Input starts grant info service

Grants.gov

Market research firm Input plans to expand its services to provide information on federal grants.

The federal Grants.gov initiative is consolidating grant information and applications, but there is still a need for additional resources about funding opportunities for state, local and higher education groups, Input believes. The Reston, Va.-based company today said it will offer information on more than $54 billion in grants, which cover a wide range of areas, including homeland security and social services available for state and local governments. Input's new offering will also cover almost $11 billion in grants available for higher education institutions.

Grants.gov, one of 24 e-government initiatives in the Bush Administration's E-Government Strategy, is still a work in progress. Agencies must now provide all of their grants opportunities through the portal so users can search for all federal grants in one place and submit applications online.

"But there still seems to be a need to do some things that Grants.gov doesn't do at this point," said Meredith Luttner, Input's manager for public sector operations.

The additional information available through the Input solutions include how grant funding ties into overall federal program funding, detailed contact information and a way to track the money as it goes through the many steps in a grant program, Luttner said.