Grants Division

Assessment

April, 2007

Grants Division Assessment

Prepared For

Grants Division

Prepared By

Sarah Fields
Seminole County SCINET Business Analyst

Contributors

Jennifer Bero

Seminole County Grants Coordinator

Karla Alvarado

UCF SCINET Project Manager

SUMMARY

The Grants division under the Fiscal Service department at Seminole County has requested consideration for the development and implementation of a grant tracking database that will interact with SCI.Net. Based on the initial analysis it appears the development of a Grants Administration system will increase profitability, availability, responsiveness, reliability, completeness, and collaboration.

INTRODUCTION

During fiscal year 2005 – 2006 the number of grants Seminole County pursued grew from 9, totaling in excess of $3,000,000 for the first quarter, to 20, totaling in excess of $5,800,000 for the fourth quarter. During the first quarter of 2006 – 2007 the numbers rose to 20 grants, in excess of $7,300,000. Additionally, Seminole County recently signed a contract with a new consulting firm which is expected to significantly increase the quantity of grants pursued by the County.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Currently a Grant division staff member enters the information into an Excel spreadsheet to track the progress and provide reporting information to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC). This same Grant division staff member also enters the information for each grant into the Agenda Process and later enters additional information in the spreadsheets for tracking purposes. Continuing with this process, the number of grants Seminole County can pursue may be limited by the hours available for maintaining the necessary data. The ability to locate historical data will also increasingly become more difficult and cumbersome potentially delaying the processing of information requests.

OBJECTIVES

Following are the main objectives of the new Grant Administration system:

1.  Provide a central database that can be accessed any time from any where, increasing the speed and efficiency of the Grant Application process.

2.  Individuals across Seminole County able to enter their grant request information directly into the system for the Grants Coordinator to process.

3.  The consulting firm able to directly access the information they require and in turn enter or upload the data they provide.

4.  As each grant reaches the Agenda process the new Grants Administration system will interact with the SCI.Net Agenda Process to upload the necessary data, thereby reducing the potential for entry errors and eliminating duplication of data input.

5.  As the grants continue to move through the process the Grant Administrator will be able to track all grants through a single system.

6.  The County Commissioners, County Manager, Department Managers, other County employees, and potentially Seminole County citizens, will be able to view the status of any grant requested at any time eliminating the necessity of waiting for the Grants Coordinator to have time to provide requested information.

STAKEHOLDERS

The major stakeholders of the Grants system can be divided into primary stakeholders, secondary stakeholders, and providers of information. Primary stakeholders are those that are ultimately affected by the Grants system output. Secondary stakeholders include everyone else that has any kind of involvement with the Grant system. Providers of information are those whose output is the Grants system input process. Table 1 displays the Grants stakeholders and separates them into primary, secondary, and providers of information. A brief description of who the Grant stakeholder is and any potential impact or concern they may have is provided.

The primary stakeholders are:

  County Departments seeking grants: Other Seminole County Departments/Divisions/Sections

  Other Constitutional Offices such as the Sheriff’s Department

  Other Agencies (UCF, Cities, School Board, surrounding Counties)

The secondary stakeholders consist of:

  Grantors: Entities offering and issuing grants as a means for funding various programs

  County citizens: General population of Seminole County

  Other Constitutional Offices (Clerk of Court, County Finance)

  Seminole County Commissioners: County district elected representatives

Providers:

  Consultants: Consulting firm contracted to assist Seminole County locating and applying for grants

Stakeholders / Who Are They? / Potential Impact(s) or Concern(s)
PRIMARY / County Departments seeking grants / Other County Departments/Divisions/Sections / §  Improve overall assessment (+)
§  Budget (+)
Other Constitutional Offices / Sheriff’s Department / §  Budget (+)
§  Accurate information (+)
Other Agencies / UCF, Cities, School Board, surrounding Counties / §  Budget (+)
§  Accurate information (+)
SECONDARY / Grantors / Entities offering and issuing grants as a means for funding various programs / §  Improve overall assessment (+)
§  Accurate information (+)
County citizens / General population of Seminole County / §  Improve overall assessment (+)
§  Accurate information (+)
Other Constitutional Offices / Clerk of Court, County Finance / §  Accurate information (+)
County Commissioners / County district elected representatives / §  Accurate information (+)
§  Improve overall assessment (+)
PROVIDERS OF INFORMATION / Consultants / Consulting firm contracted to assist Seminole County locating and applying for grants / §  Improve overall assessment (+)
§  Accurate information (+)

DESCRIPTION

General

The general steps in the grants tracking process are as follows:

·  Step 1 – A grant opportunity is identified via one of the following methods:

o  A request is submitted to the Grants division and the Grants Coordinator searches for a grant. When a grant is identified the initial information is sent to the requestor

o  The Consultant advises of grant opportunities and a Project Manager wishes to pursue the opportunity

o  A Project Manager searches the E-Civis database and identifies a grant they wish to pursue

·  Step 2 – The project and grant are presented to the Grants Review Team

·  Step 3 – Agenda process to request approval to submit an application for the grant

·  Step 4 – The grant application is prepared via one of the following methods:

o  The grant information is provided to the Consultant to write the application

§  The application is presented to the Project Manager for review

o  The Project Manager completes the application

§  Unless the application is non-competitive it should be sent to the Consultant for review and is returned to the Project Manager upon completion

·  Step 5 - The grant application is submitted to the Grantor with all pertinent details for consideration

·  Step 6 – The Grants Coordinator and Project Manager monitor the grant’s progress

·  Step 7 - There are two possibilities at this point – the grant may be denied or awarded

o  Notification is sent to the Commissioners and the Grant Review Team

o  If denied, a response to the submitting Project Manager is sent and the grant is closed unless the Consultant determines the grant should be challenged or resubmitted

o  If awarded, the process continues as follows:

·  Step 8 – Agenda process for agreement approval, signature and Budget Amendment Request

·  Step 9 – If approved, the grant agreement is sent to the Grantor

·  Step 10 – The grant is monitored for compliance by the Grants Coordinator and Project Manager

·  Step 11 - When the grant period has ended the grant is closed

o  Some grants may be renewed or extended

Following a detail description of each step of the Grant process:

Step 1

A grant opportunity is identified via one of the following methods:

·  A request is submitted to the Grants division via email, hard-copy, or phone to locate a grant that will apply to a particular project. The Grants Coordinator searches for a grant. When a grant is identified the initial information is sent to the requestor

The data required includes:

­  Project Title

­  Project Description (optional)

­  Requestor’s Name

­  Requestor’s Contact i.e. extension or phone number

­  Department

­  Division

­  Request Method (email, hard-copy, verbal)

­  Request Date

­  Status/Comment

­  Status/Comment Date

When a grant has been identified (or a search period of six months has expired with no identified results) a response is sent to the requestor via email, hard-copy, or phone/verbal. The data required includes:

­  Reply Date

­  Reply Format

­  Method of Identification (eCivis, Department, etc)

­  Grant Locator

­  Grant Title

­  Due Date

­  Amount Available

­  Match (three options, Yes, No, Unknown)

­  Match Requirement (percentage or other, and field to display the amount)

­  Grantor Name

­  Grantor Contact (phone, email, address, website, liaison if applicable)

­  Grant Program

­  Status/Comments (may include a brief description of the requirements or submission steps for the requestor to follow)

­  Status/Comments Date

Additional information is pulled from the request entry when the grant is identified and the request is marked as such. One request may generate more than one grant being identified.

·  The Consultant advises of grant opportunities and a Project Manager wishes to pursue the opportunity

The Consultant sends weekly emails of announced grants. Occasionally email announcements are sent as often as daily regarding announcements that may be of interest. The Consultant also attends the monthly Grant Review meetings where information is shared. If a Project Manager is interested in a grant that is announced an email is sent to the Grants Coordinator and the Consultant.

·  A Project Manager searches the E-Civis database and identifies a grant they wish to pursue

Step 2

The project and grant are presented to the Grants Review Team. The required fields include:

­  Date of Grant Review Team

­  Actions (approved, denied)

­  Comments/determination

Step 3

Agenda process to request approval to submit an application for the grant:

If a grant is identified without first placing a request with the Grants Division the entry may begin at this point, fields normally filled from previous entries will be entered and the process initiated here.

In addition to the information entered during previous steps the following data will be required:

­  BCC Agenda Date

­  BCC Approval Date

­  Action

­  Application Preparer (Department Staff, Grants Admin, Consultant, Other)

­  Status/Comments

­  Status/Comments Date

­  Grant Type (Local, State, Federal, Pass-Through, Foundation)

If the grant is not approved by the BCC or is returned for additional information/research/action additional fields may be required. The grant status will be one of the following options: Considering, In Process, Submitted, Declined, Denied, Awarded, Closed.

The Grants Coordinator may withdraw the agenda item at any point during the agenda process if the Project Manager determines they will not be able to proceed with the project the grant funding is dedicated to.

Step 4

Application is prepared via one of the following methods:

·  The grant information is provided to the Consultant to write the application

o  The application is presented to the Project Manager for review

·  The Project Manager completes the application

o  Unless the application is non-competitive it should be sent to the Consultant (via hard-copy of email) for review and is returned to the Project Manager upon completion

The Project Manager submits directly to the Grantor – the Grants Coordinator should be notified at this point; follow is usually required to determine when an application is complete.

Step 5

The grant application is submitted to the Grantor with all pertinent details for consideration:

The following fields are required in addition to the previous information:

­  Submission Date

­  Response Date

­  Status/Comments

­  Status/Comments Date

­  Selection Option for Denied/Awarded

Any additional information or contact during this step is entered with a date. This may include a denial and resubmission with additional information or a challenge to the decision made by the Grantor.

Step 6

The Grants Coordinator, Project Manager and Consultant, monitor the grant’s progress.

Step 7

There are two possibilities at this point – the grant may be denied or awarded

·  Notification is sent to the Commissioners, County Management, and Grants Review Team.

·  If denied, a response to the submitting Project Manager is sent and the grant is closed unless the consultant determines the grant should be challenged or resubmitted.

·  If awarded, additional data is required as follows:

o  Contract Number

o  Catalog Number

o  Fund/Company

o  Revenue Account

o  Expenditure Business Unit

o  Award Amount

o  Match Requirement

o  Award Date

o  Additional data may be required at this time such as reporting requirements or other details provided by the Grantor

o  The process continues as follows:

Step 8

Agenda process for agreement approval, signature, and Budget Amendment Request.

Step 9

If approved the grant agreement is sent to the Grantor.

Step 10

The grant is monitored for compliance by the Project Manager.

Step 11

When the grant period has ended the grant is closed.

·  Some grants may be renewed or extended

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

A Grants process improvement was performed with the use of SCI.Net best practices and the ideas of the Grants Coordinator. Proposed flow charts have been created as well as a set of recommendations per process.

Potential areas of improvement have been found due to the current lack of use of technology. More than 80% of what Grants does is written on paper or typed in email messages. The use of technology will significantly increase the effectiveness of the Grants processes. Also, it was observed that the use of multiple systems, which are not connected, has created additional difficulties for data tracking and sharing. A Grants system must be in place in order to work more efficiently. This new system must interface with external databases as well. Interviews with Project Managers are recommended to ensure all data fields necessary for grant tracking are included in the system.