CERTS Grant Program
Dec. 13 CERTS Update
Treasury has announced that quarterly reporting for CERTS grant recipients will begin in 2022. Grantees will be required to submit their first CERTS quarterly report by Feb. 15, 2022, which will cover grantee activities during the period from the effective date of the CERTS grant agreement through the end of the fourth quarter of the calendar year 2021 (Dec. 31).
Today, Treasury has published a copy of the quarterly report format to their website. Click here to view the draft quarterly report.
The quarterly report has two primary purposes: 1), it will require grantees to complete a table that shows how they spent their CERTS award from the date they first received funds through Dec. 31 (see page 7 of the draft). 2) it will require grantees to make certain certifications required by the CERTS statute (see pages 8-12 of the draft), including certifications related to employment practices such as recalls and rehires.
If you have any questions, concerns, comments about the quarterly report or the fields it contains, send an email to CERTS@treasury.gov and send a copy of your email to ABA.
Treasury is planning to finalize the report early in 2022, so please submit any comments that you have by Dec. 31.
New CERTS Questions & Answers
Treasury recently published an updated FAQ document to their website that you will want to check out. They added 6 new questions and answers:
- Is advertising for the grantee’s business an eligible use of funds?
- Is the purchase of office equipment and supplies an eligible use of funds?
- Are bonuses an eligible use of funds?
- Can CERTS funds be used to make lump sum payments to employees for restored compensation?
- If the CERTS grantee is acquired by another company or merged into another company after receiving a CERTS grant, can the CERTS funding continue to be used after the acquisition or merger?
- What is the effective date of the CERTS grant agreement?
If you have questions about the grant program or this updated FAQ document, you can contact Treasury at CERTS@treasury.gov.
Nov. 19 CERTS Update
Reporting Update - Treasury is not requiring grantees to submit a quarterly report for the third quarter of 2021. Grantees are required to submit their first CERTS quarterly report on Feb. 15, 2022, which will cover grantee activities during the time period from the effective date of the CERTS grant agreement through the fourth quarter of calendar year 2021 (Dec. 31).
The report has two primary purposes. One, it will require grantees to complete a table that shows how they spent their CERTS award from the date they first received funds through Dec. 31. Two, it will require grantees to make certain certifications required by the CERTS statute, including certifications related to employment practices such as recalls and rehires (see the CERTS Employee Recall and Rehire Information Requirements).
Grantees will need to complete the report on-line through the Treasury.gov official CERTS portal. Treasury will never attempt to solicit grantee information from a webpage not hosted on Treasury.gov, a website not utilizing Treasury’s official verification service (ID.me), or from an email address not ending in @treasury.gov or @oig.treas.gov.
The format of the CERTS compliance report, and instructions for completing it, will be posted on this website shortly so that grantees can preview it and ask questions before it goes live on the CERTS portal after Dec. 31. Based on the questions submitted on the report preview, Treasury will publish new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to aid grantees in completing the official online report. For more information on the quarterly reports, you may also refer to paragraph 12 of the CERTS Grant Agreement.
Sept. 9 CERTS Update
Treasury added a number of helpful documents to its CERTS webpage including CERTS Employee Recall and Rehire Information; updated FAQs; IRS Information on the Tax Treatment of CERTS Grants.
Aug.30 CERTS Update
Here is a list of all the companies that received CERTS grant funding.
Aug. 13 CERTS Update
Treasury Starts Process to Release CERTS Grant Funding, Check Grant Agreement, FAQs and New Guidance Documents For Additional Details. CERTS by the numbers:
- Overall lost revenue of $8.7 billion – CERTS program funding oversubscribed by about 4:1.
- Submitted Applications: 2062, overall: 78% motorcoaches (1608); 11% school bus (226); 10% passenger vessels (206); and less than 1% pilotage (22)
- Over 1500 applications are “approved” and companies continued to be notified on a rolling basis.
Program Update
As many of you have heard, Treasury has started contacting motorcoach companies that have successfully received funds through the CERTS Grant program and sending them grant agreements for signature.
If you have not yet received approval or a grant agreement yet, you may still be under review as Treasury has 200-300 more applications to review.
According to their updated FAQs, Treasury wanted to get the initial notices out this week to help facilitate getting the desperately needed funds to motorcoach operators as soon as possible. The updated guidance also states that they are planning to potentially do a second payment to “top off” your grant award as remaining funding allows. The initial award is expected to represent 80% of what your total reward will be.
After signing your grant agreement, Treasury has accelerated the payment schedule and grantees should expect payment in 1-3 business days.
While we are relieved that the industry is finally receiving checks, we know this is not the end. There is a massive legislative effort is still underway and there are opportunities to obtain more funds from Congress. ABA will be reaching out to you in the coming weeks to help with the next stage in obtaining funding to help us recover.
Yesterday, Treasury, published several updated documents to their website that you will want to check out.
CERTS Grants By The Numbers
Industry Revenues Lost (2019 vs. 2020) (includes motorcoach, school bus, passenger vessels):
- Overall lost revenue of $8.7 billion ($17.7B – $9B, CERTS program funding oversubscribed by about 4:1.
- Submitted Applications: 2062, overall: 78% motorcoaches (1608); 11% school bus (226); 10% passenger vessels (206); and less than 1% pilotage (22)
- Roughly 1500 applications were “approved” and 1300 companies have been sent grant agreements so far. Once reviewed and a determination of eligibility is made on the remaining applications, the successful grantees will receive notices and grant agreements. Treasury expects to complete the remaining reviews within 3-4 weeks.
If you have questions about your grant agreement or the status of your applications, you can contact Treasury at (877) 398-5862 or email CERTS@treasury.gov.
You can always reach ABA with additional questions at (800) 283-2877.
PREPARE FOR THE CERTS GRANT APPLICATION
***THE APPLICATION PORTAL IS NOW CLOSED***
The Application Portal is now closed, so what's next?
Treasury is currently reviewing all applications that came in by the July 19 deadline.
While Treasury is reviewing an application, the status code for the application in the CERTS portal will be “Application Signed and Submitted – Under Review.”
If Treasury has questions or requires clarification about an application, Treasury will contact the applicant with instructions for providing additional information or documents. In such cases, the status code for the application in the CERTS portal will be “Action Needed.”
Treasury will notify applicants when their application is approved (or if it must be rejected as ineligible for CERTS). However, an approved applicant’s grant amount may not be known until Treasury completes a quantitative analysis of the applicant pool to allocate the $2 billion CERTS funding across the four eligible industries and then to apply the grant sizing formula to each approved applicant.
Therefore, the status code for approved applications in the CERTS portal will initially be “Application Approved – Grant Amount Pending.” Treasury will also post on its website the industry allocation methodology and the grant sizing formula.
Once an approved applicant’s grant amount is calculated, Treasury will send the approved applicant a Grant Agreement to sign electronically. The status code for the application will then be changed to “Grant Agreement Available for Signature.”
After the approved applicant electronically signs and returns the Grant Agreement, the status code in the CERTS portal will be “Grant Agreement Signed by Applicant.”
In the final step, Treasury will counter sign the Grant Agreement and initiate a grant payment to the approved applicant. The status code in the CERTS portal will then be “Grant Agreement Signed by Treasury – Payment Initiated.”
Approved applicants should expect to receive an electronic grant payment in their bank account two to three business days after they return their signed Grant Agreement.
Contact the CERTS Help Desk with any questions or problems - (877) 398-5862 or certs@treasury.gov
Click here to access the application portal.
Click here to sign up for CERTS notifications directly from Treasury!
Below are the fundamental requirements to apply for a grant, along with helpful links. Take the time now to prepare, as the Department strongly encourages you to apply as early as possible once the portal is available.
REQUIREMENTS TO APPLY FOR A CERTS GRANT:
1. Must be an eligible transportation service provider:
- Your company must be private sector, established/organized in U.S. or pursuant to Federal law, with significant operations/majority of employees in U.S.
- You must have been in operation on March 1, 2020.
- Your company’s revenue loss must be 25% or more, from 2019-2020, due directly or indirectly to COVID-19.
- If you received other COVID relief Federal funding, the combined Federal assistance received, at the time of your grant application, must not exceed your 2019 revenues.
2. Motorcoach Transportation Service Providers:
- You must provide a current USDOT registration number to verify your company
- You must provide the total number of ALL commercial passenger motor vehicles you operate, of all types, and identify the number of motorcoaches specifically, to validate the proportion of your business related to motorcoach operations.
3. Grant Application Process:
- Treasury will establish a web-based grant portal on its CERTS grant website.
- You must register with ID.me to access the application portal (which you can do in advance of the application period).
- Please note, later in the process if you do receive a grant, that you may need to register with SAM.gov or obtain a DUNS number.
- You must submit tax documents to verify identity, annual revenues, and employment levels.
- The primary factor in determining a grant award will be lost revenue from 2019-2020.
- You must apply using your company’s true name as set forth in charter/legal documents. The name of the company and TIN/EIN on submitted documentation must all match.
- 4-week application period, and all registrations and documentation must be complete and successfully submitted through portal to be considered.
Applicants will be required to certify, under penalty of perjury:
- Information and certifications provided in the application/attachments are true and correct.
- The applicant has all documentation to support amounts and figures entered on application/attachments.
For more detail on specific data needed for the grant application – click here.
Have questions? Email CERTS@treasury.gov for assistance.
* INTERESTED COMPANIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT APPLICATIONS AS SOON AS THE PORTAL OPENS *
ABA COMMUNICATIONS ON THE CERTS GRANT PROGRAM
Preview Draft CERTS Grant Application (6/18)
The Treasury Department is Ready - Are You? (6/16)
CERTS Grant FAQs as Asked by ABA Members (5/25)
ABA Webinar Update on CERTS (5/19)
CERTS Grant Guidance Released (5/6)
Contact Congress for More CERTS Funding in FY 2022 Appropriations (4/22)