Office of Grants Management urges staffing and procurement fixes to draw down federal funds
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Summary
The director of the Office of Grants Management told the joint committee OGM oversees about 110 projects and identified procurement and staffing bottlenecks that slow spending and drawdowns. Committee members asked OGM and finance to coordinate to add capacity and speed payments, including solutions for unpaid artists under NEA grants.
The Office of Grants Management (OGM) and finance staff told the joint committee that federal awards and construction projects are held up by procurement capacity constraints and insufficient staff to process payments and draw down funds.
OGM Director Eppi Cabrera said OGM directly manages about 110 projects and estimated roughly $1.679 billion in federal funds recorded in Munis across many accounts. He and other officials said procurement bottlenecks and limited staff in finance and federal grant sections slow spending and increase the risk of returned or unspent awards.
Why it matters: Federal awards often include time-limited obligations; unspent balances risk reversion or reduced future funding. Committee members flagged National Endowment for the Arts grants where artists remain unpaid and urged OGM and finance to accelerate subrecipient or contractor arrangements that comply with procurement rules.
Key points from the hearing: - Cabrera said OGM separates accounts by construction and programmatic needs and noted procurement capacity has improved but remains constrained; he cited a recent July submission that only cleared recently for bucket-truck procurement. - Finance staff said some prior technical assistance grants that supported procurement staff have expired and that new OIA technical assistance requests prioritize single-audit support and not routine operations. - On NEA small grants, finance explained payment cannot proceed until grant managers follow procurement regulations; officials recommended using a subrecipient arrangement or contractor agreements and offered to help the arts council implement either method. - Q4 indirect cost (IDC) collections reported a gross IDC of about $2.2 million with approximately $785,000 earmarked for OGM; officials said 35% of IDC goes to OGM and 65% to the general fund under current policy.
Officials and members discussed options to add staff (including through grant-funded positions) and to retool workflow so that procurement and federal sections can approve and process payments faster. The committee asked OGM and finance to provide written lists of active projects, staffing needs and a timetable for paying outstanding grant obligations.
Ending: The committee recorded official requests for project lists and breakdowns and urged coordination between OGM, finance and procurement to speed drawdowns and reduce unspent award risks.