Child Care Scholarship Services

The vendor is required to provide early education child care scholarships to eligible families to enable participation in work, job search, education, and training activities leading to self-sufficient employment. 
- The sub recipient will operate as the integrated fiscal and operational agent for the board, performing eligibility determination, payment authorization, disbursement, overpayment recovery, recoupments, fraud detection, provider agreement lifecycle management, vendor screening, data integrity, appeals support, and fund forecasting, reporting, and internal controls in board-approved systems.
- Financial assistance is paid directly to providers (such as early education/childcare providers) on behalf of eligible customers.
- The child care scholarships division maintains good relationships particularly with the providers in early education networks and families in the region.
- The subrecipient will support board staff in child care financial aid fund management tracking obligations and expenditures, forecasting near-term and projected payment needs, and communicating emerging fiscal issues that may impact program operations.
- The subrecipient will manage funds to meet payment obligations without carrying excess cash balances beyond what is reasonably required for scheduled disbursements.
- Payment processing and financial transactions
•    The subrecipient will ensure accurate, timely, confidential, and auditable processing of early education scholarship payments and financial support on behalf of eligible families and early education providers.
•    The subrecipient will maintain an electronic billing and payment process with controls that prevent duplicate, unsupported, or otherwise improper payments.
•    The subrecipient will establish, operate, and maintain an end-to-end payment processing system and related procedures that are efficient, include effective internal controls, and provide complete visibility and traceability to board staff at every step of the payment process, from invoice receipt through payment issuance and reconciliation.
•    The subrecipient will build and/or configure (as applicable) a payment processing workflow that (i) enforces appropriate segregation of duties and approval authorities; (ii) captures and retains supporting documentation; (iii) records a complete time-stamped audit trail for each invoice and payment action; and (iv) enables board staff to view invoice status, processing stage, pending approvals, exception reasons, and payment/reconciliation history in real time or near real time.
•    The subrecipient will implement and operate a primarily automated invoice intake, approval, payment authorization, disbursement, and reconciliation workflow using a proper payment processing system. The payment process will not be primarily reliant on fragmented or manual electronic applications (including, but not limited to, Microsoft word, Microsoft excel, SharePoint lists/folders, Microsoft
•    Outlook email, or similar ad hoc tools) as the system of record for payment processing activities, approvals, and audit documentation.
•    The payment processing system must be integrated with the Subrecipient’s books and records environment and general ledger (GL) system such that (i) payment transactions are recorded accurately and consistently, (ii) payment status and related accounting entries can be traced end-to-end, and (iii) supporting documentation and approvals are maintained within the system workflow or otherwise linked in a manner that is directly accessible from the transaction record.
- Provider payment disbursement
•    Receive, review, and process provider invoices through an electronic billing and payment system that meets operational needs. The subrecipient will also serve as the administrator of the system.
•    Send an automatic acknowledgment reply upon receipt of every invoice.
•    Disburse scholarship funds directly to early education providers on behalf of eligible families using direct deposit or other secure electronic payment methods approved by the board.
•    Maintain a system capable of issuing payments as frequent as necessary, accurately reconciled and auditable.
•    Ensure no payment is issued until provider agreements are fully executed, active, and stored in the board’s electronic repository.
•    Research and resolve billing discrepancies or payment disputes timely, coordinating with board staff when needed.
•    Provide an estimated timeframe to providers for when child care quality payments will be issued, ensuring payments occur within 30 days of receiving an invoice.
•    All payments generated by and through the agency system are expected to be made within two business days.
•    Maintain an invoice-to-payment workflow that documents each step including receipt date, validation, exceptions, communications, approval routing, payment authorization, payment issuance, and reconciliation.
•    Maintain role-based access controls and enforce segregation of duties between invoice intake, approval/authorization, payment release, and reconciliation functions, consistent with board requirements.
•    Provide visibility to board staff, providers (as appropriate), and auditors into invoice status and payment stage, including escalation flags for invoices approaching the 30-day payment requirement.
•    Maintain exception management and escalation procedures (including automated alerts or reports) for invoices that are incomplete, disputed, or at risk of exceeding the 30-day payment requirement.
•    Retain documentation and evidence supporting payment allow ability, accuracy, and approvals, linked to each invoice/payment record and available for monitoring and audit.
•    Make accurate estimates of monthly and year-end accruals for unpaid invoices.
•    Supply, distribute, track, and reconcile cash substitutes or support items (e.g., transportation cards or other board-authorized stipend supports), including maintaining issuance logs, inventory reconciliation, and balance reporting.
- Obligation tracking, reconciliation, and forecasting
•    Track obligations, commitments, expenditures, categorical usage limits, and remaining balances by funding source, provider, office, and customer.
•    Reconcile payments against invoices, eligibility records, commitments, and inventory issuance logs.
•    Maintain historical data to support expenditure trend analysis, obligation forecasts, burn-rate projections, and fiscal planning.
•    Identify and report emerging fiscal risks that may impact scholarship fund integrity, provider payments, or compliance.
•    Provide obligation summaries, reconciliation records, spending pattern analysis, and fund utilization recommendations during board-scheduled fiscal operations meetings.
•    Track all obligations and expenditures by funding source and provider to ensure resources are maximized for child care quality and family access.
•    Reconcile provider payments against invoices and family eligibility records to maintain subsidy integrity and support provider financial stability.
•    Maintain historical data to analyze spending patterns and develop accurate obligation forecasts that support long-term early childhood system sustainability.
•    Proactively identify and report emerging risks to protect scholarship funding integrity and ensure uninterrupted support for children and providers.
•    Provide comprehensive summaries of fund usage and strategic recommendations during board fiscal meetings to guide data-driven decisions on quality improvement activities.