Education Recovery Grant Awards in Insular Areas

Excerpts from a report on grants for education jobs in Insular Areas. The report is part of the record for the 2012 Interagency Group on Insular Areas: 

EDUCATION RECOVERY ACT AWARDS
EDUCATION JOBS FUND – PUBLIC LAW 111-226
The Education Jobs Fund program (Ed Jobs) was signed by President Obama on August 10, 2010 and provided $50 million to the Insular Areas to save or  create education jobs for the 2010 to 2011 school year. Jobs funded under this program include those that provide educational and related services for early childhood, elementary, and secondary education.
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SUMMARY OF APPROVED PROJECTS INCLUDING AMENDMENTS
American Samoa

The American Samoa Government (ASG) and the American Samoa Department of Education (ASDOE) have worked diligently to obligate and liquidate funds.
Specific challenges are in the areas of procurement, primarily in the contract development, evaluation, selection, and award processes. Despite these  challenges, ASG and ASDOE awarded several significant contracts, including a $2,499,412 contract awarded for implementation of the 3 ASDOE’s Longitudinal Data System. Also awarded were contracts for school facility repairs ($3,534,082 - in process) and expanding the ASG’s Integrated Financial Information System (IFIS) and related development projects ($189,814 - contract change orders in process).  Personnel stipends have also been processed ($106,353 - completed and to be obligated) as well as purchase orders for IT services, Classroom Support, and Instructional materials ($1,345,177 total – issuing of POs pending). While the total of $7,674,838 is encouraging, much more work needs to be done to ensure that late liquidations with all necessary supporting documents are forthcoming to address the remaining balances. The combined available balances are $16,000,000 in both the SFSF ESF ($14,646,817) and SFSF GSF ($1,303,280) awards,and$3,300,000+ in the Education Jobs grant USDOE will focus increased effort in ascertaining ASG and ASDOE’s status with late liquidation request.. ASG did submit a late liquidation request to the Department in late September 2011 however, the request was returned due to missing information including the total liquidation amount requested and other required information. ASG has previously reported that approximately $249,000 will lapse in SFSF monies. More detail will be requested to determine if this estimate is still correct.