| PublicationDate: 3/4/98 Summary: Update on EDCAPS/GAPS Conversion Author: ODAS - Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary - SFA March 4, 1998 Dear Colleague: The U.S. Department of Education has temporarily suspended the conversion to the Education Central Automated Processing Systems (EDCAPS) Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) so we can further ensure the conversion will not result in payment processing delays. The Department's Payment Management System (PMS), which closed on February 26, is again available to you. We previously announced that we were converting from PMS to EDCAPS/GAPS between February 26 and March 16, 1998. Many of you may have already drawn down funds under PMS in order to cover expected Title IV expenditures for this transition period. The authority to draw down these funds was communicated in a February Dear Colleague Letter (GEN-98-5) and in an electronic bulletin posted to the Department's BBS dated February 20, 1998. The regulatory relief described in that electronic bulletin continues to apply to funds previously drawn down under that authority. Those funds should be used as planned and must be disbursed by the close of business on March 19, 1998. Any funds drawn down subsequent to March 2, 1998, require full compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements. The GAPS training website will be available so you can familiarize yourself with the payment request process. This training website is located at http://gapsweb.ed.gov/training. The NEW Department of Education Payee's Guide is also available at http://gapsweb.ed.gov/training. The guide provides detailed instructions on all new GAPS processes. If you are not Internet capable, you can contact Sandra Rush at (202) 401-2102 to request a hard copy of the guide. The Department has not yet scheduled the conversion to EDCAPS. Before it does, we want to be sure that the GAPS system will meet our stringent performance standards. However, we will provide at least four weeks notice before the transition period to provide you with adequate time to plan ahead. Unfortunately, it will still be necessary to suspend the operation of both systems for roughly two weeks in order to accurately convert the data to GAPS. In the meantime, we will continue the timely delivery of funds under PMS. I want to thank you for your cooperation during the last few weeks and ask for your continued cooperation and support during the conversion to GAPS. Sincerely, Diane E. Rogers Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Student Financial Assistance Programs |