The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officially designated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a Quality Service Management Office (QSMO) to lead grant management process improvement efforts on a government-wide basis.
This designation puts HHS in charge of modernizing and streamlining the Federal grant application process to make it easier for both grant applicants and recipients.
“The designation of HHS as the grants QSMO affirms the long-standing role of HHS as the largest grant-making agency and leader in improving grants management. We look forward to working across the stakeholder community of awarding agencies, service providers, applicants and recipients to deliver on a vision for the grants community that empowers them to efficiently and effectively deliver on their mission,” said HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan in a release issued Monday.
QSMOs operate as a “government storefront/manager” of a specific marketplace to manage tech solutions based on governmentwide standards. To become a QSMO, the agency must submit a Marketplace Implementation Plan that details proposed service offerings, the acquisition strategy, financial infrastructure, and other requirements.
This is the fourth and final QSMO designation, which comes in the final days of the Trump administration. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leads the cybersecurity services QSMO, the Treasury Department leads the core financial management QSMO, GSA leads the civilian human resources transaction services QSMO, and now HHS leads the grant management QSMO.
According to Hargan, “The grants QSMO builds on the HHS ReInvent Grants Management Initiative envisioned in 2017 as part of ReImagine HHS and our work to support the president’s management agenda and the administration’s vision for modernizing the Federal government.”
