State and local governments: how are you managing grant subrecipients and subawards?

State and local governments are the prime recipients for a tidal wave of federal grants via the CARES Act, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This unprecedented volume of federal dollars can overwhelm existing management capacity.

To successfully operationalize these grants, governments are making subawards to subrecipients. For example, instead of handling distribution itself, a health department can allocate funds to nonprofit providers, which then distribute to eligible individuals.

It’s an effective strategy for increasing capacity and broadening reach. It also introduces a set of challenges around managing grant subrecipients and subawards. How can state and local governments increase their odds of success when adopting this strategy?

That’s a question I’ll be tackling in a series of articles. Stay tuned for posts of three leading practices for states. Follow me here so you don’t miss a post, and if you’ll be at NASC 2022 in March, let’s talk more in Oklahoma City.