(a) The Contract Term for ESG funds may not exceed 12 months. All funds awarded under the Contract must be expended by the Subrecipient on or before the expiration of the Contract, unless an extension has been granted in accordance with this section. A request to extend the Contract Term must show evidence that the extension is necessary to provide services required under the Contract, and provide good cause for failure to timely expend the funds. Extensions of Contract Terms are considered on a case-by-case basis, but are subject to §7.4(e) of this title (relating to Amendments and Extensions of Contracts).      
        (1) The Executive Director or his or her designee may approve an extension to the ESG Contract Term of up to six months from the original Contract Term; and may approve an extension to the Expenditure deadline for ESG CARES.       
        (2) Board approval is required if the Subrecipient requests to extend an ESG Contract Term for more than six months from the original Contract Term.       
        (3) Amendments of Expenditure requirements will not be granted by the Executive Director or the Board when such action would cause the Department to miss a federal Expenditure deadline.       
      (b) Subrecipient is required to have reported Expenditures in its Monthly Expenditure Reports reflecting at least 50% of the Contracted funds by month nine of the original Contract Term. A Subrecipient that has not met this Expenditure benchmark must submit a plan to the Department evidencing the ability of the Subrecipient to expend the remaining funds by month 12 of the original Contract Term. This Expenditure benchmark may not be extended though amendment.     
      (c) Not later than 60 days prior to the end of the Contract Term, a Subrecipient may submit a written request to voluntarily return some or all of its funds to the Department. Voluntary return of funds prior to the Expenditure benchmark constitutes a reduction in the awarded amount, and returned funds at or prior to the Expenditure benchmark will not be considered deobligated funds for the purpose of future funding recommendations. Subrecipient must return any funds that would result in a violation of the administrative and HMIS expenditure limits of the Contract, as outlined in §7.33(f) of this subchapter prior to approval of a request to voluntarily deobligate funds for any Program Participant services.     
      (d) Funds remaining at the end of Contract which are not reflected in the last Monthly Expenditure Report will be automatically deobligated. Deobligation of funds may affect future funding recommendations.     
      (e) The Department may request information regarding the performance or status of a Contract prior to the Expenditure benchmark, at various times during the Contract, or during the record retention period. Subrecipient must respond within the time limit stated in the request. Prolonged or repeated failure to respond may result in suspension of funds, termination of the Contract by the Department, and could impact future funding recommendations.     
      (f) If additional funds become available through returned or deobligated amounts from an award made under the allocation formula or program income generated from an award made under the allocation formula, the funds may be offered to ESG Subrecipients with active Contracts that have not been amended to extend the Contract Term. Returned or deobligated funds will be offered with priority given to ESG Subrecipients with the highest Expenditure rate as of the most recent Monthly Expenditure Report. However, funds may not be offered to any Subrecipient that returned funds, or from whom funds were deobligated. The Executive Director or designee may increase the Contract of an ESG Subrecipient or authorize a new Contract with a Subrecipient by up to 25% of the original Contract amount. The increase of reallocated funds may not exceed 25% of the initial Contract award, unless approved by the Board.     
      (g) Funds that have been returned more than once or returned less than three months before the federal Expenditure deadline may be retained by the Department.     
      (h) The Contract will reflect the Performance Targets that were utilized as selection criteria for the award of funds. Requests to amend Performance Targets may not be submitted less than 60 days prior to the end of the Contract Term. Requests to amend Performance Targets will not be granted if such an amendment would have precluded the award to the Subrecipient.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §7.41 adopted to be effective February 27, 2024, 49 TexReg 1052