Three agencies given go-ahead as others told to curtail spending on new or modernized systems
The mostly dormant Grants Line of Business initiative will come alive this year when the Office of Management and Budget gives three agencies the authority to become cross-agency shared-services providers.
In the fiscal 2007 budget released today, the administration will name the Education Department, the Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Children and Families, and the National Science Foundation as grants consortia centers of excellence, according to industry and government sources.
Sources also said OMB expects to add up to three more grants management shared-services providers over the next year or so.
Spending limit
The administration will limit how much money agencies can spend on developing, modernizing and enhancing current grant management systems, sources said. In 2005, agencies spent about $144 million on DME for grant systems. All requests for funding to update grant management systems must be justified, sources said, and will be allowed if agencies are expected to apply to become a center of excellence. All other requests to update grant management systems likely would be denied, sources said.
OMB included the provision in agency “pass back” language—instructions to agencies following budget negotiations—that mirrors similar wording the administration used for the financial management and human resources management consolidation efforts.
OMB will sort the consortia shared-service providers according to business processes. Agencies will move to the SSPs based on how they award grants, sources said.
Most of this year will be spent setting up the shared-service providers and creating an action plan; documenting policy, technical data, process guidelines and standards; and ensuring consistent operating-model and common business processes.
“The only important metric for these centers is how many customers they get and how quickly,” said David Cassidy, a vice president for Turner Consulting Group Inc. of Washington and a co-chair of National Grants Partnership White Paper Series Committee and a member of the Federal Grants Management Handbook Advisory Board.
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