Due to the second hurricane landfall in Puerto Rico, their sex offender registry is currently not reporting to
NSOPW.gov and NSOPW search results are missing information from Puerto Rico. Due to the fact that this makes it impossible for grantees to complete the NSOPW check for all jurisdictions for an unknown period of time arising from these extreme circumstances, CNCS is granting a temporary exemption to all CNCS grant recipients.
CNCS will allow any NSOPW check that is conducted from September 19, 2017 through November 1, 2017 to be considered compliant without Puerto Rico results as long as all other aspects of the NSCHC have been timely, comprehensive, and documented. If the Puerto Rico sex offender registry is not operational before or on November 1, CNCS will notify you and provide further instructions at that time. This exemption allows NSOPW results to be considered compliant,
as long as the following conditions are met:
- You retain a record of timely compliance of your NSOPW search results prior to the start of service for all jurisdictions except Puerto Rico.
- The member or staff starts(ed) service sometime between September 19 and November 1, 2017.
- Grantees re-conduct the checks that include NSOPW search results for Puerto Rico by November 15. All grantees must retain a result that indicates that Puerto Rico’s results were completed no later than November 15. If you do not conduct the check again or retain the result of Puerto Rico’s check, the NSOPW check will be noncompliant.
Please note that CNCS is granting this temporary exemption for Puerto Rico because the Puerto Rico sex offender registry is not operational due to a disaster. CNCS’s policy will remain consistent on this matter, and exemptions will not be granted when state sex offender registries are offline due to routine or administrative maintenance.
All other eligibility requirements according to the NSCHC regulations will apply and disallowance will be enforced in accordance with CNCS policy.
If you have any questions, please contact your Program Officer or Grants Officer.
