The Department's Monitoring of Investing in Innovation Program (i3) Grant Recipients

Our evaluation of the Department’s monitoring of i3 program grant recipients found that Department program officers regularly engaged with and monitored i3 grantees. However, they did not hold accountable i3 grantees that did not respond or did not respond timely to Department requests. We recommended that the Department develop appropriate requirements or consequences for unresponsive i3 grantees. We also found that if program officer workload increases or if the technical assistance for the evaluation component is no longer available, the Department’s ability to monitor the grantees could be negatively impacted in the future. We recommended that the Department continue to monitor any increase in program officers’ workload to ensure adequate monitoring. The Department should also ensure that a technical assistance contractor is available for future project periods or find an equivalent alternative for technical assistance.