Improving Process of Applying for Federal Grants at Vermont DEC

The goal of the lean event for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was to promote greater consistency and transparency in applying for Federal funds from a variety of Agencies.

In the past, this process was held by one person, allowing for a standard practice due to only one person carrying it out. Now that five grant managers are involved in facilitating this process, a standard practice needed to be developed in order to maintain an organized process and consistency within the Department. 

Goals for the event included promoting greater consistency and transparency in the process, developing a process to ensure adequate time for proper budget and proposal development, as well as ensure all costs are included as part of the budgeting.

A new budgeting template is being made based on the feedback collected during the Lean event. Work has been started on formalizing the new standard operating procedure, and the plan is to have it completed sometime in June 2019.

Read the event summary at https://dec.vermont.gov/administration-innovation/lean/projects