Federal Grant Reporting Changes & Post-Award Grant Management

Federal grant reporting requirements will change in 2017. Our partner’s annual survey of grant managers shares their post-award grant management mindset.

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Federal grant reporting is coming in 2017 with the Digital Accountability & Transparency Act (DATA Act).

The DATA Act standardizes federal spending across agencies so that it can be analyzed, shared and more easily understood. Since it passed in 2014, according to Amplifund, the Treasury has been working on data standards for reporting. U.S. Health and Human Services is currently collecting data from grant recipients for pilot testing.

Another proposed law targeting grant performance accountability, the OPEN Government Data Act, would require all federally collected data to be in machine-readable, open data formats.

With federal grant reporting requirements close on the horizon, local government grant managers are being asked to think about grant management strategies that most efficiently deliver data as well as how they can leverage automation technologies.

In its 2016 State of Grant Management Report, Amplifund, a partner of Efficientgov.com, found that post-award grant management is frustrating the majority of grant management professionals surveyed.

The survey also found that most grant managers are still using manual, document-based processes that silo data, are time-consuming to work with and increase the potential for manual error.

While most grant managers surveyed may think that federal grant reporting requirements will mean more work for them, the report indicates the requirements could actually result in time management benefits. Federal data collection standardization can reduce the amount of time grantees spend submitting data to multiple federal agencies, Amplifund said. Further, reformatting duplicative information to meet specific federal agency submission requirements could also become a thing of the past.

The report supports the thinking that automation has the potential to decrease the time and resources local governments spend on post-grant reporting.

Some key 2016 findings from the Amplifund grant managers survey are:

  • 68% have annual grant revenues of more than $1 million
  • 44% rely primarily on federal grants
  • 80% receive some form of federal grants
  • 64% rely on ad hoc documents and processes to manage grant awards
  • 19% of respondents use grant management software

The report contains further details and insights from grant managers in local governments and non-profit organizations.

For more information, download the report on Amplifund’s website.

Andrea Fox is Editor of Gov1.com and Senior Editor at Lexipol. She is based in Massachusetts.

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