A number of efforts are in place to address these challenges. Some are taking place within specific agencies or in small groups of agencies, some are grassroots efforts, others are driven by political leadership. Some relate to research funding, others address distribution of program funds. Some are moving into their second decade of effort, others are just beginning. All are moving forward at different paces and with different definitions of progress and success. The overall impact of these programs is not yet clear, but they are making real contributions to our understanding of the issues and possible solutions.

Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP)-- Launched in 1986, the FDP is a cooperative arrangement among federal granting agencies and grant recipients to improve the processes of proposal review and funding for research. Eleven federal agencies, 65 research institutions, and five professional organizations participate in the effort, which is convened by the National Academy of Sciences' Government-Industry-University Research Roundtable. The goal of FDP is to increase research productivity while maintaining responsible stewardship of federal funds by streamlining funding procedures and reducing the workloads of proposal writers and research administrators. The Partnership sponsors demonstration projects that test new ideas to achieve these goals. Early efforts focused on key rules that make it easier for grantees to launch and manage projects. Current efforts are focused on more global needs for electronic grants administration.

Electronic grants administration projects--Electronic grants administration has been under development in various forms for several years. The large community served by NSF, for example, has benefited from FastLane, which reduces the amount of paper processing by streamlining and automating as much of the proposal preparation, submission, and management process as possible. Similar efforts are underway at NIH in the Electronic Research Administration (ERA) program. A governmentwide effort entitled the Federal Commons project was initiated in response to Public Law 106-107 and is coordinated by the Inter-Agency Electronic Grants Committee (IAEGC). The goals of the Federal Commons project are to present a single federal face to grantee organizations and to offer easy access to information about grant opportunities, single-grantee registration and profile features, and electronic communications and transactions for both pre- and post-award processing.

E-grants initiative. As one of the Bush Administration's e-government efforts, the Department of Health and Human Services is leading a multi-agency project to simplify and standardize fundamental parts of the grants work of all federal agencies. These efforts are bringing many federal agencies, research institutions, and state governments to the discussion table and involving many of them in demonstration and pilot projects to test new models.

State-based e-grants initiatives. A number of states, including Pennsylvania and New York, are leading the field in electronic grants initiatives. These states are investing heavily in the development and implementation of processes and systems to support grants making. Both states are active members of the Interstate Advisory Group, a group of states involved in e-grants initiatives, that advises the Federal IAEGC in its Federal Commons Efforts.