On November 20, 1999, the President signed into law the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act (Public Law 106-107) the purposes of which are to improve the delivery of services to the public and the effectiveness and performance of Federal grant programs. Federal agencies are working with OMB to: (1) develop uniform administrative rules and common application and reporting systems; (2) replace paper with electronic processing in administration of grant programs; and (3) identify statutory impediments to grant program simplification.

Consultation with the recipient community is an important part of the grant program simplification effort. We welcome ideas to make it easier for State, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations to apply for and report on Federal grants. Please send your comments via email to Kate Oliver and be sure to include the name of the organization you represent.

We want to know which processes in the grants life cycle need streamlining and/or improvement, and your suggestions for achieving improvement. We need to know what is most important to you, in terms of grants simplification. Finally, because we need to focus our efforts on those programs in greatest need of review and streamlining, we want you to identify the specific grant program(s) that you find most burdensome, and some detail as to why you find them to be so.

Your input is valued, and is part of the larger process of achieving the goals of P. L. 106-107 (Initial Plan), namely simplification of Federal grant programs for the benefit of our recipients. Please note there will not be any individual response to the input, however we intend to periodically provide summary information relating to implementation of the law, under a heading for P.L. 106-107 link in the Office of Acquisition and Property Management Home Page.

Thank you for your participation.