Kacey Roberts
A Mitre-led consortium has completed a proof-of-concept demonstration of a business model that seeks to leverage distributed ledger technology or blockchain in managing federal grants.
Results of the Future State Grants Demonstration Project show utilizing DLT could potentially eliminate duplicative reporting, expand payment automation, improve information circulation and reduce government costs, the nonprofit company said Monday.
Mitre kicked off the demo effort in 2020 and worked with voluntary collaborators from the federal government, academia, local community and the business sector.
The eight-page report includes preliminary recommendations for both the public and private sectors to apply the consortium’s proposed method to implement the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act.
One of the GREAT Act provisions calls for the adoption of technologies to modernize the federal grantmaking process, which Mitre says would involve huge sums of money.
The federal government awarded more than $1.3 trillion in total grants to state and local agencies, tribal nations, community-based organizations and academic institutions during fiscal year 2021, according to the report.
Mitre plans to issue its full report that includes a recommended action plan in the fall.
