Administration details Bulletin 5 updates, indirect-cost guidance and payment practices for state grants

Secretary Sarah Clark, head of Vermont’s Agency of Administration, told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on April 2 that the administration updated Bulletin 5 — the state’s guidance on grant issuance and monitoring — on July 1, 2024, to align state practice with new federal guidance and to reflect issues raised in last year’s committee testimony.

Clark said Bulletin 5 now includes clarified language on indirect cost-rate calculations, companion procedures and templates, and that the administration also issued Finance and Management Policy No. 11 to govern indirect-cost proposals. “For the record, I’m Sarah Clark. I’m the Secretary of Administration,” she said in opening remarks to the committee.

The update responded to two drivers, Clark said: federal changes to the Uniform Guidance for federal financial assistance that took effect in October 2024, and stakeholder testimony the administration received during the prior year. Jordan Black Deegan, the statewide grants administrator, told the committee the bulletin and the new policy give departments defined options for indirect-cost treatment, including the federally approved…