What is a Property Profile Form (PPF) and what information is required?
The Property Profile Form (PPF) is the official reporting form (OMB Form 2050-0192) for brownfields created by EPA and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). All cooperative agreement recipients must develop and regularly maintain a PPF for each property addressed in a Brownfields cooperative agreement. All recipients should use ACRES to create and maintain each PPF. Each PPF contains information relating only to a specific property targeted by the cooperative agreement recipient. Progress Reports should not contain property-specific information except to identify area-wide/regional redevelopment projects and their relation to one or more targeted properties. The PPF is divided into four parts. Unless otherwise indicated, reporting in each section is mandatory for all cooperative agreement recipients.
As specified in the cooperative agreement terms and conditions, all Assessment, Cleanup, and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF), and State and Tribal Section 128(a) (for site-specific work), cooperative agreement recipients must report to EPA as soon as an accomplishment has occurred. Targeted Brownfields Assessments (TBAs) must also be reported as accomplishments occur. This Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved reporting form (OMB Form 2050-0192, EPA Form 6200-03), supplements your Progress Reports with specific property information. All grant recipients must develop and regularly maintain a Brownfields Property Profile Form for each property targeted with EPA Brownfields grant assistance. Compared to the Progress Reports, each Property Profile Form contains information relating only to a specific property targeted by the grant recipient. Unless otherwise indicated, reporting in each section is mandatory for all grant recipients. ACRES is a web-based version of the PPF. The PPF, instructions and definitions for completing this form can be downloaded from EPA's Brownfields publications page. Please contact your EPA Regional Representative if you have any questions when completing this form.
When do I submit a Property Profile Form (PPF), and how often do I need to update ACRES?
The original Property Profile Form (PPF) can be submitted anytime, but it must be submitted when the cooperative agreement recipient starts using EPA funds at an eligible property.
For Assessment Cooperative Agreements, this will typically mean when the cooperative agreement recipient has started an assessment at an eligible property.
For Cleanup cooperative agreements, this will typically be the first or second quarter of the cooperative agreement period as the funds are first spent on the property identified in the selected proposal.
For RLF cooperative agreements, this may mean when a subgrant or loan package is completed for an eligible property.
For TBAs, this will typically mean when an eligible property assessment has started using EPA funds.
For State and Tribal Voluntary Response Program cooperative agreements, this will typically mean when an EPA cooperative agreement recipient has started using EPA funds at an eligible property for assessment or cleanup activities.
PPFs must be updated (via ACRES) as activities (e.g., assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment) and accomplishments (e.g., cleanup completed, redevelopment underway, significant leveraged funding committed) occur, and then submitted online (when available) or along with the next required Progress Report. For example, a PPF should be updated upon: completion of a Phase II assessment; receipt of a no cleanup action document or determination; completion of cleanup activity; and/or initiation/completion of the planned redevelopment project. In addition, a PPF should be updated as the property background information changes or if there are other anecdotal information and successes that the recipient wants to share with EPA. Cooperative agreement recipients should also revise and submit updated PPF (via ACRES) for all targeted properties when the cooperative agreement is being closed out.
If, for some reason, the recipient does not have online services (ACRES is not available), a hard copy of the PPF should be submitted to your Regional Project Officer. To obtain the latest version of the PPFs please go to: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pubs/index.html or request a copy from your Regional Project Officer.
What is EPA looking for with regard to assessment/cleanup/leveraged accomplishments?
An assessment accomplishment is defined as property assessed. For the Brownfields Program, a property assessed is defined as a property at which an environmental assessment phase I, environmental phase II, a supplemental environmental assessment, or a clean up plan was completed using Brownfields funds.
The cooperative agreement recipient or property owner, upon the recommendation of an environmental professional, has determined and documented that on-property work is finished. Ongoing operation and maintenance activities or monitoring may continue after a cleanup completion designation has been made.
Number of Cleanup Jobs Leveraged. This number includes short-term jobs (i.e., with a duration of less than one year) typically leveraged during the cleanup stage. Only actual jobs should be reported; planned or expected jobs should not be reported until they are realized. Cleanup jobs directly paid for by an EPA cooperative agreement should not be reported here, only jobs leveraged as a result of an EPA cooperative agreement.
Number of Redevelopment Jobs Leveraged. This number also includes short-term jobs (i.e., with a duration of less than one year) typically leveraged during the construction stage and long-term jobs that typically occur as a result of the new or enhanced reuse at the property (i.e., with a duration of more than one year). Only actual jobs should be reported; planned or expected jobs should not be reported until they are realized.
Dollars leveraged are defined as dollars obtained as natural results/outcomes of the EPA-funded activities (e.g., environmental assessments, cleanup).
In order to report a leveraged accomplishment, the recipient must demonstrate a link or connection between the EPA-funded activity and the leveraged accomplishment.
We have a property that was assessed with EPA Brownfields funding from our hazardous grant and our petroleum grant (i.e., two separate cooperative agreements awarded) — which grant do I enter the environmental assessment information under (e.g., assessment start/completion, EPA funding, etc.)?
The environmental assessment activity performed under each cooperative agreement should be entered into ACRES, but only one property record should be created to avoid creating duplicate property records. This is accomplished by creating one property record and associating it to both grants — and then entering the appropriate assessment information under each grant (cooperative agreement).