Process

The Partnership Fund has developed an innovative, inclusive process to transform the best solutions from ideas to realities.

1. Idea: An idea is submitted to the Partnership Fund. Ideas can come from anyone; the best way for the public to submit ideas is through partner4solutions.gov.
2. Development and Collaboration: Ideas are sent to the Collaborative Forum for development and discussion. The Collaborative Forum provides an important venue for innovative ideas to be aired and explored. Membership consists of stakeholders in the affected programs, including Federal agencies, state and local administrators, non-governmental organizations, and others able to contribute expertise. The work groups within the Forum develop promising pilot ideas into viable pilot concepts that can be proposed for funding. In addition, the Forum consults on pilot concepts that have already been developed to ensure that they are relevant, feasible, and truly innovative. For more information on participating in the Collaborative Forum, please click here.
3. Refinement: Pilot concept proposals that have been developed or consulted on by the Collaborative Forum are considered by the Partnership Fund's Federal Steering Committee, which then provides recommendations to OMB on which proposals to consider funding. The Federal Steering Committee consists of senior policy officials from the Federal agencies responsible for the major assistance programs.
4. Funding and Evaluation: OMB, in consultation with the Federal Steering Committee, selects which pilot concepts to fund. Funds for each pilot concept are transferred to a lead Federal agency, which selects specific states, localities, tribes and/or other relevant entities to implement the pilot. The lead agency also conducts a high-quality evaluation. Based on evaluation findings, successful pilots can serve as best-practice models. Evaluation results may also be used to inform future administrative or legislative changes to the affected programs, including broader implementation of the innovations tested.

If you have questions about our pilot selection process, please visit our FAQ page.