OMB’s Federal Grant Reform Initiative — A Strategic News Briefing for Recipients and Subrecipients

March 22, 2012 Webinar - Listen On-Demand or Get a CD!

The On-Demand recording will be available immediately upon purchase* as a link within a PDF file of the accompanying written materials. CDs and printed materials are shipped via USPS.

Get help understanding OMB’s grants management reforms

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has kicked off an ambitious plan to reform the governmentwide policies that affect the administration, cost accounting, and audit of federal grants and cooperative agreements, and it is seeking input from the full range of recipients and subrecipients — from governmental units, higher education and the nonprofit sector.

On February 28, in an announcement published in the Federal Register, OMB sent up nearly 30 “trial balloons” on possible ways that the circulars it uses to form the critical mass of grants management requirements can be clarified, streamlined and improved. This is the most comprehensive effort that OMB has pursued in decades to overhaul federal assistance management. It also represents a rare opportunity for recipients and subrecipients to identify policies that have caused them longstanding problems and to suggest solutions from the “receiving end” of federal grants.

The first step in the process is a 30-day comment period that will allow interested parties to react to OMB’s ideas as well as suggest ones of their own. That comment period closes March 29. After OMB sifts through those comments, it intends to propose actual text changes to the circulars and to propose incorporating them into a comprehensive federal assistance regulation to be codified in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations. A 60-day public comment period is expected to parallel that effort.

Some of the proposals that are on the table include:

• Raising the thresholds that would trigger audit coverage under the Single Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133;
• Streamlining the number of compliance requirements that would be tested in single audits;
• Encouraging broader use of predetermined indirect (facilities and administrative) cost rates;
• Exploring alternatives to current burdensome time and effort reporting procedures; and
• Consolidating and coordinating the current administrative requirements for governmental and nongovernmental grantees.

To help federal grant recipients and subrecipients better understand what is being proposed and to effectively position them to comment on the OMB proposal, Federal Fund Management Advisor is offering a strategic news briefing on Thursday, March 22 at 2:00 PM EDT.

The briefing will be conducted by Bob Lloyd, a principal of Federal Fund Management Advisor and a veteran of nearly 40 years of experience working with the OMB requirements. He’ll analyze the proposals by clarifying how they would affect what is currently required and by gauging their possible impact going forward. He’ll also identify issues that OMB has not included in its list that have been documented as problems by the recipient community in the past and for which solutions are still needed.

Sign up for this valuable session that is intended to help you understand what the changes could mean to you and help you put your organization’s imprint on future grants management policy.

Level: Intermediate. Some knowledge of federal grant management and audit requirements is helpful

Hand-out Materials

Attendees will receive presentation slides as well as a copy of the notice.

About the Presenter

BOB LLOYD is a respected authority on policies and practices affecting the award, administration and oversight of federal grants, contracts and subawards. Mr. Lloyd has nearly 40 years of experience in federal award implementation. Prior to starting his management consulting practice in Washington, D.C., in 1982, he served as the executive director of the Grants Management Advisory Service and held staff positions in two large federally funded organizations. Since then, he has been a consultant, trainer or advisor to award and audit units in sixteen federal award-making departments and agencies, and to recipient and subrecipient organizations and their professional advisors located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, several U.S territories and 18 foreign countries. He is the principal author of several reference works on federal grants management and audits, and currently serves as contributing editor to Federal Grants News and Federal Auditing News, published jointly by Atlantic Information Services, NACUBO and NCURA. He also is a Charter Life Member of the National Grants Management Association and served on its Board of Directors for five years.

Who Should Attend?

• Sponsored Programs Administrators
• Grant and Subgrant Managers
• Finance Directors and Staff
• Program Managers
• Internal Auditors
• External Auditors

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