Grants Management

What Does a Federal Grant Manager Do?

According to the most recent occupational information published by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), grants management includes some or all of the following tasks:

Full Award Lifecycle Tasks

  • Awarding and administering grants, cooperative agreements, or other related instruments

  • Designing, developing, implementing, and interpreting grants/assistance management policies, procedures, and practices

  • Providing training, technical assistance, oversight, ethics advice, expertise, and consultation to program officials, awardees, review panels, applicants, recipients, and subrecipients as needed

  • Reviewing and evaluating adequacy of grants/assistance policies and procedures

  • Serving as liaison between the U.S. Federal Government and external customers, recipients, and awardee community to clarify, interpret, and resolve issues

  • Initiating, planning, and conducting surveys and studies to recommend changes to policies, procedures, and regulations

Pre-Award Phase

  • Announcing programs and soliciting applications or proposals for funding under assistance awards

  • Overseeing, reviewing, analyzing, and evaluating grants/assistance applications, plans, and estimates

  • Determining awardee eligibility using formulas and methodology and established eligibility criteria, such as competitive rating factors

  • Conducting risk assessments and business reviews

Award Phase

  • Negotiating terms and conditions of grants/assistance awards to include costs, schedules, and oversight responsibilities

Post Award Phase

  • Preparing, processing, issuing, and tracking grants/assistance awards and compliance with reporting requirements

  • Conducting program evaluation, including monitoring and assessing awardee performance, and establishing performance measures

  • Monitoring, assessing, and ensuring awardee complies with all terms and conditions of award

  • Initiating and/or recommending that an audit be performed

  • Conducting resolution of audit findings or monitoring audit resolution in partnership with resolution officials

  • Conducting post-award reviews and analyses to identify management, financial, and administrative issues

  • Ensuring recipients of Federal funds comply with Government’s environmental and other requirements

  • Performing final review of completed awards, making appropriate adjustments or disallowances, and processing close-outs; and ensuring compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)