AGA Journal Grants Management
The U.S.Congress annually appropriates billions of dollars to federal agencies to distribute to their grant programs. Over the years, receiving and managing federal grants has become more complex and time-consuming. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took steps to improve the process, increase accountability, and reduce the burden on all involved. The result is a useful tool for any government entity to improve program administration and help grant recipients get the most out of their awards.
Origin of the Challenge
Federal agencies are required to maintain a framework for evaluating pre-award risks of the recipients of competitive grants or cooperative agreements. Agency personnel and others must review data sources, including the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information Systems (FAPIIS) and Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) for significant audit findings and pertinent information, such as suspension and debarment, before awarding a grant. Over time, the incremental addition of more systems and compliance requirements left HHS grants management more complicated and costly to operate.
At a time when the general public intuitively shops, finds entertainment, conducts research, gets traffic updates, learns, and connects professionally and socially online, the federal government, as a whole, has not kept pace with technological advances. Government agencies now hold massive amounts of data in disparate systems, where grants management professionals spend hours manually investigating each grant applicant for a risk assessment. This labor -intensive is inefficient and yields a fragmented, subjective view of an applicant's overall risk and ability to fulfill grant obligations. Meanwhile, the private sector is using open-source systems and intuitive applications with minimal learning curves.
Denise Wu
CPA, CGFM
Founding Partner
