Justice Grant Programs: DOJ Should Do More to Reduce the Risk of Unnecessary Duplication and Enhance Program Assessment

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) grant programs overlap across 10 justice areas contributing to the risk of unnecessarily duplicative grant awards for the same or similar purposes. For example, GAO reviewed all 253 grant award announcements that DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office published on their websites for fiscal year 2010 and found overlap across the justice areas. For example, 56 of DOJ’s 253 grant solicitations—or more than 20 percent—were providing grant funds for victim assistance and related research. GAO also found instances where applicants used the same or similar language to apply for funding from these overlapping programs. In one example, a grant recipient applied for, and received, funding from both OJP’s Internet Crimes Against Children program and the COPS Office’s Child Sexual Predator Program to provide training for cyber crime investigations and establish an Internet safety program. In some instances, DOJ may deem it appropriate for distinct grant programs to serve one goal, or for one community or grantee to benefit from multiple streams of grant funding. However, DOJ generally lacks visibility over the extent to which its grant programs overlap and thus is not positioned to minimize the risk of potential, unnecessary duplication before making grant awards.

DOJ has taken some actions that address overlap in its grant programs; for example, by requesting statutory authorization in some instances to consolidate programs that are similar. However, DOJ has not conducted an assessment of its grant programs to systematically identify and reduce overlap. Doing so would enable DOJ to identify program areas where overlap may be desirable and where a consolidation of programs may be more efficient. Further, OJP and OVW use a separate grants management system than the COPS Office uses, limiting their ability to share information on the funding they have awarded or are preparing to award to a recipient. According to COPS Office officials, its mission and grant management processes are unique enough to necessitate a separate system. However, OJP officials told GAO that its system has been and can be modified with minimal investment to accommodate different grant processes. DOJ has initiated a study to assess the feasibility, costs, and benefits of unifying the systems among other options. By ensuring that such a study accounts for the effort necessary to harmonize departmental grant processes, DOJ could ensure that variations in such processes do not encumber system unification.

DOJ’s Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management (OAAM) oversees monitoring of grantees’ compliance and conducts grant program assessments to gauge program effectiveness. GAO found that OAAM’s program assessments yield richer information than its monitoring reports because they identify improvement areas. OAAM officials believe additional assessments could be beneficial. They also said they lacked resources to conduct more, but had not conducted a feasibility analysis to confirm this. By OAAM examining its mix of monitoring and assessment activities, including the costs and benefits of current resource allocations, it could better ensure continuous improvement in grant programs.

Why GAO Did This Study

Since fiscal year 2005, approximately $33 billion has been appropriated to DOJ for the administration of more than 200 federal financial assistance solicitations, such as grants, that support criminal justice activities at the state and local levels. Pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139, this report addresses the extent to which (1) overlap exists across DOJ grant programs and if it contributes to the risk of unnecessary duplication in grant awards, (2) DOJ has taken steps to reduce overlap and the potential for unnecessary duplication in its grants awards, and (3) DOJ uses monitoring and assessment to determine grant program effectiveness and uses the results to enhance its grant programs. GAO assessed DOJ’s fiscal year 2010 announcements of grant award funding; categorized them according to key justice areas to identify any overlap; and interviewed DOJ officials about their grant making practices, systems, and assessment methods. Further, GAO interviewed officials from 11 states receiving DOJ grants, selected for the levels and types of funding received. Though not generalizable, the interviews provided their perspectives on funding.

Recommendations

GAO recommends, among other things, that the department assess its grant programs for overlap, ensure its comprehensive study of DOJ grant management systems also includes an analysis of steps necessary to harmonize business processes, and examine its mix of grant monitoring and program assessment activities. DOJ agreed with GAO’s recommendations.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Sort descending	Recommendation	Status
Department of Justice	Priority Rec. To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should coordinate within and among granting agencies on a consistent basis to review potential or recent grant awards from grant programs that DOJ identifies as overlapping, including subgrant awards reported by prime grant awardees, to the extent possible, before awarding grants. DOJ should also take steps to establish written policies and procedures to govern this coordination and help ensure that it occurs.	Closed – Implemented We found that DOJ could enhance coordination amongst its granting agencies before awarding grants. As a result, we recommended that the Attorney General should coordinate within and among granting agencies on a consistent basis to review potential or recent grant awards from grant programs that DOJ identifies as overlapping before awarding grants and take steps to establish written policies and procedures to govern this coordination. In October 2016, DOJ issued an official memorandum containing policies and procedures to minimize unnecessary duplication and govern coordination among its three granting agencies (the Office of Justice Programs, Office of Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services). The granting agencies jointly signed this October memorandum and incorporated the policies and procedures it contained into their existing Grants Management Manual. The implementation of these policies and procedures further enhances DOJ's implementation of its shared services system, called GrantsNet, which it began using in March 2016, in large part to address the same July 2012 GAO recommendation. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation, and as such, this recommendation is now closed.
Department of Justice	To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should require its grant applicants to report all federal grant funding, including all DOJ funding, that they are currently receiving or have recently applied for in their grant applications.	Closed – Implemented In July 2014, DOJ provided an update on this recommendation. According to this update, each of DOJ's three grant-making agencies had taken steps towards this requirement, but none of the three required grant applicants to report all federal grant funding that they have applied for or received, as called for in the recommendation. In June 2015, we followed up with DOJ on the agency's progress in implementing this recommendation and providing GAO with documentation of the agency's actions. In August 2015, DOJ provided documentation that fiscal year 2015 grant solicitations from its grant making agencies - OJP, OVW and COPS - require all grant applicants to disclose other federal funding obtained or requested that is of a similar or identical nature. Even though these actions are slightly different from our recommendation, which was to require grant applicants to report on all federal funding requested or received, DOJ's actions meet the intent of our recommendation and will help DOJ to avoid unnecessary duplication. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation. As such, this recommendation is now closed.
Department of Justice	Priority Rec. To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should, as part of DOJ's evaluation of its grant management systems, ensure that it assesses the feasibility, costs, and benefits of moving to a single grants management system, including the steps needed to harmonize DOJ grant processes, so that any variation in how the granting agencies manage their portfolios is not an encumbrance to potential system unification.	Closed – Implemented We found that across DOJ's three granting agencies, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) used a separate grants management system than the one that the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) used, thus limiting their ability to share information on the funding they have awarded or were preparing to award to a grant recipient. According to COPS Office officials, its mission and grant management processes were unique enough to necessitate a separate system; however, OJP officials told GAO that its system had been and could be modified with minimal investment to accommodate different grant processes. As a result, we recommended that the Attorney General should, as part of DOJ's evaluation of its grant management systems, ensure that it assesses the feasibility, costs, and benefits of moving to a single grants management system, including the steps needed to harmonize DOJ grant processes, so that any variation in how the granting agencies manage their portfolios is not an encumbrance to potential system unification. In August 2012, DOJ's granting agencies completed a study that documented each agency's grant making business requirements. In 2015, after considering several options, DOJ determined that the most appropriate solution to achieve harmonization across the granting agencies was to implement an integrated shared services approach--referred to as GrantsNet, which leverages existing DOJ systems, tools, and services. According to DOJ, GrantsNet addresses the major grants management activities, including grant assessment pre and post award, auditing, monitoring, programmatic and peer review of applications, conference cost reporting, and grants payment. Further, it uses a common platform to enhance granting agencies' collaboration and minimize risk of overlap and duplication at both the program and grant award levels. DOJ's exploration of its system requirements, as well as feasible options for information and data sharing, and its ultimate implementation of GrantsNet are all activities consistent with our recommendation.
Department of Justice	To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should ensure the most timely reporting possible of grant award information to USASpending.gov according to OMB guidelines, which would enable its grantees to comply with their reporting responsibilities according to the same guidelines.	Closed – Implemented In July 2014, DOJ officials reported closer adherence to OMB guidelines and timeframes for USASpending.gov. Specifically, DOJ provided evidence that between January 2013 and July 2014, DOJ submitted all 28 of its reports to populate the website in accordance with OMB guidelines. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation. As such, this recommendation is now closed.
Department of Justice	To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should assess whether OAAM relies on an appropriate mix of programmatic grant monitoring and program assessment, and determine whether the office could support additional program assessments.	Closed – Implemented As of December 2015, DOJ has hired several individuals to fill newly created positions in OAAM in order to expand their capacity to conduct additional program assessments, which officials agreed could be beneficial and contribute to the improvement of grant programs and operations. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation. As such, this recommendation is now closed.
Department of Justice	To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should assess the feasibility, costs, and benefits of OAAM providing assessments for OVW, in addition to OJP and the COPS Office. If DOJ determines that OAAM assessments of OVW grant programs would be more cost-effective and provide greater insight into the effectiveness of OVW grant programs than OVW's current approach, then the Attorney General should extend OAAM's oversight to include OVW.	Closed – Implemented In February 2015 DOJ reported that OAAM had assessed the feasibility, costs, and benefits of OAAM providing assessments for OVW. As a result, OAAM extended its oversight to include OVW by adding an OVW assessment to its 2015 annual plan. Specifically, in March 2015, OAAM informed OVW that it would conduct an assessment of sexual assault victim services provided across programs to determine if OVW's recent efforts in prioritizing its provision of services to sexual assault victims have been successful. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation. As such, this recommendation is now closed.
Department of Justice	Priority Rec. To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should conduct an assessment to better understand the extent to which the department's grant programs overlap with one another and determine if grant programs may be consolidated to mitigate the risk of unnecessary duplication. To the extent that DOJ identifies any statutory obstacles to consolidating its grant programs, it should work with Congress to address them, as needed.	Closed – Implemented DOJ has taken action to address GAO's July 2012 recommendation. In December 2013, DOJ completed the first of a two-phase assessment to better understand the extent to which its grant programs overlap. In the first phase, a team of representatives from DOJ's granting agencies--the Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services--completed a final report documenting the extent of overlap they identified across their respective grant programs. In March 2016, DOJ's Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management, which, among other responsibilities, serves as a central source for grant management policy for the granting agencies, completed the second phase of the assessment. This second phase focused on the grant programs previously identified in phase one as potentially overlapping and included an assessment of any unnecessary duplication. DOJ also developed an automated tool to continuously monitor and assess the degree of overlap among its programs. In fiscal year 2015, DOJ used this tool to compare the three granting agencies' annual solicitations and analyze the extent of overlap in four key areas: 1) subject matter, 2) activities, 3) target beneficiaries, and 4) eligible recipients. According to DOJ officials, findings from this analysis should help them enhance coordination among complementary programs (such as developing joint programs or consolidating funding solicitations); leverage resources across components; and/or collaborate on award decisions to avoid unnecessary duplication. DOJ plans to continue using this tool in fiscal year 2016 and annually thereafter with planning grant programs and coordinating activities.
Office of Justice Programs	To ensure that DOJ can identify overlapping grant programs to either consolidate or coordinate similar programs, mitigate the risk of unnecessary grant award duplication in its programs, and enhance DOJ's ability to gauge grant program effectiveness, the Attorney General should provide appropriate OJP and COPS Office staff with access to both Grants Management System (GMS) and COPS Management System (CMS) and appropriate OVW staff with access to CMS.	Closed – Implemented In July 2014, DOJ provided an update on this recommendation. According to this update, OJP and the COPS Office have jointly established a collaboration database hosted by OJP that supports user examination of grant applications and awards processed by OJP, OVW, and the COPS Office for fiscal years 2010 - 2014. The database is updated at least daily for OJP and OVW data using OJP's Grant Management System as a source. The database is also updated monthly with COPS data from the COPS Grants Management Systems. These actions are fully responsive to our recommendation. As such, this recommendation is now closed.