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Staff says county must move off Excel for opioid grant tracking; demos complete, procurement to return next month
Summary
Staff told the board Rutherford County lacks grant-management software and recommended purchasing a subrecipient-capable solution; demos were held with several vendors, staff estimated a first-year implementation cost up to $25,000 and proposed returning with procurement language and background checks next month.
County staff told the board that Rutherford County currently tracks opioid and other grants using Excel spreadsheets and paper files and that this approach is no longer adequate for growing funds and pass-through grants.
“We have no grant software tracking that Rutherford County has,” a county grant staff member said, noting that staff held multiple vendor demonstrations and consulted peers in Hamilton County, Knox County and the city of Murfreesboro about systems in use (examples referenced: Foundant/GrantHub). Staff said the subrecipient functionality is essential to allow pass-through grantees to monitor their own balances.
Staff recommended pursuing a software solution and reported vendor pricing that would put a first-year implementation cost at about $25,000, with an annual maximum quoted around $22,000 depending on contract language. Board members cautioned about prior county software procurement problems and asked staff to pull previous procurement guidelines and lessons learned (Cody and others) and to include the item in the next month’s budget packet for formal action.
No funding was approved at the meeting; staff will return with procurement language, vendor comparisons and contract language that would keep the award within dollar thresholds that avoid formal bidding requirements.
