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
