(a) The costs of administration are expenditures incurred by State and Local WDBs, Regions, direct grant recipients, including State grant recipients under subtitle B of title I of WIOA, and recipients of awards under subtitle D of title I, as well as local grant recipients, local grant subrecipients, local fiscal agents and one-stop operators that are associated with those specific functions identified in paragraph (b) of this section and which are not related to the direct provision of workforce investment services, including services to participants and employers. These costs can be both personnel and non-personnel and both direct and indirect.

(b) The costs of administration are the costs associated with performing the following functions:

(1) Performing the following overall general administrative functions and coordination of those functions under title I of WIOA:

(i) Accounting, budgeting, financial and cash management functions;

(ii) Procurement and purchasing functions;

(iii) Property management functions;

(iv) Personnel management functions;

(v) Payroll functions;

(vi) Coordinating the resolution of findings arising from audits, reviews, investigations and incident reports;

(vii) Audit functions;

(viii) General legal services functions;

(ix) Developing systems and procedures, including information systems, required for these administrative functions; and

(x) Fiscal agent responsibilities;

(2) Performing oversight and monitoring responsibilities related to WIOA administrative functions;

(3) Costs of goods and services required for administrative functions of the program, including goods and services such as rental or purchase of equipment, utilities, office supplies, postage, and rental and maintenance of office space;

(4) Travel costs incurred for official business in carrying out administrative activities; and

(5) Costs of information systems related to administrative functions (for example, personnel, procurement, purchasing, property management, accounting, and payroll systems) including the purchase, systems development and operating costs of such systems.

(c)(1) Awards to subrecipients or contractors that are solely for the performance of administrative functions are classified as administrative costs.

(2) Personnel and related non-personnel costs of staff that perform both administrative functions specified in paragraph (b) of this section and programmatic services or activities must be allocated as administrative or program costs to the benefitting cost objectives/categories.

(3) Specific costs charged to an overhead or indirect cost pool that can be identified directly as a program cost are to be charged as a program cost. Documentation of such charges must be maintained.

(4) Except as provided at paragraph (c)(1) of this section, all costs incurred for functions and activities of subrecipients, other than those subrecipients listed in paragraph (a) of this section, and contractors are program costs.

(5) Continuous improvement activities are charged to administration or program category based on the purpose or nature of the activity to be improved. Documentation of such charges must be maintained.

(6) Costs of the following information systems including the purchase, systems development, and operational costs (e.g., data entry) are charged to the program category:

(i) Tracking or monitoring of participant and performance information;

(ii) Employment statistics information, including job listing information, job skills information, and demand occupation information;

(iii) Performance and program cost information on eligible training providers, youth activities, and appropriate education activities;

(iv) Local area performance information; and

(v) Information relating to supportive services and unemployment insurance claims for program participants.

(d) Where possible, entities identified in paragraph (a) of this section must make efforts to streamline the services in paragraphs (b)(1) through (5) of this section to reduce administrative costs by minimizing duplication and effectively using information technology to improve services.