Public Health and Human Service Grants and Contracts
Last Updated: 12-02-2024
Through the awarding of grants and contracts, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funds health care and human services throughout the United States. Each year, HHS awards billions of dollars to grant recipients and contractors to deliver various public health and human services (PHHS) programs. Award recipients include States, territories, Tribes, community organizations, educational institutions, and for-profit businesses.
For example, grants are used to support:
- medical research funded by the National Institutes of Health.
- care provided to children in Head Start programs and foster care.
- health centers that receive the Health Resources and Services Administration's funding to provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality primary health care to underserved communities.
Contracts are essential to:
- how the Indian Health Service funds health care provided by Tribes to American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
- the purchase of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public health supplies.
- the delivery of high quality, secure, and efficient information technology solutions that enable the Food and Drug Administration to promote and protect public health.
Grant and contract dollars must be used for their intended purpose, and recipients must account for costs and justify expenditures. The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides oversight to detect and deter misuse of these funds. Our agency prioritizes work on grant and contract oversight.
Strategic Plan
Grants and contracts progress through a life cycle that includes four major stages: pre-award, award, post-award, and closeout.
OIG has identified unique risks and vulnerabilities within each stage, so robust oversight during the life cycle is necessary to support awardees' compliance with award requirements; achievement of program outcomes; and prevention of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.
Safeguarding the integrity of grants and contracts remains a significant challenge for HHS and is a priority area for OIG oversight. To address risks associated with these funding sources, OIG developed a strategic plan to oversee a broad and diverse portfolio of more than 100 PHHS programs supported by grants and contracts. The strategic plan includes three goals:
- Strengthen compliance with requirements throughout the grants and contracts life cycle.
- Promote award practices that achieve program outcomes.
- Enhance public trust in HHS awards by mitigating fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement grants and contracts.
Audits
The Office of Audit Services conducts independent audits of HHS programs and/or HHS grantees and contractors. These audits examine the performance of HHS programs and/or grantees in carrying out their responsibilities and provide independent assessments of HHS programs and operations. These reports also help reduce waste, abuse, and mismanagement and promote economy and efficiency throughout HHS.
Evaluations and Inspections
The Office of Evaluation and Inspections conducts national evaluations of HHS programs from a broad, issue-based perspective. The evaluations focus on preventing fraud, waste or abuse in HHS programs and improving their efficiency and effectiveness.
Recommendations
To drive positive change, many OIG reports identify recommendations for improvement. Find a report's recommendations and the status of their implementation on the Recommendations Tracker.
OIG works with Government partners to investigate allegations of fraud involving grants and contracts.
- Avantor, Inc. Agrees to Pay $5.325 Million to Resolve Allegations of False Claims for Overcharging Federal Agencies and Allegations of DEA Violations and Lack of Compliance as to Listed Chemicals
- Danbury Non-Profit Settles Allegations It Enrolled Children of Employees Who Falsely Claimed to be Homeless into its Head Start Programs
- Dr. Timothy Niewold Agreed to Pay $160,000 for Allegedly Violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law by Making False Statements in HHS Grant Applications
- Averhealth to Pay Over $1.3 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations Related to Drug Tests Used in Michigan's Children's Protective Services & Foster Care Programs
- CityMD Agrees to Pay Over $12M for Alleged False Claims to the COVID-19 Uninsured Program
- Government Contractor Settles Claims That It Billed for Personnel Who Lacked Required Security Clearances
- Cleveland Clinic to Pay Over $7 Million to Settle Allegations of Undisclosed Foreign Sources of Funding on NIH Grant Applications and Reports
OIG annually identifies top management and performance challenges HHS faces as it strives to fulfill its mission. View challenges regarding grants and contracts below.
- Financial Integrity (pg 5)
- Data and Technology Security (pg 14)
OIG personnel testify before Congress in oversight hearings. Below are links to selected hearings related to HHS grants and contracts.
*Many contracts awarded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are related to managed care agreements. This page does not list resources related to Medicare Advantage or Medicaid managed care. Those resources (including reports, fraud enforcement updates, Congressional testimony, and speeches) can be found at the Managed Care featured topic page.
.png){kind=logo}