Expenditures to vendor agreement shall be easily identified by deliverable. Agency shall inform vendor of expectations during invoicing for required back-up documentation.
Back-up Documentation
Back-up documentation shall be consistent with GAAP, NMSA, NMAC, and Agency guidelines. Receipts attachments for expenditures during reimbursement requests for trips, if allowed, shall be attached during submission such as: Agency prior written approval, fuel, lodging, meals, map from Rand McNally TripMaker.
For Expenses
Program Manager Worksheet - $0 deliverable outlining what the contractor did in that month.
**Provide i.e., who provided training to who provided technical assistance.
Projects in nmstar are configured with invoice approvers. The BHSD Forensics and all Claims projects are configured to Auto-Approve the invoices meaning there is no agency invoice approval required. Invoices for projects are configured to generate on the 1st and 16th of each month at 12:01 am.
Program Managers are required to carefully review and approve correct invoices to insure providers are paid in a timely manner. Program Manager should insure the services being billed fall within the SOW parameters: adhere to any frequency and dollar amount rules, contain adequate supporting documentation, and meet the SOW deliverable expectations.
Program Managers can mark invoices for corrections if needed. An invoice should be marked for corrections when: the amount entered on a service does not match the amount on a supporting document/receipt, the provider invoice is not signed, the provider invoice does not contain dates for the appropriate service month, the service should not have been billed, or the incorrect fund source was billed in nmstar. Providers have 30 days to make and submit their corrections. If corrections are not made within 30 days, the nmstar application will auto-deny the invoice and return the funds to the provider allocation or open fund pool depending on the project configuration for reuse. Program Managers are responsible for adding comments on the invoice indicating why it is marked for corrections and emailing the provider to initiate the corrections.
Program Managers can mark invoices as Denied if needed. An invoice should be marked as Denied when the services being billed do not fall within the SOW parameters and should not be paid. When an invoice is denied, the funds are returned to the provider allocation or open fund pool depending on the project configuration for reuse.
Invoice Review-High Dollar Threshold
Projects in nmstar are configured with a high dollar threshold. Currently all projects except for Claims are configured with a $60k threshold. Invoices generated over the threshold are automatically placed in the In Review status after agency approval. Unless a comment is present on the invoice from the Agency Program Manager stating that the billing amount has been reviewed and is approved, prior to payment, Falling Colors will reach out to the Program Manager requesting that the invoice be reviewed, and a comment inserted stating the billed amount is approved.
In order to not delay payment to providers for invoices over the current default of $60k, we request that Program Managers insert a comment on any invoice they review and approve over that threshold.
Agencies can also direct Falling Colors via a LOD to increase/decrease the High Dollar Threshold for specific project(s).
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Invoices require user action in order to move through the approval and payment process; some invoices will progress in a true linear fashion, while others might be sent back to the provider for corrections or temporarily placed on hold.
To take action on an invoice, users must navigate to the Invoice Details page; from there, several actions are made available (depending on the group to which the user belongs).
Approve
After an invoice is created (or, if the invoice required corrections and the Provider has since applied those corrections), Approvers can approve the invoice.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Approved by the Lead Agency’
Click Submit Action
Approving an invoice will change its status from ‘Pending Approval’ to ‘Pending Payment’.
Deny (by the Lead Agency)
Approvers may deny an invoice if corrections cannot be sufficiently made.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Denied by the lead agency’
Select a reason
Enter a comment
Click Submit Action
When an Approver denies an invoice, its status moves from ‘Pending Approval’ to ‘Invoice History (Denied)'.
Deny (by the Payor)
Payors may also deny an invoice (even after it’s been approved) if billing issues/errors are identified post-approval.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Denied by the payor’
Select a reason
Enter a comment
Click Submit Action
When a Payor denies an invoice, its status moves from ‘Pending Payment’ to ‘Invoice History (Denied)'.
Authorize Payment
If no billing issues/errors are identified post-approval, Payors can authorize the invoice for payment.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Payment authorized by the payor’
Enter a check number
Select or enter a payment date
Click Submit Action
Flag for Corrections
Approvers and Payors may identify issues/errors that can be corrected by the provider. Instead of denying the invoice, they can designate services on the invoice as needing corrections.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Provider corrections required’
Select a reason
Enter a comment
Click a service(s) from the invoice’s Service List (accessed from the Details tab); these services will need to be corrected/updated by the provider.
After selecting services to be corrected, click Submit Action
When an Approver or Payor flags an invoice for correction, its status moves ‘Pending Approval’ or ‘Pending Payment’ to ‘Corrections Required'.
Place in Review
Approvers and Payors may place invoices that need further examination in an “In Review” sub-status. This sub-status helps communicate to stakeholders why an invoice has not yet been approved or paid.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘In Review’
Click Submit Action
Place on Administrative Hold
Approvers and Payors may temporarily halt the movement of an invoice by placing it in an ‘Administrative Hold’ sub-status. This sub-status helps communicate to stakeholders why an invoice is stagnant.
Click on the Action drop-down box
Select ‘Placed on administrative hold’
Click Submit Action
Add Approver Files to an Invoice
Approvers can add supplementary/supporting documents to an invoice as part of their approval process.
In the Approver Files section, click ‘Browse…’
Select a file to be uploaded
Click ‘Upload File’
After selecting a file (Step #2), the name of the file will appear next to the ‘Browse…’ button.
Comment on an Invoice
Approvers, Payors, and Providers can leave comments so that communication/message history is retained on the invoice as it moves through the approval and payment process.
In the Comments section, click 'Add Comment'
Type a comment(s)
Click ‘Submit Comment’
After clicking ‘Submit Comment’, the Invoice Details page will refresh, and the comment will appear in the Comments section (along with a timestamp and the name of the user who submitted the comment).