Grantopedia

Positive News for Grants.gov

Some encouraging news today on Grants.gov. The House Labor Health & Human Services subcommittee tasked the GAO to continue with its studies and recommendation on Grants.gov. As reported today on the RESADM-L listserv:

The Committee directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Grants. gov system and report to the Office of Management and Budget, HHS, and the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate its recommendations for improved system management. Specifically, GAO should recommend a business model that provides an adequate, reliable funding stream and the appointment of a unified administrative body that is delegated both control and resources.

(Thanks to Randy Legeai at Tulane for posting.) The fact that the legislative branch is getting more actively involved bodes well. This reinforces what we've heard from sources at the OMB and Grants.gov, as well as the university community: there is strong support for a single grants portal.

With proper funding and a management structure that is more responsive to the applicant community, perhaps we can look forward to continuing improvements in service and reliability. While Grants.gov is unfortunately stuck with the Adobe forms infrastructure for the foreseeable future, at least the technology landscape has stabilized.

I know the S2S community is looking for ways to continue to improve on the success we've had in web-based access to Grants.gov.  I'm sure we'll see more on this topic soon.

No Surprises in GAO Report on Grants.gov

On July 15th, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released their report analyzing Grants.gov. Titled "Grants.gov has Systemic Weaknesses that Require Action," (PDF) they report, unsurprisingly, that the portal has significant technical and management problems.

In the GAO Summary are recommendations along four broad categories, which have been endorsed by OMB and HHS: 

"... for OMB to develop Grants.gov performance measures, clarify the governance structure, develop a structured means for applicant input about system functionality and establish uniform policies for processing grant applications. Barbara Pisaro Clark, acting assistant secretary for legislation at HHS, also emphasized the need for standard procedures across the federal government for grant application."

In general, the applicant community supports the idea of one grant portal - the original intention behind Grants.gov is sound. But unless it's reliable, support for the concept will erode.

Grants.gov has definitely stabilized since the Spring and they have taken a proactive and positive approach to improving communication, performance and support. In the fall, the agencies that stopped participating in Grants.gov are slated to return. If the recommendation of the GAO are followed, it is reasonable to expect that Grants.gov will continue to improve and deliver on its mission.

In the meantime, among the things that Grants.gov does well, is their support for the S2S standard of grant preparation and submission. S2S has been instrumental in reducing the load on Grants.gov during heavy submission deadlines and in making the applicant experience easier and less stressful.

And, of course, Cayuse customers have the S2S advantage, plus the advantage of Cayuse's 15 years in the federal grant application business. You can be sure that we continue to monitor the progress of Grants.gov and the funding agencies.