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City of Fernley – Grants Administration Grants Administration in Brief Objective • Grants Administration serves and works collaboratively with City Departments through the entire grant process. Formal guidance will also enhance the City’s ability to streamline the grants administration process, as departments can demonstrate that they have strong internal controls. • Effective internal controls provide assurance that departments are adhering to established procedures that ensure grant resources are optimized and used appropriately to meet the objectives of the grant-funded programs. Focus at this stage of the program is: Developing formal internal controls guidelines for grant administration. Without formal, written policies and procedures, there is a risk that staff may overlook issues, including citywide reporting requirements. Formal guidelines are important because they provide standardized practices, which ensures consistency citywide. Grants Administration and Finance are developing standard grant administration policies and procedures, and internal controls which include the following: • Tracking project revenues and expenditures (budget vs. actual), • Monitoring sub-contractors, • Reviewing and approving reimbursement requests, • Monitoring the timeline for the implementation of programs and projects; Additionally Grants Administration encompasses: • Assisting to identifying funding sources; • discussing project feasibility and sustainability; • identifying liability issues; • project planning and management; • budgeting monitoring • Serve as a point of contact to funding agencies and Congressional offices; • ensure compliance by tracking programmatic process and fiscal expenditures; • Develop and manage the internal Grant Management System to ensure proper and current reporting information; • facilitate grant close-out between City Departments and funding sources; • Monitoring and sustaining the checks and balances mechanism, for ensuring that all implemented grants remain in compliance with the terms and conditions of the funding source and the Office of Management and Budget laws and regulations. The processes identified above are facilitated through the receipt and review of grant activity reports and through Federal Compliance and Quality Assurance standards. • Formal guidance will also enhance the City’s ability to streamline the grants administration process, as departments can demonstrate that they have strong internal controls. • Effective internal controls provide assurance that departments are adhering to established procedures that ensure grant resources are optimized and used appropriately to meet the objectives of the grant-funded programs.