Grants Management: OMB Should Collect and Share Lessons Learned from Use of COVID-19-Related Grant Flexibilities

Federal grants to state and local governments totaled $721 billion in fiscal year 2019. OMB has established requirements to ensure accountability for such funds. In March 2020, OMB identified flexibilities related to those requirements to support grantees’ response to COVID-19.

The CARES Act includes a provision for GAO to report on its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report is a part of that body of work and examines: (1) how selected agencies made grant flexibilities available, and how grantees reported using them; (2) how OMB and selected agencies developed and implemented grant flexibilities; and (3) the extent to which OMB has identified lessons learned from the use of grant flexibilities.