Grantium has now issued its own press release (following from that issued by CGI Federal a while ago) about their alternative solution to Grants.gov, called the Find & Apply Portal.
Grantium’s Grants Find & Apply Portal is an alternative solution to Grants.gov, delivering the functionality of Grants.gov Find and Apply. Based on Grantium’s industry-leading G3™ software, the Front Office Applicant Portal, which is currently being used by U.S. federal agencies, the portal allows agencies to post or publish Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA), offers 24 x 7 access to applicants via standard web browsers, and includes pre-configured standard federal application submission forms (SF-424, A, B, C, D).
To enable agencies to respond quickly, Grantium’s Grants Find & Apply Portal will be offered as either a hosted and managed solution, or one to be implemented in the agency’s environment. Agencies will be able to make a transparent transition from Grants.gov to their own find and apply system, thereby complying with the OMB requirements for alternatives to Grants.gov.
This is already in use in at least one Federal agency, and Grantium’s G3 suite is deployed elsewhere, too. (Disclosure: TCG is involved in one of the projects.)
What exactly are “the OMB requirements for alternatives to Grants.gov” referenced in Grantium’s press release? Is OMB actually encouraging agencies not to use Grants.gov?
See this blog posting, Haig: http://blog.tcg.com/tcg/2009/03/grantsgov-has-significant-risk-of-failure-says-omb.html
Silly me, I should have read the press release before I asked my second question. I guess my real second question should have been “Does OMB expect agencies, once they have moved to a Grants.gov alternative for the peak period of increased activity related to the Recovery Act, to later move back to Grants.gov?” And I would also ask now, does OMB’s guidance require agencies who move to an alternative system also continue to list their NOFAs on the Grants.gov site? Basically, does OMB’s guidance risk fragmenting the one-stop-shop that Grants.gov represents?
The guidance isn’t specific but the expectation is that these measures will be used to handle the ARRA programs only, with agencies returning to Grants.gov in full afterwards. See http://blog.tcg.com/tcg/2009/03/we-will-return-to-grantsgov-say-several-agencies.html.