FY 2023 AGENCY FINANCIAL REPORT 208 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Other Information (Unaudited)

The Grants Oversight and New Efficiency 

Act of 2016 (GONE Act) and Education’s 

Grant Closeout Process 

The goal of the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act of 2016 (Pub. L. No. 

114-117) was to close out grants and cooperative agreements that are in manual closeout 

with zero dollars and undisbursed balances and whose period of performance has 

exceeded two years. Although the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act reporting 

requirements have expired, the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-136, 

Section II.4.9, Grants Programs (August 10, 2021) requires similar information to be 

reported in the Other Information section. See Table 22 below.

Starting with an October 3, 2016, baseline of 8,948 grants and cooperative agreements 

totaling approximately $2 billion in various statuses of the closeout process, the 

Department succeeded in closing out 100 percent of the required grants and cooperative 

agreements during FY 2018. As of October 1, 2023, the Department had 3,560 grants 

and cooperative agreements totaling approximately $97.9 million in various statuses of 

the closeout process. 

In FY 2020, the Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a risk assessment 

of the Department’s grant closeout process and issued their results via memorandum. They 

identified risks with the reliability of grant data and related GONE Act reporting, as well as 

the Department’s grant closeout policies and procedures, including a policy allowing older 

grants to be closed in compliance without required reports being provided by the grantee. In 

addition, the OIG found that both the volume of expired grants and amount of undisbursed 

grant funds significantly increased between the date of initial GONE Act reporting (September 

30, 2017) and January 30, 2020, indicating that grant closeout is less of a focus now 

that GONE Act reporting is over. The memorandum is available at S19U0002 - Risk 

Assessment of the Department’s Grant Closeout Process 

Overall, the Office of Finance and Operations (OFO) agreed with the OIG assessment 

and noted its intention to move forward with grant policy deliberation consistent 

with the results of the assessment. Approved in August 2023, the Handbook for the 

Discretionary Grants Process (Handbook) includes policy requirements that align with 

the OIG recommendations. (6.16.1) (A) (3)

Each year, the Office of Acquisition, Grants, and Risk Management (OAGRM) offers a 

financial monitoring curriculum for formula and discretionary grants aligned with the 

Standards for Financial Management in 2 CFR 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, 

Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, addressing cash management 

and drawdown activity of grantees’ utilization of funds consistent with an approved scope 

of work aimed at reducing issues associated with grant closeouts. 

Table 22

Category 2–3 Years 3–5 Years > 5 Years

Number of Grants/Cooperative Agreements with Zero Dollar Balances 3,197 6 -

Number of Grants/Cooperative Agreements with Undisbursed Dollar Balances 342 15 -

Total Amount of Undisbursed Balances $77,621,010 $20,279,108 -

Source: G5, grants management system linked to the Department’s general ledger system. Data is based on the performance end date of September 30, 2021.