County County Grant Process Flowchart Overview of Grant Process

Transcription

1 County County Grant Process Flowchart Overview of Grant Process DRAFT 5/13/08 Pre-Award From time of idea to seek funding until county receives funding from source such as federal government, state legislature or foundation Application creation/ proposal Administration (approvals) State authorization OR County Board authorization Post-Award County s implementation of work plan through closeout of funds and activity Administration (approvals) Staff assignment Set up codes in financial systems Distribution of funds (if part of implementation plan) If grants are given out Pre-award Post-award RFP Development State Register Announcement Review submitted proposals Select vendor Negotiate contract Execute contract Monitor contract Close out contract Report to funder Closeout of funds/final report to funder

2 Pre Award General Process Flow 1 Find funding opportunities Funding opportunities are frequently found either through informal contacts/through web site lit servers/legislative proposals 2 Get approval to apply for a grant The benefit/cost of the grant application is determined as well as the project fit with the County s mission, goals, and priorities. This step may also include assigning staff to complete the rest of the process. 3 Write application and develop spending plan Depending on the grant topic or complexity, a wide variety of staff (in terms of function or hierarchy) may complete this step. This step may also include finding partners and determining what to do with the funds. 4 Review application The application may go through multiple levels of review within the County. The Director provides the official submittal of the application. 5 Get signatures and submit application The level of signature often depends on delegation agreements within the agency and value of the grant/contract. 6 Obtain legislative authority for program Send copy of application and policy note to ; and go through process when required (i.e. urgent request). 7 Negotiate with funder Engage in budget and workplan negotiations with funder when necessary. 8 Receive award Receive award letter (who receives letter depend on funder and application). Accept Award 9 Acceptance Process Acceptance letter/application is checked for accuracy and logged by county s grant coordinator Acceptance letter/application is reviewed by grant manager Acceptance letter/application is reviewed by division director Acceptance letter/application is reviewed by financial officer/ codes set-up Project/award is included in agency budget by budget manager Acceptance letter is signed by County Administrator or delegate (typically division director) Acceptance letter/project/grant is reviewed for changes in grant conditions, reporting requirements, liability, etc.

3 10 Refine spending plan developed in step 3 11 Other award-related activities Implement other items in spending plan submitted to the funder Respond to inquiries from funder about project(s) Provide programmatic and financial reports as needed 12 RFP/Distribution process Types: Competitive, allocated (formula), known recipient, entitlement or hybrid grants Type of grant may also be defined by the type of information collected through the application or progress report Notification (may include State Register, web site, and other, such as list servers) Application creation Legal, financial, and managerial review of RFP Application review Advisory/supervisory boards Documentation Auditable, transparent review criteria Federal requirements Electronic rank/score Staff review Conflict of interest Grantee selection Usually based on ranking with applicants being funded until the agency uses all funds Politics: executive decisions, geographic considerations, legislative intent Retention schedules important Implement Spending Plan 13 Negotiation with recipient Determine if full funding or partial funding Work plan and budget changes Indirect cost vs. administrative costs as separate line items Allowable indirect rate may be part of RFP State staff may review what is included in indirect cost requested by applicant Applicant may have negotiated indirect rate with the federal government Notification to all applicants - need to watch most recent changes in Minnesota law

4 14 Legal documents Program staff define grantee duties. Program staff or central administrative staff also create legal documents using Division templates, although the templates may be customized for specific purposes. Grant templates Different templates based on grantee type, value of grant, fund source, program type, etc. Master contract in certain situations with work orders for specific programs Annual Plans for activities costing $ or less Grant award letter (doesn t go through signature process/non-encumbered) Mostly for allocations, pass-through grants that are linked to state statute Provider letters Boilerplate language may be included in the RFP 15 Encumbrance Encumbrance set up in Financial System. Encumbrance may be set up solely by accounting staff or by contracts division. 16 Document processing Agency staff mail out contract to grantee for signature. Grantee returns grant contract to program staff. Agency staff check signatures and forward to finance staff. Finance staff change pre-encumbrance to encumbrance. 17 Evaluation Program evaluation by grantee is reviewed Monitoring Financial and programmatic monitoring are both done, including periodic site visits Financial monitoring and tracking is frequently done with Excel spreadsheet, Access database, or contracts database Level of detail required from grantees varies Budget revisions Auditing (in a general sense) Conduct internal audits on grants; it may be on a random sample or on all Site visits, desk reviews, audits

5 18 Advances Advances are available in most agencies depending on the program guidelines and what is reasonable for a particular grantee. If advances are made and interest is earned, the grantees are supposed to report interest and apply the interest to the program. Payments Payments may be made based on a specific form (financial status report) or a written invoice. Program staff approve individual invoices and provide the purchase order and purchase order line number to the finance staff to make payments. Formula and entitlement grants may be an automatic payment with, for example, 1/12 of the annual amount issued each month without program staff intervention. Generally payments are metered out for up to 90% of the total grant and then the grant is reconciled. 19 Amendment/Revisions Amendments are required for time (grant term) or budget changes Most agencies have thresholds for budget revisions based on the amount budgeted for a particular category Federal government guidelines call for them to be notified of a 10% change in a budget line item. Workplan changes may trigger an amendment or a revision An audit exception may cause a budget revision. 20 Project Closeout Advances are reconciled. 21 Funding Source Closeout Grant File Closeout (Record Retention Observed)