Rapid Response to Track COVID-19 Funds & Budget Reporting Modernization
CLIENT:
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
CHALLENGE
With the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, federal agencies received supplemental funds to accelerate the testing, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. These two supplements instantly grew NIBIB’s budget by more than 100%, resulting in additional scrutiny and oversight from Congress. The sudden injection of funds also posed challenges on current resources and increased the agency’s internal and external reporting requirements.
SOLUTION
Malbaie’s budget experts designed a reporting solution capable of preparing quick and accurate reports for monitoring COVID-19 funds and satisfying reporting requirements. This included developing a detailed Spend Plan and interactive COVID-19 Qlik Sense dashboard to track and analyze planned vs. actuals at a granular level, drilling up and down across different categories (basic research, diagnostic, therapeutic, vaccine, etc.) necessary for planning. The custom reports and dashboards allowed scientific and budget stakeholders to analyze total spend by funding type, source, project and other dimensions for a comprehensive view of funding distribution.
OUTCOME
The Spend Plan and COVID-19 Dashboard provided the agency’s budget and scientific communities with reliable, consistent, and up-to-date view on spending. The tools developed by Malbaie allowed the Budget Office to carefully oversee the funded programs and projects tied to COVID, while providing the scientific community a way to plan and prioritize projects and applications yet to be funded. The dashboard helped to automate the 60-day Congressional COVID spending update on a weekly basis and the HHS Weekly COVID Spending report with speed and accuracy.
