The survey began by seeking general background directly from the state comptrollers—asking them explicitly not to reach out to their state agencies. Accenture and NASACT expected that, to some degree, comptrollers might not know the detailed and accounting level of the grants management process.
These findings provide further evidence of decentralization and the opportunity that exists for states to better manage their grant management process. When asked how many applications their states had submitted in the last 12 months across all agencies, 76 percent of comptrollers did not know.
When asked about the number of grants awarded during the same time period, 84 percent did not know. We interpreted these responses to mean that the information is either being managed in a decentralized manner, or not at all.
We also wanted to ascertain the degree to which ARRA is causing state government practices to change. Our hypothesis was that the large influx of dollars (an increase of 10 to 20 percent above pre-existing funding levels), combined with the elevated attention and requirements that accompany ARRA funding, would be a driver for significant change. This was indeed the case, but the impact of ARRA was inconsistent across states.
Finally, we solicited suggestions on leading practices and possible areas for improvement. The findings reveal no uniform leading practices among the states for managing grants; they do, however, provide insight into the gaps that thwart states’ ability to adopt an end-to-end process for winning federal grant funds.