Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Policy
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for approval to update and streamline processes and procedures related to the pursuit and management of grants for Harris County.
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Background and Discussion:
The Office of County Administration (OCA) created the Grants & Partnerships Division to help maximize the impact of external funding and partnerships to achieve Harris County priority outcomes with equity, transparency, and accountability. Through Court Orders in 2002 (see Prior Court Actions), Commissioners Court approved a grants management program called the Grants Coordination Section. The purpose of this request for court action (RCA) is to revise and update those and subsequent Orders to reflect today’s reality, to improve processes with the aim to better resource the County to pursue external grants, and to clarify the Office of County Administration Grants & Partnerships Division’s and other County Departments’ roles in select grants-related processes.
In a November 2002 Court Order, the topline objectives outlined for the Grants Coordination Section (GCS) were:
1. Ensuring that external grant-funded programs meet the County mission.
2. Ensuring that all grant-funded programs are operated with appropriate grant compliance requirements.
3. Ensuring that externally-funded programs are operated effectively, optimizing grant-funded outcomes.
4. Increasing the amount of external funds flowing into the County.
5. Increasing Countywide coordination and collaborative efforts on grant pursuits.
Of those objectives, the current Grants & Partnerships Division’s mandate includes aspects of objectives #1, #4, and #5: helping ensure external grant-funded programs meet the County mission and align with the County strategic plan; helping increase the amount of external funds flowing into the County; and helping increase Countywide coordination and collaboration efforts on grant pursuits. Currently, items #2 and #3 primarily fall under the purview of the respective County Department or agency that serves as the primary sponsor of a grant, not the Grants & Partnerships Division in the Office of County Administration-except in exceptional cases, such as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which the Division administers on behalf of the County because OCA serves as the primary departmental sponsor of those funds. The Auditor’s Office is responsible for reporting and billing for certain grants. No department or entity exists to oversee all programmatic compliance on behalf of the County.
This RCA proposes initial steps to clarify and update County grants processes for transparency and accountability and nullifies any reference to a “Grants Coordination Section” or “GCS” in County policies or in the Auditor’s Procedures and Handbook. The GCS was never fully staffed to achieve its original mandate and no longer exists as an entity. This Court Order enacts the following updates to supersede any prior Court action related to the creation and mandate for GCS, in order to clarify, improve, and streamline processes, responsibilities, and procedures related to the pursuit and management of grants in Harris County, codifying that:
1. Each Court Office or County Department serving as the primary sponsor of a grant is responsible for meeting programmatic compliance requirements on grants that have been awarded and approved by Commissioners Court.
2. Each Court Office or County Department serving as the primary sponsor of a grant is authorized to designate one Compliance Signatory and one backup Compliance Signatory for execution of routine compliance forms on grants that have already been approved by Commissioners Court. The Grants Management Department in the Grants & Partnerships Division of OCA will develop a process to obtain and maintain the list of Compliance Signatories. The County Judge will continue to be responsible for signing documents that contain legally binding language as well as specific forms related to the grant if contractually required by the Grantor to do so.
3. The designation of “the Grants Coordination Section as the Authorized Point of Contact to issue signatures on behalf of the County Judge” outlined in the June 6, 2023, Court Order should be assigned to the Grants Management Department in the Grants & Partnerships Division of OCA, to be used only for documents that do not contain legally binding language and that have already been approved by Commissioners Court.
4. Requests to Commissioners Court to apply for a grant must include information relevant for Commissioners Court to make an informed decision: At minimum, a grant synopsis, identification of which objective from the Harris County Strategic Framework the grant supports, the requested award amount, identification of an anticipated source of any required local matching funds, and written proof of approval to apply from the requesting Compliance Signatory outlined in #2 above.
5. OCA’s Grants Management Department and Agenda Team work together to align and set the due dates for all grant-related agenda items for Commissioners Court in ways that improve processes and mitigate challenges in the grant-approval process.
6. The Grants Management Department in the Grants & Partnerships Division of OCA develop a Grants Management Handbook to outline Countywide grant processes and procedures to provide a common source of reference for Countywide grant efforts; and to return to Court with any additional process updates that would require Commissioners Court approval.
7. OCA's Division of Grants & Partnerships work with the Auditor's Office to update any relevant grant-related procedures affected by this Court Order, pending Commissioners Court approval.
8. OCA's Division of Grants & Partnerships create a regularly scheduled meeting with designated representatives from each of the Court Offices in CY25 to provide updates on grant-related processes, opportunities, and challenges.
Expected Impact:
Improved grant processes. Greater process transparency and distribution of responsibilities. Increased consistency in process application. Formalization of grants management processes in a centralized handbook for use by Countywide grants staff. Auditor’s Office procedures will need to be updated to reflect these updates to County grant processes.
Alternative Options:
Take no action. Continue under current grants management processes.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
X Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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11/19/2002 |
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Review and approval of Grants Coordination Section objectives |
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6/6/2023 |
175 |
Court Order to update and streamline certain processes related to the administration of County grants. |
Location:
Address (if applicable): N/A
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Anticipated Court Date: 11/12/2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date):
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Tom Hargis, Director, OCA/Grants & Partnerships Division; Traci Donatto, Director, OCA/Grants Management Department
Attachments (if applicable): Prior Court Orders