The payment pooling concept is nothing new, according to Tom Doherty, director, Office of Financial Systems for HHS, the largest grantmaking agency. Doherty participated in a series of meetings on this issue with other federal agency representatives. We think it is an efficient way to deliver funds to grantees, especially those who manage hundreds of awards. Doherty said that at the time of funds drawdown, grantees often do not know to the penny how much they will need to cover expenditures. Thus, there is inherently some guesswork involved, even when drawing down by individual award.
Grantees often have to go back and make adjustments to accounts.
These estimates are then adjusted to actual expenditures when grantees submit their expense reports. In contrast, one federal agency that requires advanced payment requests to be made by individual grant award is the U.S. Department of Education. Some grantees draw every day to minimize cash on hand. Given the choice, Doherty thinks many grantees will opt for pooling. For those grantees that do not have more than a handful of awards, he conceded, perhaps individual drawdown would be more attractive because they would not have to submit monthly or quarterly reports on actual cash expenditures.