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Federal grant management: 8 key compliance areas for post-award success

Dec. 4, 2023 · Authored by Miranda Wojciechowski

The past few years have seen a windfall of federal grant program written into recent legislation. In November 2021, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law, resulting in a historic $1.2 trillion investment in hundreds of funding opportunities to improve our nation’s highway and bridges, transit systems, railroads, broadband networks, energy grids, drinking water and more. Nearly a year later, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allocated more than $500 billion in new funding to grant programs, tax incentives and loan guarantees. With IIJA and IRA grant programs rolling out new selections for initial funding cycles every day, some public sector entities are receiving their first federal grant awards in organizational memory.

Post-award compliance with federal regulations and award conditions can be a convoluted and time-consuming process, but it’s one well worth navigating. Compliance begins with grant pursuit and can prove just as vital to your organization’s bottom line, avoiding costly legal mistakes, enabling you to keep current awards through project completion, and increasing your readiness for future funding opportunities. Regardless of program or agency, all proposals for federal grants undergo applicant risk assessments during evaluation, including review of financial stability, quality of management systems, history of past performance, audit reports and findings, and ability to effectively implement requirements. Building relationships with your program officers can also provide insights into future opportunities through greater transparency into the agency’s planned activities and priorities. A strong track record of managing federal grants can thus be a vital element of your pursuit strategy, opening the door to more funding down the road. 

So, how can utilities, municipalities and tribes pursuing and receiving federal grant funding set themselves up for success with post-award management?

Fundamental compliance standards for federal awards

First, upon receiving an award, the project or grant managers should familiarize themselves with the administrative guidelines and requirements set for their particular federal award. Three documents that are essential reading for new federal recipients include: authorizing legislation, Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) guidance and federal agency/program office procedures, grant agreement terms and conditions/award specifications based on risk and other factors.

Authorizing legislation

The authorizing legislation that allocated funding to the relevant federal grant program takes top priority in the complicated hierarchy of rules and regulations for their usage. The federal agency administering the program will pass down these stipulations through NOFO guidance released when soliciting applications; the legislation will determine the priorities for selection, eligible uses of funds and in certain cases, add legislatively specific guidelines for recipients. A good example of this is the Build America Buy America requirements for domestic procurement attached to all grants receiving money through the IIJA the past few years. Being familiar with the restrictions and priorities attached to IIJA or IRA funding can ensure your organization is prepared to receive awards from these grant programs.