Section 3035.240  Award of Grants, Accountability and Recordkeeping

a)         The LAB will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State as to which grant applications shall be approved, based upon the criteria in Section 3035.230.

b)         Grant awards will be made upon appropriation of funds.  For grants under this Subpart, the State Library shall make a lump sum payment upon the signing of the grant contract with the Secretary of State.

c)         No public funds shall be awarded to any grant applicant that:

1)         Does not certify or state that it will comply with the Illinois Human Rights

Act [775 ILCS 5].

2)         Uses as its staff or management personnel persons who have been convicted of any felonies involving moral turpitude, embezzlement, theft, sexual offense, fraud or misrepresentation under laws of the United States, Illinois or any other state, or have been convicted of bribery in violation of Section 50-5 of the Illinois Procurement Code [30 ILCS 500/50-5].

3)         Has employees of the Office of the Secretary of State as its managers.

4)         Has been disqualified and had its grant cancelled in previous years for false application statements, failure to adhere to the grant plan as approved by LAB, failure to complete reporting requirements satisfactorily, misappropriation of funds, or any violation of this Part as determined by the Secretary.

d)         Awards shall be made on or after July 1 of every year for the fiscal year then commencing.

e)         The Secretary of State shall make his or her final decision upon each recommendation as soon as possible or within 60 days after the recommendation is presented to the Secretary.

f)         The final approved grant applications and the funding determination shall constitute the Adult Literacy Grant Program, which shall be a public record, as shall be the grant applications, whether approved or not, and shall be subject to disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act [5 ILCS 140] and the rules of the Secretary of State found at 2 Ill. Adm. Code 551.

g)         Approved grant applicants shall submit to the State Library, Office of the Secretary of State, such reports as deemed necessary by the Illinois State Library staff to assure project accountability.  Reports to be submitted include:

1)         Quarterly financial reports showing expenditures made from grant funds

by line item.

2)         Quarterly narrative reports stating the progress of the project.

3)         Semiannual statistical reports including number of students served and results of educational assessments.

h)         A literacy grant monitor shall make a minimum of one site visit during each biennium. Additional site visits shall be made at the discretion of the Illinois State Library Literacy Office (for such reasons as poor recordkeeping, fiscal irregularities, monitor's/staff's request after viewing narrative reports, requests by literacy program).  Literacy monitors shall evaluate program effectiveness.  It shall be the responsibility of the grant monitor to:

1)         Review the grant budget and expenditures in the project to date.  

2)         Verify that the project plan is being implemented according to the proposal approved by the LAB.

3)         Submit a written report on the progress of the project to the Literacy Office following each site visit.

i)          The decision of the Secretary of State upon any grant application shall be a final decision for the purpose of the Administrative Review Law [735 ILCS 5/Art. III].

(Source:  Amended at 37 Ill. Reg. 18922, effective November 7, 2013)