December 5, 2005
There appears to be a discrepancy between the MAT instructions in the new TRACS 2.0.2.B MAT guide, and how the electronic TRACS system is actually processing the 52670 vouchers. The instructions HUD has given for how to fill out one of the fields does not match the way the TRACS system is currently reading the 52670.
Technically speaking, MAT30 Section 2, field 16 (which is the field for Project-Based Exceptions - Date Last Changed) is described the following way in the MAT guide:
"Enter the date of the last HUD letter that increased or decreased the number of exceptions allocated to this project. Leave space blank if HUD has never given this contract any project-based exceptions."
These instructions clearly state that this field should be left blank if the contract hasn't been assigned any exceptions, which means to put spaces in the field. The bad news is that most projects do not have any exceptions, and as of today the TRACS system is rejecting all vouchers (52670s) that have this field space-filled, apparently expecting it to be filled with zeroes instead. This means that most projects will be rejected when they submit their 52670.
American Computer Software has already come up with a solution for MANAGEMENT Plus users to address this issue. However, since it affects so many TRACS users (not just ACS customers), we are currently waiting to see if HUD makes an adjustment to how the TRACS system processes the 52670 Vouchers that does not force all of our customers to apply an update. We will keep you informed about what HUD plans to do about this error. We will be posting any relevant details to this page as they become available. In the unlikely event that HUD decides not to make any changes to TRACS processing and decides instead to modify the recently released 2.0.2.B guidelines, we will have a software update available for you to download and install right away.
Please check this page frequently as we will update it when issues are resolved and/or when new issues are discovered. ACS provides this service to our clients as part of our ongoing commitment to helping you stay informed, and in compliance.