Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) will be unavailable for all activities from January 11, 2002 through January 22, 2002

Posted on December 20, 2001

Dear Chief Financial Officer:

The U.S. Department of Education is in the process of transferring its accounting data to a new operating environment. During the transitional period commencing Friday afternoon, January 11, 2002, at 5:00 p.m. EST and ending Tuesday morning, January 22, 2002, at 6:00 a.m. EST, the EDCAPS Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) will be unavailable for all activities, including payment drawdowns. Attached, you will find a document describing how recipients of assistance under certain programs of the Office of Student Financial Assistance should draw funds during this period. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have on your operations under these grants and assistance programs.

States drawing funds subject to the Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) should be aware that we have been in contact with the U. S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service (FMS) which is responsible for oversight of this Act. After discussions with that office, we intend to use the same approach during this period of unavailability that was used in May 1998 when GAPS was brought online. Please see the attachment for the CMIA funding options.

Please note that the attachment includes guidance for grant programs and for the various programs administered by the Office of Student Financial Assistance (SFA). SFA will be providing further information on the “Information for Financial Aid Professionals” (IFAP) Web site at: www.ifap.ed.gov.

If you have any questions about the effects of the GAPS interruption in service or our efforts to minimize the interruption, please call the GAPS Hot Line at 1-888-336-8930. Thank you for your understanding during this period of transition to a new operating environment.

Sincerely,

Mark Carney, Deputy Chief Financial Officer

Office of the Chief Financial Officer