Witness tells House committee Vermont must simplify and speed state grant payments under H.233

Jonathan Williams, senior grants and contracts manager and a former state representative, told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday that H.233, a bill on state-funded grants, should do more to make grants usable for nonprofits, towns and schools.

"Grants are the delivery truck for legislative will," Williams said. He testified that delays and complex, varying agency procedures are forcing nonprofits to close and slow disaster recovery, and he urged clearer, simpler processes to allow organizations to access indirect cost allowances and quicker payments.

Williams told the committee that Section 1 of the bill, which addresses indirect (administrative) rates, is important because federal rules now allow a higher de minimis rate and agencies can negotiate a higher negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA) if organizations "can show your math." He said Vermont currently limits many grantees to a lower indirect rate even though some organizations (he cited his employer's food bank) have real indirect costs around 30 percent. "If the money is freed up over here for rent and utilities,…