Previous Story
Fitial tightens fed grant application process
|
Posted on Apr 01 2008
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial wants to get a first look at federal grant applications submitted by local agencies.
In a memorandum, the governor called on department and agency heads to coordinate federal grants with his office. His directive came amid an apparent practice among grant recipients of informing the administration after the fact.
“Before submitting a federal grant application to my office for approval, please make sure that I am fully consulted in advance, at the beginning of the process rather than at the end of the process when my approval is expected,” Fitial said.
He added that the Governor’s Office must be thoroughly briefed on federal grant terms, conditions and requirements before he can approve any grants on behalf of the CNMI government.
There has been a case when Fitial administration declined a federal grant because of the terms and conditions involved. The administration refused an initial $420,000 grant supposedly for the local labor and immigration system, as well as another $350,000 that was to have followed it. The federal government has started distributing the amount to other CNMI agencies such as Karidat.
The Public School System, Department of Labor, and Department of Public Safety are among the government agencies that rely heavily on federal grants.
The U.S. Office of Insular Affairs administers the most federal grant programs that benefit the Commonwealth and U.S. insular areas. In fiscal year 2007, OIA offered approximately $73 million to insular areas in the form of grants of financial assistance. This excludes mandatory funding to the insular areas.
