Purpose

Extend and strengthen how Minnesota oversees state grants. The bill would create uniform grants management policies for all executive agencies, provide a central office to guide and monitor grants, improve how grants are tracked and spent, and boost use of technology to manage grants more efficiently. It also adds oversight mechanisms to detect fraud and waste and to ensure programs follow best practices.

Main provisions

• General grants management policies

  • The commissioner must create overarching grants management policies and procedures that apply to all executive agencies.
  • The commissioner can approve exceptions to these policies for specific grant programs, but exceptions expire or must be renewed after five years.

• Agency roles

  • Executive agencies keep managing their own grant programs, but must follow the statewide policies.
  • Agencies will benefit from a centralized resource system for training, evaluation, collaboration, and best practices in grants management.
  • The commissioner will ensure grants management needs are considered when developing or upgrading statewide administrative systems and will leverage existing technology where possible.
  • The commissioner will oversee and approve future professional and technical service contracts and other IT spending related to grants management.

• Central oversight and contact

  • The commissioner serves as a central point of contact for comments about executive agencies violating statewide grants governance policies and about fraud and waste in grants processes.
  • The commissioner will forward comments to the appropriate agency and may follow up as needed.

• Transparency and accountability

  • The commissioner will maintain a single listing of all available executive agency competitive grant opportunities and the resulting grant recipients.
  • The commissioner will selectively review the development and implementation of grant policies and practices and selectively review compliance with best practices.

• Monitoring and financial review

  • Monitoring visits:
  • Virtual monitoring for grants under $50,000.
  • In-person monitoring for grants from $50,000 to $250,000.
  • In-person monitoring twice a year for grants over $250,000.
  • Financial reconciliation:
  • Agencies must perform a reconciliation of grant expenditures before final payment.
  • Grants over $500,000 require quarterly reconciliation.

• Shared technology option

  • The commissioner may determine that it is cost-effective for agencies to develop and use shared grants management technology systems.
  • If used, this system would be governed under a separate statutory provision (section 16E.01 subdivision 3 paragraph b).

Significant changes to existing law

• Creates a uniform statewide framework for grants management across executive agencies, replacing or supplementing ad hoc grant policies with centralized policies and a central office.
• Establishes specific monitoring frequencies and financial reconciliation requirements tied to grant size.
• Introduces a central listing of grant opportunities and recipients to enhance transparency.
• Allows the use of shared grants management technology systems to streamline operations across agencies.
• Adds a formal process for handling comments about violations, fraud, or waste and directs follow-up actions.

Implementation and administration

• The commissioner of administration must update and align existing grants policies to conform with these new requirements.
• Individual executive agencies continue to manage their own grant programs but must operate within the new statewide framework and utilize the central oversight resources.

Potential impacts

• Increased consistency in how grants are managed across state agencies.
• More thorough oversight, monitoring, and financial checks for grant expenditures.
• Greater transparency about grant opportunities and awards.
• Possible initial changes or investments in grants management technology and training.

Relevant Terms grants management policies state grants executive agencies central point of contact fraud and waste best practices monitoring visits virtual monitoring in-person monitoring grant expenditures final payment quarterly reconciliation competitive grant opportunities grant recipients shared grants management technology systems statewide administrative systems professional and technical service contracts compliance policy exceptions conforming changes section 16B.97 subdivision 4 section 16E.01 subdivision 3 paragraph b