How Does EGrants Streamlining Affect Me as a Grantee

1
How Does E-Grants Streamlining Affect Me as a
Grantee?

• Kay Guinane, OMB Watch
• National Grants Management Association Annual
  Conference
• April 28, 2004

2
OMB Watchs Role in Grants Streamlining

• In 1998, OMB Watch and the Ohio Association of
  Nonprofit Organizations conducted a series of
  briefings on devolution and grants management
  issues.
• Staff for Sen. John Glenn of Ohio participated in
  the briefings.
• In 1999, with Sen. Glenn as the lead sponsor,
  Congress passed the Federal Financial Assistance
  Management Improvement Act (FFAMIA) of 1999,
  requiring federal agencies to develop common
  grant application and reporting procedures.

3
OMB Watchs Role in Grants Streamlining

• Today, OMB Watch and the Urban Institute sponsor
  The Streamlining Grants Management Project to
  make sure nonprofits at the state and local level
  have information and input into the changes being
  made.
• The project provides information through a
  dedicated section on the OMB Watch web site (www.
  http//www.ombwatch.org/article/archive/149/.)
• We also distribute information on proposed
  changes and comment opportunities through our
  govgrants email list.

4
FFAMIA Today

• To date, FFAMIA has enabled the federal
  government to collaborate with state agencies,
  and nonprofit organizations like OMB Watch to
  develop means and methods to streamline all
  aspects of grants management from finding and
  applying to reporting.

5
How Has Grants Streamlining Affected Me? Survey

• In April, OMB Watch conducted an online survey to
  ask federal grantees specific questions related
  the effects of grants streamlining on their
  ability to find and apply for grant
  opportunities.
• This presentation is largely based on the results
  of that survey.

6
The Affects of Grants Streamlining Process

• While the work on streamlining the grants process
  has been ongoing since 1999, the affects are just
  now beginning to be felt by grantees.
• The federal government has to conduct more
  outreach to inform grantees and potential
  grantees about the changes that have taken place
  thus far.
• In time, the goal is to reduce administrative
  burdens imposed on receipt of federal funds.

7
Knowledge of Grants.gov

• One of the major outcomes of grants streamlining
  is Grants.gov, the federal government's online
  resource to find and apply for competitive grant
  opportunities.
• The final product of Grants.gov was launched on
  December 9, 2003.

8
Knowledge of Grants.gov

• Our survey indicates that the word about
  Grants.gov is out.
• 85 of respondents have heard about Grants.gov.
• When asked how have they heard about Grants.gov,
  most said it was word of mouth from colleagues.
• Very few respondents heard about Grants.gov
  through the federal government.

9
Finding Grant Opportunities

• 73 of respondents have visited Grants.gov to
  find or apply for federal funds
• A significant number of users (40) either found
  that
• it took a long time to find grant opportunities
• they could not figure out whether they were
  eligible to apply for the opportunity that they
  did find.

10
Finding Grant Opportunities

• Just about half of those who looked for grants on
  Grants.gov found opportunities that they would
  not have been able to find otherwise.
• Many different vehicles were sited as primary
  means of finding grant opportunities. Among the
  major findings were
• The Federal Register
• Agency announcements
• More than half of the respondents signed-up for
  Grants.govs email notification service.

11
Finding Grant Opportunities

• However, those respondents that currently pay an
  entity to help them find grant opportunities will
  continue to do so.
• This indicates that it is going to take some time
  for Grants.gov to take hold
• The anticipated savings have not happened yet,
  but hopefully will soon if the government can
  ease the difficulty of searching for grant
  opportunities and provide clearer information on
  who is eligible to apply.

12
The DUNS Number Requirement

• Results from the survey have shown that the DUNS
  number has not succeeded in simplifying the
  application process.
• The DUNS number was implemented to replace agency
  specific numbers that applicants were required to
  use when they submitted a grant application.

13
The DUNS Number Requirement

• 45.5 of respondents said that agencies are still
  asking for their agency-specific identifying
  number when they apply for grants.
• This indicates that instead of simplifying the
  application process, the DUNS number has actually
  added to the burden.

14
Core and Non-Core Application Data

• More research needs to be done on Core and
  Non-Core data, but our survey results indicate
  that agencies are asking applicants to fill-out
  significantly more than the standard Core data
  elements found on SF-424.
• 70 of respondents say that agencies are asking
  for more information than that on SF-424.
• They indicate that the additional information
  requested is fair and takes a fair amount of time
  to fill-in, or
• Heavy and takes plenty of time to fill-in.

15
Cyber Security

• There appears to be a problem with applying for
  grants online through Grants.gov because of a
  conflict in system-to-system interface.
• One respondent indicated that their
  cyber-security system would not allow them to
  register with the Central Contractor Provider,
  which is mandatory for applying for grants online.

16
Role of Nonprofits in Implementation of P.L.
106-107

• Communication between the federal agencies and
  nonprofit sector have been productive and
  improved the results to date.
• One survey respondent said, Thanks for being
  open to suggestions and feedback.
  Congratulations a a great step forward in the
  right direction, we appreciate your streamlining
  hard work and contributions.

17
In Conclusion

• Issues for the Next Phase
• Uniform financial standards and definitions need
  to be developed for proposal budgets and
  financial reporting
• Activity reporting a future challenge