Oregon Department of Forestry updates guidance for subaward claims and WebGrants submissions

Evan Elderbrock, a staff member with the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry program, released an updated video walkthrough explaining how subaward recipients should prepare and submit reimbursement claims, advance payment requests, and advanced payment verifications through the program’s WebGrants portal.

Elderbrock said the update responds to "slight changes to the claims documents that are required" and pointed viewers to the UCF subaward program landing page and the online grant portal. He emphasized a newly added Claims 101 claim-submission checklist that reviewers will use to approve claims: "please check this out and review it with each claim to make sure that you have all the required components," he said.

The tutorial outlines the four components required for a reimbursement claim: the General Information form, Detail of Expenditure, the Reimbursement Request form, and Supporting Documentation. To begin, recipients log into WebGrants, open the Grants tab to locate the award, then click the claims component and the green "add claim" button. Users must enter the expenditure period and indicate whether the submission is their final claim for the award.

For the Detail of Expenditure, Elderbrock demonstrated entering line items that must match the budget approved in the subaward (for example, a personnel line: 20 hours at $50/hour = $1,000). He showed adding fringe benefits (example: 30% of salary = $300) and explained how indirect costs should be entered at the end so the portal calculates them against all eligible direct costs (example: a 10% indirect rate initially computed $100 on salary alone and updated to $130 after fringe was saved). Using that example, he reviewed a claim summary totaling $1,430.

The Reimbursement Request form requires the subrecipient’s SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and a screenshot demonstrating active registration status. "We need to be able to connect each expenditure with the scope of work outlined in the subaward agreement," Elderbrock said; he used the example of urban forester outreach that supports planting 100 street trees between January and March 2026 to illustrate how expenses must tie directly to listed activities and outcomes.

Elderbrock reviewed supporting-documentation rules from the Claims 101 PDF: personnel, fringe benefits and indirect costs typically do not require attachments, while supplies, contractual expenses, and subawards generally require receipts or invoices. He cautioned recipients to retain all records for potential audits or desk reviews by ODF monitoring staff.

For Advanced Payment Requests, the presenter demonstrated entering projected costs (example: $25,000 contractual line for a tree-planting contract for 100 trees) and the requirement to document why an advance is necessary and the timeline for completing the funded work. He reminded viewers that advance funds must be liquidated within 90 days of receipt under the ODF advance-payment process and recommended including prior advance-status explanations when applicable.

Advanced Payment Verification requires the UEI and proof that advanced funds were spent; if projected costs differ from actual costs, the subrecipient must explain differences and submit supporting documentation. Elderbrock recommended using an advanced-payment tracking spreadsheet provided by the community assistance forester to reconcile projected and actual costs and attaching invoices for contractual expenditures before submitting the verification.

When all sections are complete, the claim preview and submit workflow places the claim into the Community Assistance forester’s review queue; reviewers will return claims for corrections or approve them to move forward. Elderbrock closed by listing available resources on the UCF subaward page — the Claims 101 PDF, SAM.gov status tutorial, reporting and advanced-payment schedule templates, and video tutorials — and invited recipients to contact their primary community assistance forester with questions.

The tutorial uses example dates and dollar amounts to demonstrate the portal workflow; recipients must follow the specific terms of their subaward agreements when preparing claims.