Australian Government Architecture
Search

Grant Management

Definition

Grants are used across the Commonwealth to achieve government policy aims and outcomes for the public through payments to individuals and organisations. Grant Management is defined as the publishing, administering, and managing of these Government-funded services and opportunities.

Purpose

Grant Management systems enable the administration of grants through the full grant lifecycle. This includes, but is not limited to, processing grant applications, assessment of eligibility, management of grant funding, tracking of grants and grant programs, auditing, and reporting.

Effective grant management is realised through: 

  • adopting a capability-driven approach to grant management 
  • delivering simpler, more consistent and efficient grants administration across government
  • reducing duplication of effort and costs across government by consolidating grants administration services
  • improving user experience related to grant management. 

Objectives

The objectives of this content are to:

  • maximise the value delivered by the existing grants hubs
  • reduce implementation risk through the reuse of proven designs within government
  • ensure that new grant management solutions draw efficiency from preceding investments, implementations, and learnings
  • foster technological, data, and workflow consistency across agencies, resulting in simpler and more accessible grant management.

Whole-of-government applicability

The Data and Digital Government Strategy (DDGS) sets a vision for 2030 to deliver simple, secure and connected public services for all people and business, through world class data and digital capabilities. 

Suitable handing of grant management as a capability supports the DDGS missions of:

  • Simple and seamless services: Be digital by design, engage people proactively, and guide them to the services they might need.
  • Delivering for all people and business: Embed inclusion and accessibility, ensuring all services meet the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and that the Digital Service Standard is implemented to embed best-practice service design and accessibility across the APS.

Policy Elements

Policy:
POL23
Grant Management Policy Mandate:
Endorsed
Status:
Core
  • Publish on GrantConnect

    Grant opportunity guidelines and grant awards must be made publicly available on GrantConnect, except where there is a specific policy reason to not publicise the grant opportunity guidelines, or grants are provided on a one-off or ad hoc basis. 

  • Reuse existing designs, patterns, and investments

    Consideration must be given to minimising risk, improving consistency, accelerating delivery, and lowering total cost of Grants Management. This includes leveraging existing standards and designs prior to considering alternative new developments.

  • Build for reuse

    Where reuse is not possible, provide evidence of which systems across government have been investigated (specifically the usage, users, scale, and security classification of the system), demonstrate how any new investment may be extensible and operationalised for reuse, and highlight potential benefits to agencies seeking similar capabilities. 

  • Engage the Department of Finance

    When developing a Grant Management platform, Non-corporate Commonwealth Entities (NCEs) should contact the Department of Finance in the first instance.

Domains

This capability is part of the following domain.
DOM3

Government Service Delivery

Policies

The following policies have requirements that impact this capability.
Mandate: Endorsed
Status: Core

Standards

The following standards support development of digital solutions in this capability.
Grant Management systems enable the administration of grants throughout their entire lifecycles. Functions include, but are not limited to, processing grant applications, assessment of eligibility, management of grant funding, tracking of grants and grant programs, auditing, and…

Designs

The following designs include examples of how digital solutions in this capability can be delivered.

Lead Agency: Department of Social Services

The Community Grants Hub provides a shared-services arrangement to deliver grant administration services on behalf of Australian Government client agencies to support their policy outcomes. Client agencies are responsible for grant policy and the development of grant programs, while the Hub is…

Lead Agency: Department of Finance

GrantConnect provides centralised publication of forecast and current Australian Government grant opportunities and grants awarded. Forecast Opportunities are used to advertise potential Grant Opportunities by providing limited information and an estimated period of release

Lead Agency: Department of Industry, Science & Resources

Technology Type: GovCMS

The Business Grants Hub helps government agencies design and deliver grants programs through a centralised grants portal and management system.

Lead Agency: National Health and Medical Research Council

Technology Type: GovCMS

Sapphire is the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) technology solution for supporting end-to-end management of all Medical Research Endowment Account grant opportunities (GOs) as well as Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) GOs administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Department of…
Was this information helpful?

Do not include any personal information. We are unable to respond to comments or feedback. If you would like a response, please email, or phone us. Our details are on the AGA contact page www.architecture.digital.gov.au/contact-us.