I have the misfortune of reading the Federal Register each day, which is every bit as scintillating as it sounds.* This week I noticed that at least two dozen RFPs were released on December 23—the Friday before Christmas.
The timing probably isn’t coincidence—much of the nonprofit world effectively shuts down between Christmas and New Year’s every year (although we usually get a couple of calls from unusual nonprofits who are thinking about their next moves as the year winds down). The various agencies who issued RFPs know as much. They might have some internal reason for issuing RFPs when they did. But I’m skeptical and suspect that they wanted to bury some of these notices.
Which means you should take a closer-than-usual look. If you do, you’ll find some very interesting RFPs, like the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI; it has has $123,000,000 available with more than 100 grants to be made) or the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (AFG; it has $35,000,000 available and more than 200 grants to be made).**
Government entities, corporations, and other organizations routinely release bad news on Friday afternoons, when they know the bad news will get less press. We’re likely seeing a similar dynamic here, especially because you can just about guarantee that program officers contacts won’t be available until after the New Year. Incidentally, if you’re looking for politically unpalatable regulations, this is also an excellent time of year to be studying the Federal Register.
The Federal Register offers useful insights into the federal process at work, and the minds behind this process. This aspect of our business helps us build weird bits of insight that we’d otherwise lack and that we’re happy to share with you.
* If that weren’t enough, I’m also on all sorts of foundation and state e-mail lists. The result is usually tedium, intermixed with the occasional major grant opportunity.
** AFG is a program of special interest to me for reasons explained in “FEMA Tardiness, Grants.gov, and Dealing with Recalcitrant Bureaucrats” and its sequels. As those posts describe, Seliger + Associates is doing its part to bring YOU better government.