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Stimulus Spending Enters Competitive Phase

Carmen Group's client stewardship approach focuses strategic campaigns for winning, optimizing and managing federal grants. Recent Client successes include Napa Flood Control, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Saft America and the International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Industry.

The administration is claiming success for the stimulus program one year after its inception. While unemployment remains painfully high and critics abound, many credible economic research firms, including the Congressional Budget Office, credit the stimulus with creating nearly two million jobs and removing the threat of economic depression.

As attention shifts from broad measures like tax cuts and reimbursements to tens of thousands of competitive grants and a new jobs bill, agencies face bottlenecks caused by insufficient staffing, bid process complexity and compliance with transparency and accountability. Moreover, as "use it or lose it" provisions of the Recovery Act come into play, projects that are not "shovel ready" will have their awarded funding returned to the unallocated pool.

Organizations seeking stimulus support need to create campaigns that address agency issues and help agencies succeed. In some cases, the process will be drawn through additional cycles, while in others deadline pressure will provoke reactive distortions. Strategic programs should address not just the timely issue of the stimulus, but also the overarching goals of recovery and project merit.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides an unprecedented quantity of substantial grants for communities and businesses. As the act’s overarching objective is economic stimulus, the process for competing, winning and complying will be new in many ways. Grants administration will be a challenge for government departments not experienced with this level of throughput, and program modifications will likely arise due to functional and political adjustments. “Use it or lose it” provisions illustrate how project merit alone is not sufficient. Those organizations who can respond dynamically to the program’s urgency and goals have a unique opportunity to gain disproportionate share and fund multiple projects. Even formula grant proposals must address objectives beyond standard practice.

Major grant campaigns require an effective strategy and broad teamwork to compile extensive, complicated content and craft an effective, focused response. Carmen Group leads the content generation process and takes over final implementation to ensure that the proposal is properly framed, thoroughly responsive and effectively actionable.

Carmen Group has over two decades of substantive expertise in creating winning grant proposals. We have helped clients realize significant value through grants in areas including defense, education, energy, environment, healthcare, transportation, unions & coalitions and water.

Communications with Agency Officials

After a competitive grant has been submitted, no oral  communication with an agency official is permitted for any concerned party. Comments can only be transmitted in writing, and will be posted on the Internet. Agencies will post all communications with registered lobbyists.

Committee on Appropriations:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Conference Agreement Press Release

(February 13, 2009 - Original appropriations before Agency deployment.)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Unprecedented Accountability
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan provides unprecedented oversight, accountability, and transparency to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested effectively, efficiently, and as quickly as possible.

• Funds are distributed whenever possible through existing formulas and programs that have proven track records and accountability measures already in place.
• Numerous provisions in the bill provide for expedited but effective obligation of funds so that dollars are invested in the economy as quickly as possible.
• The Government Accountability Office and the Inspectors General are provided additional funding for auditing and investigating recovery spending.
• A new Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board will coordinate and conduct oversight of recovery spending and provide early warning of problems.
• A special website will provide transparency by posting information about recovery spending, including grants, contracts, and all oversight activities.
• State and local whistleblowers who report fraud and abuse are protected.
• There are no earmarks in this bill.

Key Investments
This plan targets investments to key areas that will create and preserve good jobs at the same time as it is strengthening the ability of this economy to become more efficient and produce more opportunities for employment.

Clean, Efficient, American Energy: To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will strengthen efforts directed at doubling renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient.

• Over $30 billion to transform the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology.
• $5 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: We need to put scientists to work looking for the next great discovery, creating jobs in cutting-edge-technologies, and making smart investments that will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy. For every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.

• $15 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation.
• $7.2 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy.

Modernize Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways: To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, modernize public buildings, and put people to work cleaning our air, water and land.

• $27.5 billion for highway construction;
• $16.5 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term energy cost savings;
• $18.8 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
• $17.7 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

Education for the 21st Century: To enable more children to learn in 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with any worker in the world, this package provides:

• $26 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($12.2 billion), and the Education Technology program ($650 million).
• $53.6 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39.5 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $5 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $8.8 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include K-12 and higher education modernization.
• $15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500.

Lower Healthcare Costs: To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our healthcare system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce healthcare costs by billions of dollars each year.

• $19 billion for health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies.
• $2 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.

Help Workers Hurt by the Economy: High unemployment and rising costs have outpaced Americans’ paychecks. We will help workers train and find jobs, and help struggling families make ends meet.

• $20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.
• $13.6 billion for programs to help families during the housing crisis.
• $ 4.8 billion to train workers in high growth areas and help the unemployed find jobs.

Save Public Sector Jobs and Protect Vital Services: We will provide relief to states, so they can continue to employ teachers, firefighters and police officers and provide vital services without having to unnecessarily raise middle class taxes.

• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.

View Full Press Release Including Detailed Summary (.pdf)