Active Grant Management involves using a wide variety of tools and processes to achieve your goals for good grant
management. Let's look at them briefly. Well-written and comprehensive contracts are at the heart of the relationship
between the grantee and its project sponsors. The contract agreement sets the terms and conditions of a project sponsor's
operations, and it should express all of the grantee's expectations for the sponsor regarding eligible activities,
performance, reporting, and financial management. A good contract should contain: A detailed scope of work,
including benchmarks and outcomes; A detailed line-item budget that corresponds with eligible HOPWA activities;
A copy of the HOPWA regulations (24 CFR 574) and related income calculation regulations from 24 CFR Part 5.609, _.611, and _.617;
Copies of relevant OMB Circulars on grants, cost principles and audits; Schedule and format for data collection and
performance reporting; Schedule and format for invoice procedures; Copies of any standardized tools or forms, if applicable
Though HOPWA regulations establish basic standards for implementing HOPWA activities, it is a best practice for
grantees to have standardized policies and procedures for the operation of their HOPWA program. Having policies and
procedures in place helps grantees to translate HOPWA and other HUD regulations into concrete practice for sponsors.
Policies and procedures also give the grantee its own clear standards to use in the oversight process.
This can simplify the operations for both the grantee and for project sponsors, by giving them a common set of tools and
rules. Having well-developed and actively used program policies and procedures in place can also help the grantee
document its own compliance with regulations to HUD. Standard Documents and Templates go hand in hand with having standardized policies and procedures. A good form translates requirements into a concrete tool that can
significantly improve project sponsor compliance with regulations that can often be difficult to understand and implement.
For example, a habitability standards form can be invaluable in helping sponsors who administer HOPWA housing assistance
to conduct housing inspections correctly and avoid HUD monitoring findings. Structured forms can also help project
sponsors collect and organize all required documentation, making monitoring easier and reducing the likelihood of
findings for incomplete client files. Good contracts, along with standard policies, procedures and forms, are only useful if they
are understood. Providing periodic training and support to project sponsors is an important means to making sure that
contract expectations and required policies and procedures are understood and sponsors are ready to put them into practice.
Grantees often hold contract "conference" meetings with project sponsors, as a group presentation or 1:1, at the start of
new awards or operating years. These meetings can be used to refresh sponsors' understanding of program requirements,
review prior year performance and outcomes, and update sponsors about any program changes. Distance and location
should not be a barrier to providing sponsor training. The State of Texas, for example, periodically offers remote web-based
training to its far-flung sponsors and maintains an archive of these trainings on a HOPWA-related website.
Ongoing Communication keeps project sponsors informed of changes in policy, ongoing community planning efforts,
information about new resources, and updates with what other HOPWA sponsors are doing. HOPWA grantees and sponsors
are often involved in multiple and overlapping networks and planning systems, such as HUD Continuums of Care and Ryan
White planning bodies. Periodic meetings between a grantee and its project sponsors can be an effective means of pulling
together information about the various initiatives and resources available through these other networks.
Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing can add tremendous value to HOPWA providers' practice. Project Sponsors often have
specialties, whether in serving particular populations or delivering particular services. Other sponsors and the grantee
itself can benefit from sharing promising practices among peer organizations. Remote and On-Site monitoring are crucial
ongoing tools for active grant management and will be discussed more fully in the next unit. Remote monitoring is
performed through ongoing billing and reporting processes. The regular flow of invoices and performance data and
reporting from sponsors to the grantee is THE primary route to providing oversight. On-site monitoring, of course, involves the
grantee visiting a project sponsor's location of operations and examining primary documentation of activities and financial
management. This is what most people first think of when they think of "monitoring,"" but as we have seen, this is just one
part of active grant management and oversight. Finally, an oversight plan is the way a grantee can bring all of its grant
management practices together in a coordinated fashion. We will also be looking at this kind of plan in more detail in the
next unit. Having an oversight plan in place and using it can provide important evidence to HUD that a grantee actively
manages its grant and provides organized and consistent oversight.