CNMI ARRA completes quarterly report

The CNMI ARRA Office has just completed the second quarter 2011 reporting of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funds for CNMI.

The CNMI ARRA Office reiterated the importance of distinguishing between the amounts awarded to the central government directly and those applied for and received by autonomous agencies.

The central government awards total approximately $88 million, with the largest grants being the $44 million awarded for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and the $29 million awarded to the CNMI Division of Energy for the State Energy Program for its programs. Other agencies, including the Workforce Investment Agency, Division of Environmental Quality, and the departments of Public Works, Public Health, Public Safety, Commerce, and Community and Cultural Affairs comprise the rest of the funding.

“These funds we have direct control over and thus far with the $49 million in expenditures reported, we have expended over 55 percent of these funds,” said the CNMI ARRA Office in a statement yesterday.

The ARRA Recovery.gov website does not distinguish between central government awards and those awarded to autonomous agencies; the amounts are reported cumulatively. The CNMI ARRA Office cited as an example the recent awarding of the Sandy Beach Home Project, which increased the CNMI’s ARRA funding total to the current $120.9 million mark. This, along with the $8.1 million award given to IT&E last year, account for nearly one-fourth of the CNMI’s total ARRA funds.

“Although the CNMI government does not have control over these projects we have continued to partner with ARRA recipients to ensure the proper administration of expending these funds,” the statement adds.

As of the second quarter reporting period, several agencies, including WIA and DCCA, have successfully expended their respective ARRA grant awards. A liquidation period of 90 days is given under each grant to finalize all expenditures relative to the grant. Both WIA and DCCA’s funds should be fully completed by the September reporting period.

The CNMI continues to make steady progress toward the completion of several major projects and the complete expenditure of its ARRA funds. The progress made thus far can be evidenced by the impact several major grant funds have made to include the following examples:

– The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund has helped to save 44 teaching jobs at Garapan Elementary School while providing for laptops for its secondary students and numerous infrastructure projects.

– The State Energy Program has provided for lighting retrofits at CHC, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, and the Legislature, air-conditioning retrofits at the Senate Chamber and CHC, tinting of the Saipan, Tinian, and Rota health centers, and the street light retrofits to LED lamps for the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

Several other projects, including the installation of solar-powered school zone and pedestrian crosswalk beacons, the retrofitting of CUC’s turbochargers, and the cross-island road improvement project are currently ongoing.

The CNMI ARRA Office said it continues to go through painstaking measures to ensure that all ARRA guidelines and protocols have been adhered to in the execution of these projects.

“Our office continues to work closely with our local agencies, leadership, and federal counterparts to ensure that we not only expend the funds prior to the established deadlines but do so in a responsible manner displaying the CNMI’s commitment to quality assurance,” said Fred Camacho, CNMI ARRA communications/compliance director. [I](Office of the Governor)[/I]