Guiding Principles for Grants Management
Meredith Morrison, former Consultant
Washington, D.C.
Updated: October 22, 2021 - Original Post: May 12, 2020
Since March 2020, Congress has enacted six laws, including the CARES Act, to alleviate the public health and economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal agencies have expended almost two-thirds of the $4.7 trillion in allocated relief funds, providing grants and other financial aid for various projects — from rural broadband expansion to telemedicine. While vaccination rates increase and the number of COVID cases decline, the nation still requires a long recovery process.
COVID-relief funds and the recent $34.9 billion “Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act'' exist to aid in this process. The allocated funding by itself is not enough though; Federal agencies must efficiently ensure the funds benefit Americans. This responsibility presents significant challenges, including:
Complex and Sometimes Competing Requirements. Officials must juggle funding award deadlines, reporting and tracking, changes to existing programs, legislative updates, and Title 2 Code of Federal Regulations and agency requirements.
Stakeholder Pressure. COVID-19 continuously impacts the lives of the American public. Therefore, stakeholders need and expect efficient and effective programs that quickly produce noticeable outcomes. Failed delivery, especially during a global pandemic, can cause a devastating domino effect of consequences -- from economic implications to public health emergencies.
Long Approval Chains. High visibility funding, such as the CARES Act, often involves long, coordinated chains of approval before award distribution. For example, the external affairs office, finance office, general counsel, grants policy team, grant awarding office, and appropriate division staff may all contribute to the approval process.
Scrutiny and Oversight. In addition to standard program oversight, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Inspectors General (IG) established new accountability practices to CARES Act funds. For one year starting in June 2020, GAO issued bi-montly reports on the impacts of COVID-19 and now publishes them quarterly. A committee of 22 IGs (the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee) also oversees $5 trillion in pandemic relief programs to combat fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.
In their reporting, GAO provides four recommended approaches to successfully navigate these challenges and implement high-impact grants management:
Streamlining. Streamline grant requirements to mitigate duplicative, burdensome, and costly efforts by program staff and awardees.
Transparency. Increase the completeness and quality of publicly available data on federal grants spending.
Collaboration. Foster collaboration among the agency and awardees to share best practices, resources, and expectations.
Internal controls and oversight. Close out grants consistently when the awardee’s period of performance has ended to ensure they met all requirements.
Applying these high-level approaches requires the right processes, systems, people, and priorities, especially during a crisis.
Corner Alliance can help. We bring a proven track record of customizable processes, management expertise, and reporting capabilities to support federal agencies and their stakeholders with high-impact grants management in the broadband and digital equity domains. We apply our guiding principles to help our clients successfully implement critical grants management programs in times of crisis and recovery, including:
Accurate understanding of grant recipient’s current state
Clear objectives and a way to measure impact
Complete funding packages with detailed processes, procedures, and requirements
Rigorous day-to-day management and oversight
Automated and scalable processes to create adaptable efficiencies
Intuitive tools that ensure accessible and competitive funding cycles
Download our free Guiding Principles for Grants Management Cheat Sheet
Updated By
Meredith Morrison, former Consultant to USDA, passionately pursues her mission to empower people and communities. The Missouri-native and Arkansas-transplant worked in equity-focused philanthropy and politics before joining Corner Alliance.
Original Post By Joan Keiser and Roxanna (Roxy) Barboza