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Grants & Funding

Managing Grants

To ensure transparent and efficient use of funds, all award recipients are required to meet certain programmatic, financial, and administrative requirements while managing their grant projects.

To help grantees meet the financial requirements, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched the Grants Financial Management Online Training. The training is designed to cover all of the information you need to ensure sound fiscal management of your awards. The 24 training modules emphasize the basics of federal grants financial management and cover the following topics:

The training is available at no charge to all current DOJ award recipients and their employees. DOJ recommends that all Financial Points of Contact who have not attended one of the Office of Justice Programs Regional Financial Management Training Seminars complete the course.

To register and create an account, click "Login" on the online training homepage.

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of the Chief Financial Officer Customer Service at 1-800-458-0786 or ask.ocfo@usdoj.gov.

Discretionary Grantee Orientation Series

To learn more about managing grants, view the webinars in the OVC Discretionary Grantee Orientation Series. These webinars are geared toward grantees and provide information about OVC, grant management, financial and legal responsibilities, grant requirements, special conditions, program measurement, and more. Each webinar and associated materials are available in the "Training & Technical Assistance" section of the OVC Web site.

Grant Reporting and Special Conditions

To inform OVC of the status and progress of their projects, recipients of discretionary funds must provide OVC with Semi-Annual Progress Reports and Quarterly Financial Status Reports. Grantees must submit these reports on a consistent and timely basis. Instructions for completing the reports can be found in the OJP Post Award Instructions document and a full explanation of these requirements can be found in the OJP Financial Guide. Questions concerning progress reporting should be directed to the OVC Victim Justice Program Specialist for the award.

Failure to submit required progress reports will lead to freezing of funds and may lead to suspension and/or termination of an award.

• Semi-Annual Progress Reports (also known as Categorical Assistance Progress Reports) are due as follows:
  
  
  • July 30 (for the period beginning January 1 and ending June 30)
  • January 30 (for the period beginning July 1 and ending December 31)
    
    
• Quarterly Financial Status Reports (SF 425) must be submitted within 30 calendar days following the end of each quarterly reporting period. Reports are due—
  
  
  • January 30 for the reporting period ending December 31.
  • April 30 for the reporting period ending March 31.
  • July 30 for the reporting period ending June 30.
  • October 30 for the reporting period ending September 30.
    
    
• Final Progress and Financial Status Reports are due within 90 days of the grant end date.

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Additional Reports

All prime recipients of Recovery Act funds received from OJP must comprehensively count and report the total number and types of jobs created and retained as a result of that funding to www.federalreporting.gov on a quarterly basis. For detailed information, please see the following:                

• Calculating and Reporting Job Creation and Retention for Recipients of Recovery Act Funding from Office of Justice Programs, Office on Violence Against Women, and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
• Frequently Asked Questions related to reporting guidance.

OVC has developed a Trafficking Information Management System (TIMS) database, in Microsoft Access, to assist grantees with collecting and organizing performance measure data as well as meeting OVC reporting requirements. All successful applicants for victim service funding will receive access to TIMS and the TIMS Users Guide. Although not required to use TIMS, grantees must agree to provide the same statistical data captured through TIMS to OVC and its Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) every 6 months, to coincide with submission of progress reports. The TIMS database helps collect data related to the numbers of clients served, client demographics, the number and types of services provided, referral sources, types of outreach activities, and numbers and disciplines of professionals trained. OVC TTAC will provide training and technical assistance on the use of the TIMS database.

Special Conditions

Special conditions are specific programmatic requirements that are stated in the grant solicitation or program guidance and may be included in the "special conditions" section of the grant award. For example, as a condition of most awards, grantees shall only replace a Project Director and key program personnel designated for compelling reasons and with the concurrence of OJP. Additionally, a grantee must submit any print or electronic promotional materials concerning any OVC-funded project that are intended for public dissemination to OVC for review prior to release.

Requirements for Preparing OVC Funded Publications & Multi-Media Products

OVC is committed to producing high quality publications and materials and welcomes the opportunity to help grantees develop dynamic and useful products that will both inspire and educate the victims’ rights and services community about a wide range of existing and emerging issues.

As a special condition of an award, all grantees producing publications or multi-media products such as videos, must follow requirements set forth in the Publishing Guidelines that describe a set of requirements grantees and contractors must follow when submitting materials to OVC to be published.

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Tips for Managing Grants

The following most common programmatic, financial, and administrative requirements are oftentimes not met by grantees. More information about these and other requirements to help manage your grant are available in the OJP Post Award Instructions, the OJP Financial Guide, and the OJP Funding Frequently Asked Questions Web page.

• Key program personnel designated in the application may be replaced only for compelling reasons and with the concurrence of OVC. All successors to key personnel must be approved, and such approval is contingent upon submission of appropriate information, including, but not limited to, a resume. Changes in other program personnel require only notification to OJP and submission of resumes, unless otherwise designated in the award document.
• Employees’ timesheets must accurately reflect the amount of time spent on a particular grant for each pay period. All timesheets must be signed by the employee and counter signed by his/her supervisor.
• Grantees that are required to contribute a match must maintain records which clearly show the date the matching contribution was applied, the source, and value. Note that matching contributions are restricted to the same use of funds as allowed for the Federal funds.
• Errors on financial status reports and late submissions are common. To avoid freezing of funds and the suspension and/or termination of an award, reports must be submitted in a timely fashion.
• Print or electronic promotional materials concerning an OVC-funded project that are intended for public dissemination must be submitted to OVC for review at least seven (7) working days in advance of release.
• Proper attribution and a disclaimer must be applied to any Web site, publication, or product developed by the grantee that is funded in whole or in part under the award. Visit the OVC Publishing Guidelines for attribution and disclaimer language!
• Program income must be used for the purposes of and under the conditions applicable to the award. Note that the Federal portion of program income must be accounted for up to the same ratio of Federal participation as funded in the project or program. For example, if a discretionary project was funded with 100 percent Federal funds, the program must account for and report on 100 percent of the total program income earned on the Financial Status Report.

Grant Monitoring

OVC staff conduct regular and continuous monitoring of discretionary grantees for the dual purpose of ensuring the effective use of public funds and assisting grantees in program development and grant administration. Monitoring allows OVC to—

• Provide guidance to grantees on OJP policies and procedures, grant program requirements, general federal regulations, and basic programmatic, administrative, and financial reporting requirements.
• Identify and resolve problems that may impede the effective implementation of programs.
• Ensure that the grantees comply with the programmatic, administrative, and fiscal requirements of relevant statutes, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
• Advocate responsible management of awarded funds.
• Ensure that programs/projects initiated by grantees are carried out in a manner consistent with the grantee’s stated implementation plan and/or according to the policy guidelines and applicable rules and regulations of the awarding office within OJP.

OVC employs several approaches to monitoring discretionary grants, some of which involve the assistance of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management (OAAM), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG):

• OVC conducts desk audits that facilitate monitoring of grant activities throughout the grant award period and assist in the preparation for site visits.
• OVC and OCFO conduct site visits by staff to discuss specific issues related to implementation plan progress, observe grant activity, and assess planned versus actual progress.
• OVC reviews and analyzes programmatic progress reports.
• OVC and OCFO review and analyze financial status reports submitted by grantees.
• OVC and OAAM review and analyze audits performed by OIG staff.

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Contact Information

Every OVC discretionary grant is monitored by an OVC Victim Justice Program Specialist. The name and contact information for the assigned Victim Justice Program Specialist is provided in award documents and in GMS. For specific questions about a particular grant program, please contact the appropriate Victim Justice Program Specialist or OVC at 202-307-5983.

For technical assistance or guidance using GMS, contact the GMS Help Desk. The Help Desk is available via email or by phone at 202-514-2024 between 6:00 a.m. and midnight (ET), Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.

For information about the financial aspects of OVC grants, contact:

Office of the Chief Financial Officer
810 Seventh Street NW., Fifth Floor
Washington, DC 20531
1-800-458-0786
Fax: 202-616-5962

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