Hawai‘i must be prepared to manage millions of dollars in federal funds that have been allocated to our state. THG and Gartner, in collaboration with the Hawai‘i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations and the Nonprofit Grants Working Group, recently presented an informative virtual session on “Best Practices & Tools for Leveraging & Managing ARPA & IIJA Funding.”
An Incentive to Modernize
There is no doubt the availability of federal funds from these two sources is providing a strong incentive to accelerate enterprise resource planning modernization in government entities across the nation. While our sights are fixed on the prize and the potential of how these funds can transform our infrastructure and the lives of those in our islands, we are also keeping a wary eye on our state’s ERP system, wistfully aware that, like other states, it is not yet ready to properly monitor and manage the infusion of federal funds.
The inability to access a full suite of ERP applications, including the integration of procurement and grants management tools, may hinder contracting, purchasing, and our modernization efforts.
Capturing Hawai‘i’s Fair Share
According to USASpending.gov, through three rounds of pandemic response funding, Hawai‘i has been awarded a total of $21.28 billion and to date has received just about a quarter of that amount or $5.3 billion. If you’re a glass half-empty person, you may wonder why Hawai‘i has been taking so long to access these funds and whether we’ll end up leaving money on the table. If you’re a glass half-full person, you’ll be glad to know there are numerous resources available to manage these funds. Both perspectives are valid.
If you would like to receive Alia’s PowerPoint presentation, please contact Christine Sakuda at csakuda@transformhawaiigov.org.