Opioid Abatement Authority sets Oct. 20 deadline for state-agency carry‑forward true-up reports

The Opioid Abatement Authority told state agency grantees during a webinar on Oct. 23 that 2024–25 period‑of‑performance carry‑forward “true‑up” reports are available in its grants portal and are due to the authority by Monday, Oct. 20.

The reporting requirement applies to each renewed 2024–25 project that was funded for 2025–26; agencies must submit a separate carry‑forward report for each renewed project and must attach a general ledger or detailed expense report plus a carry‑forward expense spreadsheet even if no carry‑forward exists, the authority said. "The 2425 period of performance carry forward true up reports are now available in the grants portal. They are due to the OAA by Monday, October 20," said Sharika Bridges, the OAA’s senior grants compliance analyst.

The OAA presented the deadline, the required attachments and the steps to start and complete the report in the grants portal. The authority said the final 2024–25 carry‑forward amount reported should be "precise and exact," and the agency will evaluate submitted figures to determine whether a subsequent amendment to an approved carry‑forward is necessary.

Charlie Linticum, the OAA’s director of operations, said the true‑up exists to reconcile the estimated carry‑forward amounts that applicants provided during renewal with the final figures after the performance period ends Sept. 30. "This process allows the OAA and the awarded agency to reconcile where the final amount remaining for the current performance period is, versus the estimate that was provided when the proposals were submitted," Linticum said.

Officials emphasized several required elements: (1) a narrative explaining the status of 2024–25 expenditures and any discrepancies from the renewal estimate; (2) a budget overview that lists final 2024–25 expenditures by revenue source and expense category; and (3) uploads of a general ledger or detailed expense report and the carry‑forward expense spreadsheet. The portal will automatically populate the approved carry‑forward amount from the renewal and compute the final carry‑forward based on the entered expenditures.

The OAA requires e‑signature certification of each report by an authorized official — the agency executive, a designated designee with signature authority, or the chief financial officer — because the report is financial in nature. "The person that is certifying or signing this report should be the agency executive, anyone that the agency executive has designated to have signature authority or the financial officer for the agency," Bridges said. The e‑signature process uses Adobe Acrobat Sign and must be completed before 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 20.

Staff walked attendees through the portal steps: select the Grants Management tab, choose the OAA state agency proposal for 24‑25, click Start Carry Forward True Up, answer three pop‑up questions that determine report type, complete the narrative and budget pages, attach required files, and send the report for e‑signature. Matt Terrell, the OAA’s senior business analyst, demonstrated a test (UAT) submission and the carry‑forward spreadsheet layout.

Officials warned of known portal issues related to MOUs and application status that may delay some agencies from starting reports immediately. Linticum said the OAA has experienced "system hiccups" during the first year of using the portal and advised agencies to begin the report as soon as possible even if final numbers are not ready; reporting fields can be reviewed in advance and updated after Oct. 1 when final balances are expected to be available. He added that "extensions can be provided if it's our system that's keeping that from happening." The authority also said it will post the webinar recording and convert the slide deck into a guidance document on its website.

On a substantive point of accounting, the OAA confirmed awards are treated on a cash basis: expenditures reported should reflect what an agency has spent through Sept. 30, 2025. In response to a question from a Virginia Supreme Court staff member about an invoice arriving after the local deadline, Linticum said: "We work on a cash basis with our awards. So it's what you have spent, through 09/30, '25. And so if those invoices aren't coming in until 10/15, then they should be on the '25‑'26 award."

Attendees asked about character limits in the narrative boxes; staff said they believed a limit exists (about 2,500 characters) but that agencies may attach additional documents and that developers will review increasing character counts. The OAA asked agencies to contact the staff member they worked with on renewal proposals for questions or portal problems.

No formal votes or policy adoptions took place during the webinar. The OAA said it will directly contact agencies if submitted figures require amendments and will announce any deadline extensions in a newsletter if portal problems prevent timely submissions.

The webinar included question‑and‑answer exchanges with grant recipients and state agency staff, a live demonstration of completing the report in the portal’s UAT environment and instructions on where to download the carry‑forward expense spreadsheet from the OAA website (Grants Info → State Agencies → Carry Forward True Up Expense Spreadsheet). The authority urged agencies to start the report early so portal issues can be identified and resolved before the deadline.

Forward‑looking notes: agencies that begin their 2025–26 awards on Oct. 1 are not required to submit a carry‑forward true‑up for 2024–25 during this cycle; they will complete that step in next year’s reporting. The OAA said it will publish the webinar recording and a guidance document on its website and will notify attendees by newsletter when the resources are live.