Grants Monitor II, Home Energy Rebates Program

MELE Associates•Washington, DC

10d•$70,000 - $80,000•Remote

About The Position

The Grants Monitor II (GM II) will support the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), Home Energy Rebates program. The Home Energy Rebates program lowers household energy costs through whole-home efficiency retrofits and the electrification of appliances and equipment. Funding is delivered through both formula and competitive awards to states, territories, and Indian Tribes. Grants Monitor II provides support in grants management to promote practices that are compliant with applicable statutes, regulations, best practices, specific program emphases, and other organizational objectives across the Home Energy Rebates portfolio. The role supports both pre-award and post-award functions and maintains a medium portfolio of awarded grants and cooperative agreements from award through closeout. The portfolio consists of a mix of state and Tribal awards: state awards are fewer in number and substantially larger in dollar value, while Tribal awards are lower in dollar value and considerably higher in volume. The successful candidate will be able to manage a high transaction count without any loss of monitoring rigor.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts in business administration, public administration, or a related discipline. Four (4) years of relevant education/experience may substitute for the Bachelor's degree.
Minimum of five (5) or more years of related experience. A Master's degree may substitute for two (2) years.
Demonstrated use of excellent oral and written communication skills.
Effective understanding of Federal government agencies, State and local government offices, non-profits, Tribes, businesses, and contractors, as appropriate, to remain current on new initiatives, programs, grant requirements, and regulations.
Working knowledge of grant and cooperative agreement pre-award functions, including application review, risk assessment, and budget review.
Working knowledge of grant and cooperative agreement post-award functions, including deliverable review, progress monitoring, adjustment requests, and closeout.
Ability to identify gaps in grant management policies, procedures, practices, and documentation and to recommend feasible improvements.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing DOE grants and cooperative agreements.
Experience supporting DOE residential energy efficiency, weatherization, electrification, or home energy rebate programs.
Experience administering or monitoring Federal financial assistance awarded to Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations.
Experience with both formula-allocated and competitively awarded Federal financial assistance.
Experience supporting SCEP or the Department of Energy.
Familiarity with DOE systems.

Responsibilities

Participate in pre-award application and program plan review, for both formula and competitive awards, to assess the responsiveness of submissions against established submission requirements.
Apply the differing pre-award requirements of formula and competitive awards, including allocation-based eligibility and program plan review for formula recipients and merit review support and selection documentation for competitive applicants.
Review the applicant's risk profile and past performance to advise on appropriate methods of constructing the selected applicant's award package, and assign a monitoring profile accordingly.
Ensure that legal, regulatory, and policy issues are addressed by the selected awardee's submissions in support of program requirements, budgetary requirements, and any other applicable requirements.
Identify areas of risk or gaps in the grant application in accordance with 2 CFR 200 and 2 CFR 910, and address options to resolve the gaps.
Conduct critical and thorough reviews of proposed budgets, including rebate delivery and processing costs, administrative and implementation costs, income eligibility verification and quality control costs, and data collection and reporting costs, to ensure costs are reasonable, allowable, appropriate, allocable, and necessary.
Ensure all review outcomes and funding recommendations are properly documented and filed prior to making an award.
Maintain a medium portfolio of awarded grants and cooperative agreements and work with awardees to ensure all required reports and deliverables are submitted within the timeframes specified by the terms and conditions of the award, from award through closeout.
Monitor a mixed portfolio of state and Tribal awards, scaling monitoring effort and risk assessment appropriately across a smaller number of high-dollar state awards and a substantially larger number of lower-dollar Tribal awards.
Coordinate with Tribal recipients and DOE Tribal program staff, accounting for the distinct administrative capacity, reporting, and technical assistance needs that accompany a high-volume, lower-dollar Tribal award portfolio.
Review and disseminate awardee deliverables to SCEP to ensure compliance with the technical, financial, and regulatory requirements of the agreement.
Collaborate with the DOE/SCEP Operations team on budget matters and ensure organizational compliance with regulations for the assessment of payments.
Assess grantee progress, deliverables, and milestones, including obligation and expenditure rates, households served, rebate processing volumes, and energy savings reporting, and communicate relevant assessments to DOE/SCEP.
Review and recommend action on awardee requests for adjustments in requirements, and assure all requirements stated in the agreement are met.
Identify gaps in grant management policies, procedures, practices, and documentation, suggest feasible methods to address identified concerns, and work with management to implement improvement recommendations.