[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54098-54099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-7614]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


U.S. Chief Financial Officer Council; Grants Policy Committee 
Meeting

ACTION:  Notice of open stakeholder meeting and Webcast.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the first of a series of open Webcast 
stakeholder meetings sponsored by the Grants Policy Committee of the 
U.S. Chief Financial Officer Council.

DATES: The Committee will hold an open stakeholder meeting and Webcast 
on Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in Room B-180 of the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development at 451 7th Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20410. Seating is limited--the first 80 people to 
respond can be part of the live audience. To reserve your seat, contact 
Charisse Carey-Nunes National Science Foundation. Telephone: (703) 292-
5056. E-mail: [email protected]. All who have reserved seating, must 
arrive at the HUD building fifteen minutes prior to broadcast, arrive 
on the North side of the building, you must have photo ID to gain 
access and will have to go to the security screening.
    Organizations are encouraged to send only one representative in 
person to the meeting in order to allow room for maximum representation 
of diverse groups. The Committee encourages organizations to invite 
their staffs and members to participate via Webcast.
    This will be a live Webcast, allowing interaction and involvement 
by a substantial number of participants.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charisse Carney-Nunes, National 
Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230. 
Telephone: (703) 292-5056. E-mail: [email protected]. Information about 
this meeting and Webcast will be posted on the Web site of the Grants 
Streamlining Initiative at http://www.grants.gov/aboutgrants/streamlining_initiatives.jsp. Please note that a sign-language 
interpreter for the hearing-impaired will be provided.
    Comments Submission Information: You may submit comments during the 
Webcast via phone or e-mail: phone 202-708-0095 and e-mail 
[email protected].
    After the Webcast, a link to its recording will be posted on the 
Web site of the Grants Streamlining Initiative at http://www.grants.gov/aboutgrants/streamlining_initiatives.jsp for at least two additional weeks. 
Comments on issues pertaining to the meeting will be reviewed on an 
ongoing basis up until November 8, 2006--two weeks after the conclusion 
of the meeting. Please submit all post-meeting comments to: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Purpose of the Meeting: The purpose of the meeting is to update and 
inform the broad community of Public Law (Pub. L.) 106-107 stakeholders 
about the Grant Policy Committee's (GPC's) past and ongoing activities 
related to the Federal Grants Streamlining Initiative (FGSI). 
Additionally, the meeting will serve as an opportunity to receive 
feedback and clarify any issues of concern to interested stakeholders. 
Finally, the meeting will assist the Committee as it undertakes 
planning and agenda setting for future Pub. L. 106-107 stakeholder 
meetings. The Committee seeks stakeholder input as it frames these 
upcoming meetings to assist the Committee in attaining its objective to 
ensure that the government's initiative streamlines and simplifies the 
grants and cooperative agreements administrative process, while 
maintaining the highest level customer service satisfaction, 
efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the Federal process in 
a manner cognizant of currently available resources.
    Meeting structure and agenda: The October 25th Webcast meeting will 
have the following structure and agenda:
    (1) Welcome by the host agency;
    (2) Overview of the Grants Policy Committee by the Committee co-
chair;
    (3) Updates and status reports from work group chairs: pre-award 
work group; post-award group; and audit oversight work group; and
    (4) Community input, discussion, questions and comments. The 
meeting organizers have reserved 60-75 minutes for the community input 
section. Please note that this agenda and any amendments will be posted 
on the Web site of the Grants Streamlining Initiative at http://www.grants.gov/aboutgrants/streamlining_initiatives.jsp.
    Background: Federal programs providing financial assistance 
comprise a large and diverse enterprise with widely varying purposes 
and recipient communities. Twenty-six Federal grant making agencies 
administer approximately $526 billion in grant funds through over 900 
programs. The programs stimulate or support a wide variety of public 
purposes in areas such as health, social services, law enforcement, 
agriculture, housing, community and regional development, education and 
training, and research.
    The main goal of grants management is to ensure that Federal 
dollars are effectively spent in accordance with their intended 
purpose. To achieve this there must be accountability at the Federal 
level, the grantee level, and even at the sub-grantee level where 
applicable. A second, sometimes conflicting, goal is to avoid excessive 
or cumbersome regulation of individual grantees and minimize 
administrative burden throughout the process.
    Public Law 106-107 requires the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) to direct, coordinate, and assist Executive Branch departments 
and agencies in establishing an interagency process to streamline and 
simplify Federal financial assistance procedures for non-Federal 
entities. The law also requires executive agencies to develop, submit 
to the Congress, and implement a plan for that streamlining and 
simplification.
    Twenty-six Executive Branch agencies jointly submitted a plan to 
the Congress in May 2001. The plan described the interagency process 
through which the agencies would review current policies and practices 
and seek to streamline and simplify them. The process involved 
interagency work groups under the auspices of the Grants Management 
Committee of the Chief Financial Officers Council. The plan also 
identified substantive areas in which

[[Page 54099]]

the interagency work groups had begun their review.
    One of the substantive areas that the agencies identified in the 
plan was a need to streamline and simplify Federal grant reporting 
requirements and procedures and associated business processes to reduce 
unnecessary burdens on recipients and to improve the timeliness, 
completeness and quality of the information collected.
    Through the leadership of the GPC of the U.S. Chief Financial 
Officer Council, the FGSI was developed to implement the provisions of 
the Federal Financial Assistance Improvement Management Act of 1999 
Public Law 106-107 and to further the Expanded Electronic Government 
initiative set forth in the President's Management Agenda as it 
pertains to simplifying grants management. The FGSI is a coordinated, 
multi-year grant simplification and streamlining program that will 
improve the management of Federal financial assistance awards by:
     Improving the framework of grant policy;
     Simplifying Federal programs' administrative requirements;
     Exploring electronic processing options;
     Streamlining the delivery of payments; and
     Furthering audit and oversight policy.
    With the leadership of the GPC, all Federal grant-making agencies 
are participating in the FGSI.

Important Information for Webcast Participation

    This Webcast will be hosted by and broadcast from the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, located at 451 7th Street, 
SW., Washington, DC Room B-180. Satellite coordinates for viewing the 
Webcast can be found on HUD's Web site: http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/satcoord.cfm.
    The call-in number and e-mail address available for participants 
during this Webcast to ask questions/make comments are as follows: 
phone 202-708-0095 and e-mail [email protected]. This information may only 
be used DURING the live Webcast. Participants wishing to comment after 
the meeting must submit their comments to [email protected].
    If you would like to test your computer to make sure you can use 
the HUD Webcasting software on it, go to http://www.hud.gov/webcasts/index.cfm.

    Dated: September 8, 2006.
Thomas N. Cooley,
Chair, Grants Policy Committee of the U.S. Chief Financial Officer 
Council.
[FR Doc. 06-7614 Filed 9-12-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-M