Grants Management and Peer Review Support

CRP provides grants management and peer review support to Federal, state, and local government agencies that often exceed performance expectations and time-sensitive requirements.  A synopsis of our eight-step grant review model is illustrated below.

CRP recently managed the pre-award phases for grant programs administered by the District of Columbia’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED).   


DC Small Business Recovery Micro-Grant and Legacy Grant Reviews

During the COVID-19 pandemic, DMPED led the District’s economic recovery efforts, including the deployment of relief and recovery micro-grants to small local businesses, non-profits and independent contractors or self-employed individuals.  Some organizations, designated as “Legacy businesses,” received supplemental micro-grants. CRP served as a strategic partner to DMPED by providing pre-award management services in support of these grant-making priorities.  Within an accelerated, time-sensitive period of three months, CRP administered a virtual micro-grant competition and review process, which encompassed over 7,000 grant applications reviewed and awarded totaling $34 million.  

The scope of CRP’s engagement included:

  • Reviewing grant applications to ensure compliance with grant requirements;

  • Training DMPED staff and panels of reviewers on DMPED’s Blackbaud and Smartsheet, DMPED grants management support tools; 

  • Producing a reviewer’s handbook, which guided reviewer training and all aspects of grant application review, scoring, and reporting;

  • Generating weekly reports on the progress of applications received;

  • Recommending funding awards informed by application review results; and 

  • Submitting a final report on review implementation and accomplishments.  

Great Streets, Innovation Accelerator, and Investor Engagement Grant Reviews

These DMPED grant portfolios promote economic growth for DC small businesses and residents and enhance the agency’s ability to meet its investment needs.  CRP assisted DMPED grant managers in administering and managing the pre-award phase of virtual competitions of each respective grant program.  

The scope of CRP’s work included:

  • Developing a reviewer’s handbook with protocols, sample documents, scoring protocols, and a summary report template;

  • Collecting and pre-screening applications to assess review eligibility;

  • Assembling and training teams of reviewers on Blackbaud, DMPED’s electronic grant application and review system; 

  • Preparing application summaries containing reviewer scores; and

  • Submitting summary reports to DMPED with funding recommendations on each grant competition.