Montgomery County Grants Portal

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in collaboration with the County Council developed a web-based grants management system, the Montgomery County Grants Portal (Portal). Utilizing pre-built software with full customization capabilities, the Portal is a one-stop-shop for two County-funded grants programs, the County Executive’s Community Collaboration Grants and Council Grants. For the first time, applicants for both programs are able to complete 100% electronic applications, receive immediate and automatic confirmation receipts, and have a single resource for all instructions, sample applications, and status updates. The Portal also serves as the central hub for staff administration, review, communication, and reporting for each program, allowing for creation of bulk email templates, automatic assignment to review teams, and more efficient and expedient reviews through custom forms. The Portal is mobile-ready and accessible across all platforms (desktops, tablets, smartphones) and browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari). Since its implementation, the Portal has replaced multiple obsolete databases, improved relations with not-for-profit applicants, reduced paper consumption and review time, and significantly improved accuracy of awards and accountability of awardees. While the software did come at minimal cost, contracted staff dollars were saved by the ability to bring administration of the programs in-house for OMB.