September 13, 2024. Awards should not be released in GrantSolutions before establishing a payment method for the recipient. Please refer to the Establishing an Intended Recipient’s Payment Method before Obligating Funds for a New Grant or Cooperative Agreement Award in the Financial and Business Management System (FBMS) for guidance.

11. Can recipients draw or request funds in advance to cover their needs during the blackout period?

Yes.  Please be aware of the dates that your recipients will not be able to access their funds and allow a short-term advance to cover these dates.  Recipients in ASAP are eligible to advance funds to cover costs from September 21, 2024 to September 30, 2024.  Recipients paid through IBC are eligible to advance funds to cover costs from September 17, 2024 to November 3, 2024.

Make sure you have a copy of the signed Director's Memo in the official award file(s) of recipients that advance funds during year-end close-out. 

12. Where can I find resources for FY24 Close-out?

• For the FY24 Year End Instructions, please go to https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/sites/fws-FF10G23500/SitePages/Year-End-Close-Guidance.aspx.
• For information on payments to recipients (including ASAP), please go to https://fawiki.fws.gov/display/ASAP.
• For information on FBMS, please go to https://fawiki.fws.gov/display/FBMS.
• Questions or issues from recipient organization regarding GrantSolutions must be submitted to the help desk at help@grantsolutions.gov. 
• Questions or issues from FWS staff regarding GrantSolutions, FBMS or ASAP must be submitted to the help desk at FBMS_Helpdesk@ios.doi.gov
• Questions from recipient organizations regarding ASAP must be submitted to fwhqfas@fws.gov

The table below summarizes the FY24 deadline dates.