The OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement is an extensive guide created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the single audit, which is used for auditing entities that expend $500,000 or more of federal assistance. Updated annually, the compliance supplement is a crucial tool for both auditors and the audited. So where's the 2012 guide?

The following blog article was written by eCivis sales representative Heidi Allen and Director of Governmental Solutions Angel Wright-Lanier about their attendance at the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) conference in Virginia Beach, VA on April 21-24. The NFBPA is a professional membership organization dedicated to the advancement of black leadership in the public sector.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone on Capitol Hill, or any average American for that matter, who’s not in favor of federal financial accountability and transparency, particularly in the wake of the GSA Las Vegas spending scandal. The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (H.R. 2146), commonly referred to as the DATA Act, is intended to take federal transparency to the next level, making recipients and subrecipients of federal funding more accountable for how funds (grants, loans, or otherwise) are used.

Grants come with stipulations. That's a given. And an effective grant proposal comes with verified, accurate, and timely information that supports your statement of need. Fortunately, there are a number of useful federal websites you can take advantage of to compose a winning proposal as well as keep track of legislation affecting local government agencies like yours.

Livability is a term you see often these days in grant programs, as it’s a key priority among many DOT, HUD, and EPA grant programs. The term can be defined as the confluence of quality-of-life factors such as affordable housing, accessible and affordable transportation, and walkable and bikeable paths. “Walkability” is another term that is an important aspect of livability: If an area is walkable, then it might have some or all of the following features: wide and wheelchair-friendly sidewalks, bike and pedestrian paths, and amenities accessible on foot. A great way to measure walkability is for stakeholders to conduct a walking audit to assess pedestrian access.

The Department of Homeland Security’s proposal to consolidate 16 of 18 FEMA grant programs (excluding Emergency Management Performance Grants and fire grants) for FY 2013 has received significant criticism from local government officials. The DHS has proposed a National Preparedness Grant Program (NPGP) as an overarching program that would help streamline the grants process, eliminating the different requirements of “multiple individual, often disconnected, grant programs.”

Several weeks ago I wrote about the function of the logic model (also known as the logical framework, theory of change, or program matrix) in a grant application. A logic model is used to demonstrate how the flow of resources and processes will produce the desired program results. It’s your project’s vision at a glance, allowing you and your team to stay on track and plan for the future, not to mention measure and evaluate performance.

Imagine: “Being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids in a park, all without having to get in your car.” This might sound like a day’s activities in an Austrian city—utopian by the standards of urban sprawl America. But the quotation comes from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood as he defines livability, a catchword you see in numerous grant programs these days. So how does livability manifest at the federal initiative level down to the local implementation level across the U.S.?

On April 17, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and Related Agencies approved its FY 2013 spending bill, which includes $3.1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program (an increase of $152 million from FY 2012) and a restoration of funding to the Sustainable Communities Initiative program. TIGER received $500 million, Choice Neighborhoods $120 million, and the Sustainable Communities Initiative $50 million. The bill includes $39.1 billion for federal highway programs and $1.75 billion for rail infrastructure, including funding proposed for Amtrak, which is to receive $1.45 billion. Read this analysis for a detailed breakdown of the appropriations.

Here are the three classifications of objectives: