EEA previews new grants portal to centralize applications; council asks about accessibility and program scope

The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs on May 20 demonstrated a new grants management system intended to consolidate grant opportunities and application management across the Secretariat.

Bill Hinkley, who led development of the portal, described a public-facing site listing open grant opportunities and a secure user dashboard where organizations can start, save, and track applications through stages such as evaluation, contracting, active grant, and closure. "The idea here really was to create a central location to manage your grant work with all of our EEA agencies," Hinkley said.

Hinkley highlighted features that will be available to grantees: a document library retained according to retention guidelines (awarded grants at least seven years), a budget tracker showing transactions and remaining funds, a task checklist, an audit trail with timestamped user actions, a message thread attached to grant records, and digital contract viewing and signing.

The system uses MyMassGov business accounts for authentication; accounts are typically validated within 24 hours. Hinkley said applications must be started and submitted by the entity that will hold the contract and that the platform supports collaborator roles such as consultants.

Council members asked several operational questions. Sofia Owen and others asked whether specific program types—such as DPU intervener support—will be on the portal; Hinkley said some programs (intervener support) may not be included. Members also pressed on accessibility for users with disabilities. Hinkley said the system has been tested for screen‑reader compatibility and supports zoom to 400 percent; language access will rely on browser translate features and the team is working to improve multilingual support.

Members also asked about draft download and save features. Hinkley said users will be able to download blank application PDFs immediately and that the ability to download a user's draft application will be available soon. Notifications for due dates and status changes are available in current configurations and are expected to expand.

Hinkley directed users with pre‑account questions to a help button on the portal and to the EEA service desk. The portal is slated to replace paper and scattered email workflows by providing a single place to view transactions and communications for grant records.

Undersecretary María Belén Power said the portal is intended to improve transparency and access to the many grant programs the Secretariat administers. No formal action was taken on the portal at the meeting.