Grants Provide the Important 'Plumbing' Behind Federal Programs
We editors here at Thompson Grants are big fans of the cable channel HGTV. We have learned that while the furniture, handmade tiles and appliances are the niceties that you can see after a renovation, it’s the unseen work behind the walls that really provides the true, solid foundation for the home, and ensures it operates smoothly. The same, apparently, can be said about grants and other federal financial assistance.
During a webinar last week hosted by the Office of Management and Budget to announce and promote the issuance of the 2024 revisions to Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, including the uniform guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200), more than one speaker compared grants to the “plumbing of our federal programs,” noting the that although plumbing pipes are within the walls and under the street, “they allow us to live in close proximity to one another and live safely, so the plumbing matters,” and that grants “help the federal government get work done.”
Although we generally agree with the allusion the speakers were making, we frankly would compare grants not to the plumbing, but the electrical systems within a home. Grants provide the energy and power to bring the funded program to life, and without such funding, or in this case power, the program can be expected to go dark and may no longer continue to exist. Plumbing or electrical aside, we still think it’s a worthwhile analogy — federal grants may not be the shiny new vanity with double sinks, but they can help provide the support to ensure those sinks work as intended.
While on the topic of the announcement of the 2024 revisions, we want to note that the revisions still have not been published in the Federal Register. A pre-publication version is available but it is missing an important detail. OMB has explained that the revisions become effective for awards issued on or after Oct. 1, unless federal agencies elect to implement them sooner. The prepublication version does not state the date on which agencies may begin early implementation. This date should be included in the published version in the Federal Register, and is expected to be 60 days after that publication date. Stay tuned to the latest from Thompson Grants as we continue to “flush out” (you see what we did there??) all information from OMB related to grants.
Join us for our following Thompson Grants events:
Thompson Grants Workshop: Procurement | May 23, 2024 | Virtual Event
Federal Grants Forum | June 26-27, 2024 | Columbus, Ohio
