Grants office seeks software consolidation; committee moves Casa and flags $200,000 cost-sharing appropriation

The Office of Grants Management told the Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee it wants to shift funding to its base to secure the UNISolution private grants database module and give county departments universal access to both incoming and outgoing grants tools. Director Rafael Murphy said the county already pays for an instance of the software but that moving the private-database module onto OGM's base would avoid departments buying separate licenses and would increase efficiency. "We are already paying for an unlimited number of users," Murphy said, and noted OGM has $150,000 in awards under negotiation that were identified using the database.

Staff presented the cost rationale: a single-instance approach would cost $67,804 and produce first-year savings versus three separate department instances (roughly a $98,000 savings in year one, per staff math). Council members asked whether universal access had user limits; Murphy said the current purchase already accommodates the needed number of users and shifting the funding would allow broader departmental access at no additional cost.

On capital and cost-sharing items, the committee reviewed a CE recommended $2.5 million allocation to CASA Incorporated for ongoing renovations to a Rockville workforce-development center (the FY27 recommendation splits $2.0 million federal and $500,000 county funds). Staff also described a county direct appropriation of $200,000 for the Charles E. Smith "reimaging ring house" project, which pairs with state capital funding; councilmembers raised process concerns because the $200,000 appeared to be drawn from the $2.0 million competitive cost-sharing capital grants pot after the NOFO was released. Chair Stewart moved to place the $200,000 on the reconciliation list so the competitive pot remains intact; the committee agreed without objection and asked staff to supply more detail for full council.

Committee members praised OGM for recent grant wins and training work but asked for clearer packet numbers; staff committed to correcting several numerical errors in the published packet before full council.