GATA Vision

• Vision Statement
• Historical Evolution
• Purpose and Goals
• Benefits of GATA

Lead the nation in an effort to optimize public resources and improve performance outcomes by applying efficient and effective processes throughout the entire grant life cycle.

The grantee community started an initiative to remove redundancies and streamline the grant process for the four human service agencies. In 2010, based on this initiative, P.A. 96-1141 was passed by the Legislature. Among other things, this legislation required recommendations to the General Assembly regarding addressing inefficiencies and redundancies, and limiting fraud and abuse. As a result, a committee was formed with representatives of four human service agencies and the grantee community to provide the requested recommendations to the General Assembly. The recommendations were the basis of additional legislation, P.A. 97-0558, that created the Management Improvement Initiative Committee (MIIC); that legislation became effective on August 25, 2011.

• Goals for MIIC were
  • To reduce the redundancy of the administrative burden on Provider community:
    • Uniform Reporting Requirements;
    • Uniform Auditing Requirements;
    • Reduce the number of on-site reviews;
    • Reduce the number of requests for the same information and documentation;
• To have ONE uniform set of rules, the committee determined that federal rules should be followed. A large amount of grant funds are from federal sources and state funding is used to meet the “matching” and “maintenance-of-effort” requirements as a condition of the federal grant.

The Department on Aging subsequently joined the other human service agencies on MIIC. In order to make uniform rules, MIIC recommended that the State follow the Federal grant rules, since the majority of grants issued in the State were Federally-funded or were used as matching, in-kind or maintenance-of-effort as a condition of existing Federal grants. The results from MIIC for the five Human Service Agencies included:

• Uniform Budget and Financial Reporting Template;
• Uniform Fiscal and Administrative On-site review protocol;
• Uniform grant agreement templates;
• Uniform high risk indicators;
• Central Repository Vault;
• Uniform Financial Statement Audit threshold;
• Required Financial Statement Audits to be conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards;
• Required submission of an indirect cost rate proposal.

After implementing at the five Human Service Agencies, the grantee community asked if other agencies would be included in the MIIC. Building on the work of MIIC, the Illinois Single Audit Commission (ILSAC) was created and charged with researching and providing recommendations to extend the recommendations of MIIC Statewide. At the recommendation of ILSAC, the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) was created. The overarching goals of GATA are to eliminate duplicative grant requirements and reduce administrative burdens while increasing accountability and transparency. GATA also recognizes the need for, and in fact requires that we provide, training and technical assistance for our grantees and grant administrators in Illinois.

The purpose of GATA is to provide for the development of a coordinated, non-redundant process for the provision of effective and efficient oversight of the selection and monitoring of grant recipients, ensuring quality programs, limiting fraud, waste and abuse, and defining the purpose, scope, applicability and responsibilities in the life cycle of a grant.

Once fully-implemented, uniformity in grant processes across State agencies will result in decreased administrative burden for both grant-making agencies and the provider community.In order to achieve accountability and transparency, the overall goal of uniformity in the pre-award, award, and post award grant periods is centered on the following elements:

• Defining roles and responsibilities
  
• Establishing uniform compatible policies and procedures across diverse grant programs
• Developing and implementing uniform mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report the results
• Reinforcing individual accountability through Budgeting for Results
• Improving the capacity of smaller nonprofit organizations by addressing weaknesses in finances, administration and human labor resources through training and the use of approved fiscal agents
• Implementing uniform administrative and reporting requirements to address the considerable resources that providers currently devote to responding to multiple reporting formats
• Strengthening internal governance of nonprofits by providing training, consulting, and State grant certification programs
• Adopting Federal cost principles to provide data on the adequacy of overhead funding to nonprofit organizations

GATA will:

• Encourage a team effort through State agency and Grantee input for rulemaking recommendations
  
• Assist State agencies and grantees in implementing the new Federal guidance at 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Requirements)
• Leverage the Federal model for State grants
• Increase accountability and transparency while reducing redundant administrative burdens
• Provide a uniform process throughout the entire grant life cycle
• Optimize resources through the coordination of grant-monitoring activities to promote efficient use of scarce resources
• Provide training and technical assistance for State agency staff and grantees
• Eliminate the duplication of effort for audit report reviews, indirect cost rate negotiation, on-site reviews and training through GATA standardization