Late last year, Grants.gov bolstered its online service capabilities by implementing e-forms technology from PureEdge (www.pureedge.com), Victoria, BC. Grant applicants can now download and fill out forms offline, and then submit them through the Web site with authentication. They also can digitally sign documents, use ad hoc or structured routing, work remotely, move data in and out of corporate systems and store all elements of a process in one secure file. One of 24 federal cross-agency e-government initiatives for improving access to services via the Internet, Grants.gov is a unified "storefront" at which organizations can find, apply for and manage federal grants. It serves more than 900 grant programs offered by 26 federal grant-making agencies. It streamlines the process of awarding more than $360 billion annually to state and local governments, academia, non-profits and other organizations.
Grants.gov projects that 15,000 users will submit grants through the portal during the system's first year of operation. By offering an electronic means of submitting grant applications, Grants.gov is improving service delivery methods while creating internal efficiencies by streamlining processes and eliminating redundancies.
Quelle: Transform Magazine, 26.01.2004
