They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, in this case, I can certainly believe it. When I first saw the picture accompanying this post, my jaw hit the floor. When I showed it to others, their reaction was similar. My first question was, “Who in their right mind designed this intersection!?!” As if it’s not dangerous enough for train tracks to simply cross a multi-line street, but to place it diagonally (!) through a major intersection makes absolutely no sense.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Single Audit Information Service.) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) plans to help states conduct self-assessments of their Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) block grant policies and procedures to determine if they maintain program integrity and prevent fraud, in response to the recent HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit.

Those who have been on this earth as long as I have may remember the famous line to the old Alka-Seltzer commercial, “I can’t believe I ate the WHOLE thing.” I’m sure we’ve all had days like that when we’ve gorged on a fabulous meal only to realize later that it was all a bit more than we could digest. Sometimes we’re better off handing things in smaller portions.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) As the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) evaluates the level of administrative burden on awardees under the uniform guidance, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) encouraged OMB and other agencies to specifically review requirements for research grants to universities to reduce awardee administrative workload and costs.

Scenario: You receive phone call or email from a purported federal employee, congratulating you on winning the grant and asking for your organization’s financial information so that you can pay to activate or qualify for the award…what should you do?

It may have taken the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) until this month to finally release the 2016 2 C.F.R. Part 200 Appendix XI Compliance Supplement, but at least it addressed a timely issue that couldn’t wait any longer. This issue is discussed in the first section of Appendix VII of the supplement.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Single Audit Information Service.) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has revised Circular A-123, which now integrates enterprise risk management (ERM) with internal controls in federal program planning and operations to improve accountability.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Development Handbook.) The Department of Education (ED) proposed to amend its institutional eligibility regulations for programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to clarify that institutions of higher education (IHEs) operating distance learning and correspondence course programs must acquire authorization from the state in which the program is offered to students. The proposed rule also would amend the regulations to require IHE disclosures.

Finally, fireworks! The 2016 Compliance Supplement is now available. Perhaps in the spirit of the Olympic Games currently underway in Brazil, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set a record of its own this year — marking the latest date in which the Compliance Supplement has ever been released. An announcement of its release was made in today’s Federal Register.

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Development Handbook.) Congress adjourned for a seven-week recess on July 15 without passing emergency appropriations legislation that would have made supplemental funding available for federal grants to fight the spread of Zika.