Grants Management Technical Assistance (GMTA) Program

Goal

The purpose of the GMTA Program is to build a TA Program that can demonstrate improvement in grants management efficiency and effectiveness, be adapted to fit the specific needs of the state and local administering jurisdictions, and, most importantly, be sustained by FEMA partners in homeland security and emergency management in support of state and local initiatives.  These initiatives, as identified by both the national and state homeland security strategic plans, are centered on three goals:  to prevent, respond to and recover from terrorist or all-hazards incidents. Through the GMTA Program, NCJA will continue its efforts to further promote stronger partnerships between emergency management, homeland security and traditional public safety organizations at the state and local levels. These partnership-building efforts must be continued for these goals and initiatives to be successfully achieved.

Objectives

The primary objectives of the Grants Management TA Program are as follows:

• Solicit and maintain promising business practices for grant administration and assist integration of those practices into business plans of the recipients of FEMA federal funding;
• Enhance abilities to track and monitor grants by making available model electronic grant management systems or other proven systems for recipients of FEMA federal funding;
• Maintain and update a resource directory of reference documents, promising practices, and web sites/links;
• Decrease the time needed for recipients of FEMA federal funding to sub award and reimburse local units of government for purchase of goods and services;
• Increase efficiency in the deployment of equipment and services;
• Provide a platform for homeland security grantees to network; and,
• Build and standardize performance and accountability measures.

This project is supported by Cooperative Agreement #2007-TH-T7-K004, awarded to the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA), from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Points of view or opinions contained within this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and/or NCJA.