Grants and contracts were two common ways the federal government got pandemic relief money to the public.

Grants are a form of financial assistance from the federal government and do not have to be repaid. Contracts are an agreement between the federal government and a prime recipient to provide goods and services for a fee.

We surveyed 29 federal agencies to learn about their experiences taking
on this task. Our survey showed a sharp contrast in the challenges
faced by agencies' grants workforce compared to their contracts
workforce during the pandemic.

Read some key insights below:

For your files 📂

Staffing was a bigger problem for grants workforces. 

• Civilian agencies noted a 75% satisfaction rate with the levels of staffing for their contracts workforce. This compares to a 50% satisfaction rate from other agencies that managed grants workforce staffing levels during the pandemic.

Grants workforces needed more IT resources.

• While the majority of contracts workforces were satisfied with their IT resources, over half of the respondents for grants workforces said they needed more, such as system upgrades.

The majority of grants workforces were not satisfied with their training on how to award the pandemic-related grants.

• Only 45% of agencies reported a satisfactory level of training for their grants workforce compared to 70% of contract workforces saying that no additional training was necessary. 

Respondents were concerned about the large volume of grants.

• Federal grants increased by more than 76% from FY 2019 to FY 2021. This made it difficult to ensure that grantees used the funds for their authorized purposes.

Read the full report to find out how the challenges these workforces faced resulted in creative new strategies.

If you want to learn about how other critical workforces were impacted by the pandemic, read our recent report with insights about 
staffing shortages in health care.

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