FY26 FA2 (Comprehensive Services Review): What to Expect—and How to Prepare Without the Panic

If you’re heading into a FY26 Focus Area 2 (FA2) Comprehensive Services Review, you’re not alone in feeling the pressure. FA2 is designed to look less at what you intend to do and more at what’s actually happening in practice across your program.

The good news: OHS has worked to make FA2 more transparent. The protocol and monitoring review guides are intended to reduce surprises and clarify what reviewers will be looking for.

In this post, we’ll break down:

• The six FA2 content areas

• The types of monitoring activities you can expect (data tours, discussions, observations, and testing)

• The prep milestones (including what’s requested in advance)

• How GoEngage supports confident, review-ready compliance

• And the extra help we offer at no additional cost: FA1/FA2 Priority Support during review week + an Annual Compliance Partner Review

What FA2 is really assessing

In the FY26 information session, OHS emphasized that FA2 is a comprehensive services review—looking across program operations to understand how services come together to support children and families.

FA2 includes these content areas:

1. Program Design, Management, and Improvement (PDMI)

2. Education and Child Development (ECD)

3. Family and Community Engagement (FCE)

4. Health Services

5. Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment & Attendance (ERSEA)

6. Fiscal Infrastructure

Think of FA2 as OHS asking:

“Show us your process, show us your data, and show us what service delivery looks like day-to-day.”

What reviewers will actually do: the FA2 “activity types”

Across FA2, the monitoring approach uses a consistent set of activities.

1) Management team kickoff (PDMI)

PDMI includes a management team kickoff, plus data tours and discussions.

OHS specifically notes you should be ready to bring your organizational chart to the kickoff.

2) Data tours (multiple areas)

Data tours are where managers show how they track and use data—this is where programs often feel the most pressure. PDMI alone pulls topic coverage into multiple tours (HR, ECD, ERSEA, FCE, Health, Program Management).

3) Discussions (staff and parents)

FA2 includes discussions with education staff, family services staff, and—within FCE—parents/caregivers.

4) Explorations/observations (especially Health + ECD)

• Health includes center/classroom explorations to observe safety and hygiene practices.

• ECD includes classroom and socialization explorations to observe teaching/home-visiting

5) File review and transaction testing (ERSEA + Fiscal)

• ERSEA includes an eligibility file review (sampling child files to validate eligibility documentation).

• Fiscal includes transaction testing across a sample of transactions from the past two years.

Key FA2 content areas and “what they’ll focus on”

PDMI: program design + staffing supports

PDMI covers:

• Self-assessment and ongoing monitoring (how you use data to evaluate progress and improve)

• Staffing and staff supports including management structure, supervision, staff qualifications, professional development, and coaching

GoEngage helps by centralizing: staffing qualification tracking, supervision documentation, training completion records, and ongoing monitoring dashboards that make your “story” easy to show during data tours.

Fiscal Infrastructure: don’t wait for review week to find your documents

Fiscal focuses on five key topics, including:

• Budget development and budget-to-actual management

• Financial record keeping + payroll records + reporting requirements (audit, SF-425, SF-429)

• Internal controls (policies, drawdowns, reconciliations, ongoing monitoring)

• Allowable costs, cost allocation, procurement, indirect/admin costs, non-federal match

• Facilities/equipment + insurance coverage

OHS also flags that certain fiscal documents are requested before the review begins, including your most recent audit, fiscal policies and procedures, detailed general ledger, and SF-425/SF-429A submissions.

GoEngage helps by keeping key compliance artifacts organized and reportable—so when reviewers ask for proof, you’re not scrambling across shared drives and email threads.

Health: safety, tracking systems, mental health consultation, and more

Health includes:

• Safe and sanitary environments (emergency preparedness, background checks)

• Daily/ongoing safety checks, incident reporting, pest/mold/pollutant prevention, active supervision

• Health tracking systems for medical/oral health determinations within 90 days

• Mental health consultation, including annual evaluation of whether it meets program needs

• Nutrition and (if applicable) expectant families

Health monitoring includes a health data tour (showing tracking systems and real-time data) plus explorations.

GoEngage helps by giving Health Managers a single, organized place to track health requirements, document follow-up, and show reviewers your “system,” not just a spreadsheet.

ECD: child assessment + responsive teaching and home visiting

ECD is focused on effective teaching practices, including:

• Ongoing child assessment (how data is collected and used to individualize)

• Responsive teaching practices (observed in classrooms)

• Responsive home visiting and socializations (for home-based programs)

GoEngage helps by connecting child outcomes, observation data, and follow-up actions—so you can clearly show how assessment drives individualization and improvement.

FCE: welcoming environments, family needs/strengths, goals, and father engagement

FCE focuses on:

• Welcoming environments and family feedback

• Intake/assessment procedures to identify needs and strengths

• Family partnership goals and tracking progress over time

• Engagement for male caregivers

GoEngage helps by making family goals trackable, measurable, and easy to review—so your team can demonstrate consistent follow-through, not just good intentions.

ERSEA: selection, eligibility, enrollment, ongoing monitoring—and a file review

ERSEA includes:

• Using community assessment needs to develop selection criteria

• Training staff on eligibility practices and preventing fraud

• Monitoring eligibility categories and maintaining requirements

• Enrollment management (vacancies within 30 days, IDEA 10%, HSES monthly reporting)

• Ongoing monitoring of ERSEA data quality and use

• Eligibility file review sampling child files

GoEngage helps by building reliable ERSEA tracking and enabling fast, accurate file readiness—so your file review becomes a confirmation, not a crisis.

How GoEngage supports you before, during, and after FA2

Before the review: build “review-ready” systems

FA2 rewards programs that can clearly show:

• tracking systems,

• consistent follow-up,

• and how data is used to improve services.

GoEngage helps teams do that without building a patchwork of spreadsheets and siloed documentation.

During review week: FA1/FA2 Priority Support

Monitoring week is intense. That’s why GoEngage provides FA1/FA2 Priority Support during the week of your review—so when your team needs a report, a quick clarification, or help locating information, you’re not waiting in a standard queue. You get timely responses and escalations when needed, so you can stay focused on the review.

Annual Compliance Partner Review

Compliance isn’t a once-a-year scramble. Our Annual Compliance Partner Review helps you step back with our team, evaluate what’s working, identify gaps early, and create a practical improvement plan—so you’re continuously strengthening systems well ahead of your next FA2.

A simple FA2 preparation checklist

Here’s a practical way to start:

• Confirm your managers for each data tour (PDMI, Fiscal, Health, ERSEA, ECD, FCE)

• Pull your “must-have” fiscal artifacts now (audit, fiscal policies, general ledger, SF filings)

• Validate health tracking + mental health consultation documentation

• Review ERSEA selection criteria + file readiness (assume file review sampling)

• Prepare your leadership team for kickoff and have your organizational chart ready

Want help getting review-ready (with less stress)?

GoEngage Users: We partner with agencies year-round to reduce last-minute stress and support confident review readiness.

We offer:

• A FREE Compliance Partner Review midway through your annual subscription to identify gaps early and prioritize next steps

• Targeted training options to prepare staff and managers before monitoring begins

• Structured consulting services to help your team organize documentation, strengthen systems, and walk into review week prepared

Whether you’re planning for an upcoming FA1 or FA2—or want to be ready before the 45-day letter arrives—we’re here to support you.

👉 Let’s talk about training and consulting options that fit your program’s needs

Not using GoEngage: This is exactly where we shine—turning compliance requirements into daily workflows, tracking systems, and review-ready reporting that your team can actually maintain.

👉Ready for a walkthrough? Schedule a demo today!