GMLoB Pilot Experience and Lessons Learned
Grants Applications Status Pilot
National Science Foundation (NSF)
USDA/Cooperative State Research, Education and
Extension Service (USDA/CSREES)
November 2006
Client Logo
About CSREES
CSREES is one of four USDA agencies that make up the Research,
Education, and Economics (REE) mission area with USDA.
CSREES' unique mission is to advance knowledge for agriculture, the
environment, human health and well-being, and communities by supporting
research, education, and extension programs in the Land-Grant University
System and other partner organizations.
CSREES is a small agency of 370 employees with a $1.25 Billion annual
budget
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2006 CSREES Budget
- millions $$
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69
Formula
Competitive
672
451
Research and Education
Extension
Integrated
Other
Information Systems & Technology Management
Mission - To provide information management services that are:
– high quality
– business, mission and customer-focused
– and, cost effective.
Vision – To provide:
– reliable, responsive, and accurate information systems support
– that satisfies business requirements through an integrated approach.
The customer is King.
Customer value is gauged by how well we can share information to
transform traditional relationships with customers (grantees), partners, and
employees.
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Why work with NSF?
NSF’s goal as a Consortium Lead is to offer common solutions to meet the
needs of the consortium partner agencies involved in Federal Research
grants.
CSREES is a small agency with limited resources
NSF and CSREES are research focused agencies
“The Federal Government is the enterprise.”
NSF and CSREES committed to working with partnerships
The consortia approach aligns agency work teams (consortia) around
shared business interests. - In my opinion you also need to have shared
values
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NSF’s (CSREES) Approach
Menu of services
Start small
Focus on research agencies
Deliberate, modular, conservative, user-focused approach
Flexible solutions
High-value offerings meet needs of grantee and agency – Remember the
customer is King.
Make the process better
Long-term, last functionalities for agencies and institutions
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What is the Grant Applications Status Pilot?
The GMLoB is a e-government initiative that seeks to develop a government-wide
solution to support end-to-end grants management activities promoting citizen
access, customer service, and agency financial and technical stewardship. In
February 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) was selected as one of the
three GMLoB consortium leads.
CRITERIA for pilot:
– Large customer-facing
– Low to medium complexity
– High volume of transactions
Proposal status pilot. Via this pilot initiative, the “Grant Applications Status” tool
was introduced to allow selected applicants to:
– Check on the status of their proposals as they are received and reviewed
– Allow participants to login using their own agency e-Authentication credentials
– View panel reviews (if applicable)
– View Letters of Authorization (for CSREES awardees)
– Maintain a single identity that can be used to view proposals at both agencies
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Grant application status pilot continued
Other than the accessing the production FastLane database, the Pilot is
completely separate from FastLane
The Pilot uses E-Authentication and an account registration feature to
associate an applicant’s E-Authentication account with their respective
agency account
The Pilot uses standardized terminology where NSF and CSREES used
different terms (e.g., “Grant Application” instead of “Proposal”)
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Timeline
NSF and CSREES had been discussing collaboration for the better part of
2005
In January 2006 work formally started, proposal status accepted as pilot
Requirements analysis January – April 2006
Design
May – June 2006
CSREES/NSF Testing July – August 2006
Pilot testing – August 2006
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Roles
NSF and CSREES both actively contributed resources
NSF designed, developed, tested and implemented application
CSREES assisted in design, developed internal interfaces, review of
documentation and participated in internal and external system testing
No money changed hands
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Why the pilot succeed
No single reason
Short development times
Clear requirements
Proper testing
Commitment
Dedicated and skilled staff
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1.
Login to the USDA
E-Authentication Site
Enter User Id and Password
created in the Getting Started Step.
Read and Accept the Rules of
Behavior.
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Grant Applications Status
2. Activate Agency Account
After logging in, first-time users
must “activate” or associate their
E-Authentication account with
their NSF or CSREES account
before continuing.
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Grant Applications Status
3. Select Agency
• Select an agency to see a list of
applications submitted to that
agency.
OR
• Activate the E-Authentication
account with accounts at other
agencies.
Applicants who do business with both
NSF and CSREES can choose to view a
consolidated list of their applications
submitted to both Agencies.
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Grant Applications Status
4. View List of Applications and Their Status
Screenshot on the
right is an
example of
consolidated
agency view
Click on an
Agency
Tracking
Number to
see detail
information
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Next steps
Grant Application Status to version 2.
Research.gov portal – planned for an October launch
CSREES wants to expand the pilot to all grantees.
Funding model
Governance structure
Dedicated resources
Future work.
– Develop project / solicitation / announcement
– Pre-award forms/document creation and clearance
– Approval / review automated workflow management
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GMLOB Participants
Andrea Norris, Deputy CIO NSF
Kim Deutsch, NSF Project Lead
Dan Hofherr, Branch Chief NSF
David Saunders, Project Leader NSF
Michel Desbois, CIO/Deputy Administrator, CSREES
Tony Pandolfino, CSREES Project Lead
Rick Howington, CSREES Co-Project Lead
Gail McLean, Pilot National Program Leader for participating programs, CSREES
NSF Application Development Staff
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