Grants Management: Interior Should Improve the Award Process for Some Competitive Grant Programs

Fast Facts

State agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations can compete for grants from the Department of the Interior to support environmental and wildlife conservation activities. In FY 2019-21, nine bureaus within Interior awarded more than $4 billion.

Interior's award process generally follows relevant federal grant regulations, but not always. For example, Interior doesn't require documenting rationales for award decisions. Also, one bureau didn't provide or use clear selection criteria for some of its grant programs.

We recommended addressing these issues to help ensure that grants are awarded in a fair and transparent way.

Sign outside of the Department of the Interior HQ with the building name and address.

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of the Interior's competitive grant award process involves announcing funding opportunities, evaluating grant applications, and obtaining management approval to issue award decisions (see fig.). Interior's nine grant-making bureaus make all funding announcements publicly available, and a panel, which may include bureau staff and experts outside the agency, reviews and scores grant applications based on criteria outlined in the funding announcement. Following the scoring process, the panel develops a recommended list of applicants for management review and a final award decision.

Overview of the Department of the Interior's Competitive Grant Award Process

$U:\Work in Process\Teams\FY22 Reports\NRE\105407\Graphics\Highlight_v1_5_105407.png$

GAO found that Interior's grant programs that GAO reviewed follow an award process that is generally consistent with relevant federal grant regulations. However, two of three U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant programs that GAO reviewed did not clearly identify criteria and weights in funding announcements and did not use criteria to evaluate applications. Without this information, applicants might not submit applications meeting all the criteria, and panel members might not uniformly evaluate applications, potentially leading to inconsistencies in the review process.

GAO also found that grant programs across the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey lacked documentation to support certain award decisions. For example, National Park Service leadership made an award to a lower-ranked applicant instead of to a recommended applicant, without written support. Interior's internal policy for competitive grants does not explicitly call for officials to provide documentation of award decisions. Without documenting its rationale for award decisions, Interior lacks assurance that its award decisions follow relevant federal grant regulations.

Why GAO Did This Study

Interior awarded over $4 billion in competitive grants in fiscal years 2019 through 2021 across nine grant-making bureaus. Recipients of competitive grants include state agencies, nonprofits, and universities, among others. Recipients use the grants for various activities, such as assisting with the recovery of endangered species and creating conservation opportunities for youth.

GAO was asked to review Interior's grant award process. This report (1) describes Interior's process for announcing grant opportunities, reviewing applications, and making award decisions; and (2) evaluates the extent to which Interior's award process is consistent with relevant federal grant regulations.

To do this work, GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and Interior guidance and interviewed Interior officials. GAO also reviewed award documents for a sample of 18 competitive grant programs across Interior's bureaus and compared the process that Interior uses to award grants with relevant regulations. GAO also analyzed agency data from fiscal years 2019 through 2021.

Recommendations

GAO is making two recommendations: (1) the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should issue a memorandum reinforcing the need for grant programs to include criteria and weights in funding announcements and evaluate applications using those standards and (2) Interior should develop a policy to ensure that officials document the rationale for grant award decisions. Interior concurred with GAO's recommendations.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
United States Fish and Wildlife Service	The Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should issue a memorandum reinforcing the need for grant programs to include criteria and weights in funding announcements and evaluate applications using those standards. (Recommendation 1)	Closed – Implemented In its response to our recommendation, in October 2022, the Director, Fish and Wildlife Service, issued a memorandum directing all personnel with grant management responsibilities to follow federal requirements delineated in the Uniform Guidance in order to make the application process transparent. Specifically, the memorandum instructed personnel to include criteria and weights in funding announcements and evaluate applications using those standards.
Department of the Interior	The U.S. Secretary of the Interior should develop a policy to ensure that officials document the rationale for grant award decisions, including when they deviate from the review panel's recommendations. (Recommendation 2)	Closed – Implemented Interior concurred with this recommendation and has taken action to address it. In response to our recommendation, in September 2023, the Office of Grants Management issued two policies establishing guidance by which bureaus and offices must provide oversight of the discretionary financial assistance application process and document the rationale for grant award decisions. Specifically, the policies emphasized the importance of bureaus documenting, in writing, any deviations from the final merit review panel recommendation for an award.