HHS to Lead Efforts to Transform the Federal Grants Management Process and Systems

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officially designated Grants.gov’s managing agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as a Quality Service Management Office (QSMO) for Grants Management.

With this designation, HHS will lead efforts to transform the federal grants management process end-to-end, including the four Grants Management Service Areas: Pre-Award, Award, Post-Award, and Closeout.

Other Quality Service Management Offices designated by OMB cover Cybersecurity Services, Core Financial Management, Compensation Management, Work Schedule and Leave Management Services.

Federal Funding 🔦 Spotlight: New Opportunities Supporting Public Health

This week’s edition of Federal Funding Spotlight 🔦 focuses on new opportunities from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supporting:

• National public health laboratories internationally
• Research into Alzheimer’s-Disease-Related Dementias
• Outstanding graduate students recognized for a strong interest in pursuing careers as independent cancer researchers, and more.

HHS Conference Affords Glimpse Into ‘Reinvention’ of Federal Grants Management

As federal agencies continue their move towards a more data-centric approach to grants management, areas like grantee risk assessment and performance evaluation are positioned to reap the early benefits of the ongoing data revolution in government.

On June 6, attendees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Grants Management Conference in Shady Grove, MD were given glimpses of how data can be leveraged to help achieve mission objectives more effectively and efficiently.

At HHS, improving efficiency by even a single percentage point can mean billions of dollars saved, said Michael Peckham, who heads up the Reinvent Grants Management initiative at HHS.

In fiscal year 2018, for example, about 67% of all federal grants came from HHS, totaling about $509 billion. Peckham, citing a study by the Federal Demonstration Partnership, said that an estimated 44% of awarded grant funds are spent on grantor and grantee overhead.

“Imagine creating efficiencies and reducing administrative burden by 1% annually” and utilizing those funds for mission objectives, he said.

In fact, a range of data-related reforms are already being rolled out and tested within HHS. These efforts are laying the foundation for the more efficient and effective use of federal grant funds in the coming years.

Grants.gov Workspace Wins Award for Innovative, Collaborative Enhancements

Grants.gov recently received a 2019 FedHealthIT Innovation award for the improvements it has made to the federal grant application process with Workspace.

Health industry news organization FedHealthIT (FedHealthInnovation & Technology) brought together a panel of judges from across the sector who made their award decisions “with a primary focus on innovation and results achieved.”

The Latest in Federal Grants: 5 Funding Opportunities Announced This Week

This week’s Federal Funding Spotlight features programs that aim to…

• strengthen humanities programs at community colleges;
• reduce the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorder in rural communities;
• assist state, tribal, local government agencies and interstate/intertribal entities in developing programs which protect, manage, and restore wetlands;
• build mutual understanding between the United States and other nations through carefully designed short-term visits to the United States for current and emerging foreign leaders.

Click here to view the latest funding opportunities published to Grants.gov.

#FundingFriday: Unrestricted Opportunities from the Departments of Energy, Defense, Health and Human Services and the Agency for International Development

This week’s installment of #FundingFriday focuses on recently-posted opportunities that are categorized as having “Unrestricted” eligibility. Note: “Unrestricted” (i.e., open to any type of entity above) opportunities are subject to any clarification listed under “Additional Information on Eligibility” on the synopsis.

Materials and Chemical Sciences Research for Quantum Information Science

Department of Energy – Office of Science

Current Closing Date for Applications: May 3, 2019 

The DOE SC program in Basic Energy Sciences (BES) announces its interest in receiving applications from single investigators/small groups (up to $500K per year) and from large teams (over $500K per year) for support of experimental and theoretical efforts to advance materials and chemical sciences research for quantum information science (QIS).  Large teams must have multiple investigators and may have multiple institutions. This funding opportunity supports fundamental research for public benefit in materials and chemical sciences to advance our understanding of quantum phenomena in systems that could be used for QIS, and the use of quantum computing in chemical and materials sciences research.

#FundingFriday: Grant Announcements From DOJ, HHS, NEH and More

This week’s edition of #FundingFriday highlights federal grants supporting the digitization and preservation of historical newspaper content, legal assistance for the victims of sexual assault, and networking and cyberinfrastructure improvements for science and research institutions.

Click here for a full list of new and recent federal grant opportunity announcements.

Funding Friday: Federal Grants Supporting Nutrition

This week’s edition of #FundingFriday highlights federal programs supporting food and nutrition.

School Nutrition Training Grant for Allied Professional Organizations

• Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service
• Closing Date: January 28, 2019
• School Nutrition Training Grant for AlliedProfessional Organizations funds will assist allied professional organizations in planning, developing, promoting, delivering, and evaluating a workforce development and training initiative to provide skills-based training and technical assistance for school nutrition professionals to strengthen school meals program operators’ competencies, knowledge, and skills within one or more of the eight (8) key functional areas.

#FundingFriday: Federal Grant Programs Supporting Community Development, Refugees and Environmental Protection

If you don’t have time to regularly browse the funding opportunities posted on Grants.gov, consider setting up a saved search that will ping you every time a grant relevant to your interests is posted to Grants.gov.

You may also want to download the official Grants.gov mobile app (App Store | Google Play), which makes it easy to browse and subscribe to opportunities while you’re on the move – or on the couch.

Here’s a selection of new funding opportunity announcements that have been posted to Grants.gov in recent days.

Refugee Individual Development Accounts (IDA) Program (Forecast)

• Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families – ORR
• Estimated Closing Date: April 28, 2019
• The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announces funding for the Refugee Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) Program, which establishes and manages Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for low-income refugee participants. Eligible refugee participants who enroll in these projects will open and contribute systematically to IDAs for specified Savings Goals, including home ownership, business capitalization, vehicles for educational or work purposes, professional certification, and education (limited to postsecondary and/or continuing education, college entrance exam fees, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and General Education Development (GED) Diploma preparation and test fees).

#FundingFriday: 5 Federal Grant Programs Supporting Developments in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

This week’s edition of #FundingFriday highlights open federal grant opportunities relating to artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. For tips on how to use Grants.gov’s keyword search, click here.

Big Data Analysis of Synchrophasor Data

Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory

Closing Date: November 9, 2018

This program aims to explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on PMU data to identify and improve existing knowledge, and to discover new insights and tools for better grid operation and management.