Grants Blog

Posts Tagged ‘General’

Congress has just approved major changes to the Government Performance and Results Act, pushing for not only better performance from federal agencies and programs, but also better reporting and more transparency.

The measure calls for federal agencies to identify their top priorities, publicly report program results, and identify ineffective and duplicative federal programs.

Each federal agency would designate a Chief Operating Officer and a Performance Improvement Officer with primary responsibility for pursuing cost-savings through the improved analysis and coordination of duplicative programs. These officials would also look at how to better coordinate administrative functions common to every agency, such as purchasing. However, the bill gives no specific direction to agencies on how to conduct any of these assessments.

Agency and governmentwide information relating to performance is to be posted to a new public website on a quarterly basis.

President Obama is expected to sign the legislation, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010.

President Obama’s themes of tying performance to funding, and tightening the discretionary budget belt will carry forward into fiscal year 2012 and beyond. In June 2010, OMB issued budget guidance to federal agencies that are now working to develop their FY 12 budget requests for submission to OMB. The guidance, which came in the form of two memos, directs agencies to “identify the programs and subprograms that have the lowest impact on your agency’s mission and constitute at least five percent of your agency’s [FY 10] discretionary budget.” 

In Memo M-10-19, OMB noted that agencies should not simply reduce spending across the board. Instead, agencies should aim to restructure their operations strategically. This should include eliminating low-priority programs and activities, re-engineering staffing plans, improving procurement and grants management processes, and strengthening IT and financial management.

 A follow-up memo, M-10-20, gave more insight into how these reductions are to be achieved. Agencies are to evaluate programs based on their impact on the agency’s mission and relevant administration initiatives. Agencies should consider whether the program has an unclear or duplicative purpose, uncertain federal role, a completed mission, or lack of demonstrated effectiveness, according to the June guidance. The intent is to identify those programs with the lowest impact. OMB emphasized that agencies were not to meet the five-percent low-priority program target with across-the-board reductions or incremental savings in administrative costs.

You can view both of the memos on OMB’s website. Also, remember that these and other recent developments in grants administration will be covered in our Federal Grants Update 2010 seminar which is currently running in locations around the country.

The federal government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is circulating a proposed job classification series that would specify and standardize the use of the job title “Grants Management Specialist.”

Federal law requires OPM to establish official position titles to include a basic title (e.g., Grants Management Specialist) and optional titles such as “lead” or “supervisor”. Agencies must use the official position titles for human resources management, budget, and fiscal purposes.

According to the draft, the so-called Grants Management Series 1109 would include positions which “manage, supervise, lead, or perform administrative business and analytical work involving: (1) the management, award, and obligation of funds for federal assistance such as grants, cooperative agreements, and other related assistance and services using financial, administrative, business, and negotiation procedures; (2) the competitive or non-competitive evaluation of grants proposals; and (3) the administration or termination, and closeout of grants.”

The draft then goes on to list nearly 20 typical job duties of a grants management specialist.

You can read the full draft job classification here.

Comments may be submitted until June 25 to fedclass@opm.gov.

We need your help to plan our schedule for next year. What classes would you like to see offered in various locations? Are there cities where you think we should offer training? What new courses or products could we offer to meet your training and professional development needs?

Your answers to these and other questions will help us improve our grants management training curricula. Please take a few minutes to complete our online survey by clicking here. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and is for informational purposes only.

Thanks.

If you would like to voice your opinion on this question, now is your opportunity. The Office of Management and Budget is seeking input about what constitutes “inherently governmental” functions as it works to develop new guidance for determining whether federal agencies should contract out certain tasks or whether the work should be performed by government employees.

Some activities seem obviously governmental, such as hiring federal workers or establishing federal policy, but other areas are less clear.

And while much of the attention is directed toward the role of contractors and procurement actions by federal agencies, there is also a question about grants management responsibilities.

Specifically, OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy wants to know whether the new guidance should say anything new about the use of contractors to manage federal grantees.

Comments are due June 1. The Federal Register notice is available by clicking here

A federal district court has ruled that Congress’ ban on funding for the controversial ACORN organization is unconstitutional, and OMB has rescinded an October 2009 memo that had directed agencies to stop funding the nonprofit.

Here’s a little background: 

ACORN is a nonprofit social justice organization that conducts voter registration campaigns, offers free tax return preparation for low-income individuals, provides low-income housing counseling and similar community development projects. However, the group and its affiliates came under fire after hidden cameras allegedly captured ACORN employees giving advice on how to operate a prostitution ring, avoid federal taxes, and engage in other illegal activities.

As a result Congress stopped ACORN funding and ACORN sued, claiming Congress unconstitutionally convicted the organization of a crime without a trial, which is a “bill of attainder.”

The court agreed that indeed Congress’ action constituted a bill of attainder and ordered OMB to rescind its October memo and to direct all federal agencies to inform their grantees and contractors of the court’s ruling.

You can read the OMB memo and the court ruling here.

The Justice Department plans to appeal the decision.

Information about Management Concepts’ annual Federal Grants Update seminar is now available.

This year we’ll be discussing transparency and accountability, audits, standard forms, and more.

These one-day classes start the first week in April and run throughout the summer in cities around the country. Click here to see dates, locations, topics, and registration options.

Yesterday the House passed its version of a bill to reauthorize the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act, pushing OMB even more to create a one-stop web portal that would consolidate all grant application and management functions and standardize the process governmentwide.

The House version of S. 303 is similar to the Senate bill passed in March 2009. Both direct OMB to beef up Grants.gov so that it serves not only as a central location for grant applications, but also for grants management. The legislation continues the push for standardized reporting forms, and requires OMB to provide Congress with a list of those federal agencies that do not use the standard forms and the central management portal.

The House bill also would require the development of a single data standard for private sector entities to use to submit information to federal agencies, including grant applications and reports.

Because the Senate bill does not contain this language – and because of other differences – members of the House and Senate must now meet in conference to work out a comprise bill before the legislation can be sent to the White House.

We’ll keep you informed about this measure as it moves through Congress. Also, this and other grants-related developments will be covered in Management Concepts’ upcoming Federal Grants Update course. The annual course is offered around the country each spring and summer. Watch our website for details in the coming months.

On a new website, Partner4Solutions, the federal government is asking state and local governments for ideas on reducing improper federal payments.

The website and request for input are part of the Obama administration’s efforts to reduce the estimated $98 billion in improper payments made in fiscal 2009.

“We know that states and local governments are already addressing these issues head-on and have identified many innovative approaches. We see this as an opportunity to better understand some of the on-the-ground best practices. Please join us as a partner by contributing your ideas and suggestions,” the website says.

You can submit suggestions and learn more about the effort to reduce improper payments here.

Just a quick follow-up to the ACORN posting from last week.

The Justice Department in a new memo said the recent law that prohibits funding for the controversial nonprofit does not prevent federal agencies – specifically HUD – from honoring existing contractual obligations with ACORN.

The fiscal 2010 Continuing Appropriations Resolution states, “None of the funds made available by this joint resolution or any prior act may be provided to [ACORN], or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations.”

Justice said the language used by Congress is unclear and can be read several ways. The memo says lawmakers did not use correct appropriations terminology, instead relying on the word “provide” which has no specified meaning in federal appropriations law.

For those of you interested in this and related topics, Management Concepts offers a a one-day course, Appropriations Law for Federal Grants.