A federal grant is an award of financial assistance from a Federal agency to a recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States. Grants are not Federal assistance or loans to individuals. Grants can also be provided by foundations, corporations, small business and individuals. Most grants are made to fund a specific project (for example, increased security at an airport) and require some level of reporting. The process involves an applicant submitting a proposal to a potential funder, either on the applicant's own initiative or in response to a Request for Proposals from the funder and then tracking the details associated with a potential award.
Departments that pursue additional grant funds for projects due to changes in state/local funding structures and the ever-present need for additional funding will benefit from a central repository to track these opportunities. The Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem allows users to view the global lifecycle of a grant from the opportunity identification to the audit/close-out stages in order to analyze funding streams that are in the pipeline. In turn, the Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem functions as a tool for Grant Managers, Project Managers, and Fiscal Officers to manage and track funds throughout the grant lifecycle.
Benefits of the Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem are as follows:
Provides a global view of grant opportunities, potential grant revenue, and grants status
Facilitates grant opportunity, application, award, and incremental amendment tracking at all organizational levels thereby improving visibility into grant opportunities and forecasting resource needs
Identify patterns for lost grant dollars or failures to win competitive awards
The Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem differs from the Cost Accounting (CA) subsystem in that the CA subsystem tracks the grant AFTER the award of grant funds and the grantee (entity awarded the grant) is spending money from the grant. However, grant funds and any applicable grantor requirements must be continuously monitored to ensure that departments will not be forced to return awarded funds that have not been spent at the end of the eligible grant period. Therefore, Advantage Financial via the Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem will now have a method of tracking:
Information prior to grant award
Other details during/after the award
Amendment process
Audit/Close-Out
The Grant Lifecycle Management subsystem can be used separately or in conjunction with Cost Accounting. For more information, refer to the CGI Advantage - Cost Accounting User Guide.
Grant Lifecycle Management Overview includes the following tabs: