(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) To clarify potential confusion resulting from “ambiguous” language in the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act (GONE Act) (Pub. L. 114-117), the chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) recently issued a letter to Congress stating that each federal agency Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) will conduct risk assessments of their respective agency’s grant closeout process as required under the act by March 31, 2020.

CIGIE, an independent entity established to address integrity, economy and effectiveness issues across federal OIGs, sent the letter to members of both the House and Senate to summarize discussions it had addressed in a meeting with Congress on the topic a month earlier.

To improve the financial accountability of grant programs, the GONE Act requires federal agencies to report to Congress annually on the number of grants awarded and expired, but that have not been closed out and the reasons for the delay in closing out these awards. The first report was due at the end of 2017.

Each agency, within one year after submitting their report, will be required to notify the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about: (1) whether it has closed out all of the grant awards in the annual report, and (2) which awards have not been closed out. HHS, within 90 days after receiving these notices from all the federal awarding agencies or by March 31, whichever is sooner, will report to Congress on federal agency closeout efforts.

After federal agencies with more than $500 million in annual grant funding have submitted their initial report to Congress and HHS, the OIG of those agencies, within one year, will conduct a risk assessment to determine if an audit or review of the agency’s grant closeout process is warranted. OMB, within six months after HHS submits the follow-up report to Congress, shall report to Congress on recommendations for legislation to improve accountability and oversight in grants management, including the timely closeout of a federal grant award. The GONE Act aims to provide greater enforcement of existing grant closeout guidance under §200.343 of the uniform grant guidance.

(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time on Thompson’s Grants Compliance Expert site.)

As a reminder, we have all of our Federal Funding Training Forums scheduled for 2018. Please let me know if you have questions or can make any of these. We hope to see you there!

• Wednesday Feb 7 – Friday Feb 9 in PHOENIX

http://www.federalgrantsforum.com/phoenix/index.html?src=AT

• Wednesday May 1 – Friday May 4 in ST LOUIS

http://www.federalgrantsforum.com/stlouis/index.html?src=AT

• Wednesday July 25 – Friday July 27 in MINNEAPOLIS

http://www.federalgrantsforum.com/minneapolis/index.html?src=AT

• Wednesday October 17 – Friday October 19 in ATLANTA

http://www.federalgrantsforum.com/atlanta/index.html?src=AT