Brainstorm workshop: collaborate on applications while avoiding fraud & reducing friction

[snyder-ux]

Summary

Activity: Brainstorming session

Goal: Identify ways we might create a less error-prone way for applicants to collaborate and apply for organizational grants while avoiding/minimizing fraud.

Context
In order to submit an application on behalf of an organization in grants.gov, the organization must be register in SAM.gov, have an active UEI (expires yearly), and specify an EBiz POC.

Grants.gov uses the SAM EBiz POC as a way to identify who is responsible for the organization and manage who can submit applications on behalf of the organization. The EBiz POC must register in grants.gov to manage permissions. When someone from the org. wants to collaborate/submit applications on behalf of an org, the EBiz POC must grant them permission, or have already given another colleague Expanded AOR permission to manage things.

Challenge: When others from the organization join grants.gov and request joining a Workspace to collaborate on an application, there can be a long delay and confusion about how to do this.

• An EBIz POC may not be part of the typical grants process and may not know to register in grants.gov. If they don't register, then it blocks everyone from being able to apply.
• Colleagues sometimes don't know who the EBiz POC is so don't know how to ask them to register.
• If the EBiz POC is registered in grants.gov they will get an email notification when someone requests to join the organizations UEI. Sometimes they don't see this email.
• EBiz POC do not get notified if they are not registered just because they are the EBiz POC in SAM.gov.
• EBiz POC may leave the organization and not be updated in SAM.

SAM.gov technical implementation only allows one EBiz POC. SAM.gov is agnostic to how we use this data.
Grants.gov enables other elevated users like Expanded AOR.

• There is no legal requirement that there’s only one elevated user.
• These are Grants.gov conventions and ways of using the EBiz POC data.
• The way we use it is an implementation decision towards fraud risk management.

Acceptance criteria

• Identify who to invite with knowledge of the process, policy, tech
• Design a workshop and facilitation guide
• Schedule meeting
• Conduct workshop

[snyder-ux]

Related to UEI, permissions, and foundational to applying

• Research: Dante's UEI Research: Dante's UEI #3274