May 7, 2020
Dr. Robert L. King Assistant Secretary Office of Postsecondary Education US Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20202 Dear Dr. King: The University of Puerto Rico acknowledges receipt of your today letter today and very much appreciates the time you and your staff devoted during our video conference yesterday. The meeting was very informative and valuable to us. We also grateful that you have trusted the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Central Administration in developing an oversight, accounting, and internal controls system, for monitoring and reporting the distribution of the CARES Act funds to UPR’s 11 campuses. After careful review, we take this opportunity to reiterate our responsibility for establishing and maintaining effective internal control over compliance with the requirements of federal statutes, regulations and the terms and conditions of its federal awards applicable to its federal programs. With that said, UPR Central Administration commits to inform the 11 UPR Chancellors of this agreement as well as our role in developing and implementing the oversight of the use and distribution of the CARES Act funds at each one of the campuses consistent consistent with the requirements of the law and the grant award document. We agree to develop, submit to the US Department of Education (Department), and inform the public and our academic community of this oversight and accountability plan by June 10, 2020. We also commit to respond to periodic data requests made by the Department to ensure the proper accountability to Congress and taxpayers under the CARES Act. This oversight system will be built within the organizational information and accounting system infrastructure, within the context of its policies, procedures, and input of the internal audit resources as a matter of consultation, and with the collaboration of Central Administration Offices of Finance, Budget, the Office of the Vice-President for Student Affairs Budgeting, and other significant administrative stakeholders. We are looking forward to our continued partnership and the opportunity given to us to serve in this role. We are particularly appreciative of the opportunity this arrangement provides to expedite the distribution of the funds to our students and eventually to our faculty. Your offer to provide us with technical assistance in the preparation of the plan and its implementation is more than welcome. We understand each campus is required to report within 30 days the distribution of the funds to students as described in their grant application and clarified in the Electronic Announcement published on the FSA IFAP system on May 6, 2020. We look forward to hearing from you and receiving authorization to distribute the funds to our students. Best regards,
Jorge Haddock