Grants.gov Upgrade 90 Days Away

For those of you who saw my story about the Office of Management and Budget directing agencies to update their grant management systems in preparation for a spike of stimulus-related applications, Jason Miller over at Federal News Radio has an update:

The Department of Health and Human Services expects to upgrade the Grants.gov site in the next 90-to-120 days, well into the surge in applications expected from the Recovery act.

Sheila Conley, HHS's deputy assistant secretary for finance and acting deputy assistant secretary for grants, says she and other senior officials throughout government are concerned about the time it will take to improve the centralized federal Web site to find and apply for grants.

According to the article, HHS is expecting about 75,000 new grant applications because of the stimulus bill, starting in April and going through August. Last week OMB director Peter Orzag directed agencies to consider other options for accepting grant applications and submit alternatives by March 13. No word yet on what those options will be, but yours truly is willing to bet that old-fashioned paper applications may be coming back in vogue this summer.