Bill Requiring the Streamlining of Federal Grants Applications Passes in the Senate
March 18, 2009 in Funding News
S.303, A bill to reauthorize and improve the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, passed in the U.S. Senate on March 17, 2009.
This bill requires the revision of Grants.gov to ensure that each opportunity includes at a minimum, for each Federal grant:
- the grant announcement;
- the statement of eligibility relating to the grant;
- the application requirements for the grant;
- the purposes of the grant;
- the Federal agency funding the grant; and
- the deadlines for applying for and awarding of the grant.
Further, this bill requires that for each opportunity on Grants.gov, an applicant should be able to:
- search the website for all Federal grants by type, purpose, funding agency, program source, and other relevant criteria;
- apply for a Federal grant using the website;
- manage, track, and report on the use of Federal grants using the website; and
- provide all required certifications and assurances for a Federal grant using the website.
Further still, this bill requires a strategy to provide plans, timelines and cost-estimates for:
- developing an entirely electronic, web-based process for managing Federal financial assistance, including the ability to--
- apply for Federal financial assistance;
- track the status of applications for and payments of Federal financial assistance;
- report on the use of Federal financial assistance, including how such use has been in furtherance of the objectives or purposes of the Federal financial assistance; and
- provide required certifications and assurances;
- ensuring full compliance by Federal agencies with the requirements of this Act;
- establishing common applications and financial and performance reporting forms and requirements, regardless of whether the Federal financial assistance programs are administered by different Federal agencies;
- developing mechanisms to ensure compatibility between Federal financial assistance administration systems and State systems to facilitate the importing and exporting of data;
- developing common certifications and assurances, as appropriate, for all Federal financial assistance programs that have common or similar purposes, regardless of whether the Federal financial assistance programs are administered by different Federal agencies; and
- minimizing the number of different systems used to disburse Federal financial assistance.
This bill has been forwarded to the House of Representatives for consideration. The full text as of 3/18/09 is found here.
