Section 363.40  Eligibility for Grant

a)         To be eligible for a grant under this Part, a recipient must be a residential services provider with which the Department contracts for residential services [20 ILCS 530/15].

b)         All grant requests shall be submitted, in writing, to the Department's Deputy Director of Budget and Finance, and must be received by the Department during March 1 through March 31 of the current State fiscal year in order to be considered for the subsequent fiscal year.  Requests shall be mailed to:

Department of Children and Family Services

Division of Budget and Finance

Attn: Residential Service Construction Grant Committee

406 East Monroe, Station 440

Springfield, Illinois  62701

c)         To be considered, a request shall include at least the following information:

1)         A certified audit report for the provider's most recent (prior) fiscal year;

2)         A clear, concise statement explaining and justifying the request;

3)         A detailed statement of financial, statistical and related program information in support of the request;

4)         Description of the expected client benefits and outcomes;

5)         Data identifying the individual cost of each item for which the grant is being sought, and a cost schedule for any viable options that could be included or excluded from an award;

6)         A detailed explanation of why the costs cannot be funded within the agency's current financing;

7)         The number of Department clients that will be served if the grant is awarded; and

8)         Certification, under penalty of perjury, by the chief executive officer and the financial officer of the provider that the application and all the information reports, schedules, budgets, and records submitted are true, correct and accurate.

d)         Review Process

1)         Within 30 days after receipt of a request, designated staff of the Department's Division of Budget and Finance shall acknowledge, in writing, that the request has been received and forward the request to the chairperson of the Residential Service Construction Grant Committee.

2)         The committee shall include representatives of the Department and may include, by invitation of the Director, representatives of the provider community.  When providers serve on the committee, they must be able to accept the current criteria established pursuant to Section 363.30(b) and serve with objectivity.  Once a grant request is submitted, no member of the committee can be approached by the requesting agency or its representatives to discuss the proposal in any way.  No committee member may discuss the individual requests from agencies outside the committee process.

3)         The committee shall review each request for adequacy of documentation, appropriateness of the request, and the agency's fiscal stability, and shall consider the requesting agency's performance history for the current and preceding two fiscal years.

4)         The committee shall assess each request in relation to the Department's resource allocation management plan, and shall also consider fiscal efficiency and the best use of resources for the greatest number of Department clients.

5)         A request submitted by March 31 of the current State fiscal year shall be reviewed by the committee within 90 days after that date. 

e)         On or before June 30 of the current State fiscal year, the Department shall advise each grant applicant, in writing, whether the request has been approved or denied for the upcoming fiscal year.  This notification timeframe is subject to a signed budget.  All decisions are considered final and are not subject to appeal.