Grant protocol specification *

[widal001]

Summary

Public stakeholders can reference a protocol specification that standardizes how grant data is exchanged, similar to the FHIR standard for healthcare. Engineers can also leverage a set of developer tools that streamline the process of adopting this protocol.

Press release

We’re excited to announce the start of a 1-month Request for Comment (RFC) period on the first draft of the Simpler Financial Protocol – a groundbreaking standard designed to streamline:

• Aggregating and reporting on grant data from multiple sources
• Centralizing grant opportunities from federal, state, and private entities
• Developing and adopting a "common app" across grant-awarding institutions
• Building interoperable tools for the grants ecosystem

In the months following the close of this RFC period, the SimplerGrants team will begin to update our REST API to align with this protocol, and we invite others to do the same.

To ease adoption, we’ve also published a suite of developer tools, including:

• A schema validator to ensure your implementation satisfies the protocol specification
• A registry of custom-defined fields to tailor the protocol to your use case
• A conversion tool to map API outputs to protocol-compliant formats

The Simpler Financial Protocol and accompanying tools represent a significant step forward in creating a more connected and efficient grants landscape.

Acceptance criteria

• Specification: A name and specification for the protocol has been published publicly as an RFC, and at a minimum it defines the following components:
  • Standard fields: At least one field that MUST be included and defined consistently across implementations.
  • Custom fields: A format for defining additional fields that are not specified directly by the protocol, but MAY be included in individual implementations.
  • Defined types: A discrete set of data types that SHOULD be used to validate both standard and custom fields, and a format for defining new types.
• Developer tools: One or more developer tools have been created and published in the open to simplify the adoption of this protocol, e.g. a tool for schema validation.
• Governance: A governance structure and process for managing the protocol has been published as an RFC and outlines how changes can be proposed or adopted.

Metrics

• Popularity: The repository used to manage the protocol and developer tools has at least five “stars” in GitHub (from individuals outside the Simpler.Grants.gov full-time team).
• Engagement: At least three comments from the public have been received during the Request for Comment (RFC) period on the draft protocol specification.
• Adoption: At least one institution (outside of Simpler.Grants.gov) has emailed a shared inbox or completed an interest form to learn more about implementing the protocol for their own grant data.

Related goals

Develop technical product strategy

• Publishing a specification for a grant protocol relates to “directing and overseeing the use of standardized data specifications, such as a grantmaking protocol, that is widely used across multiple teams.”
• Proposing a governance structure and process relates to “developing prototypes of such protocols using participatory governance.”

Assumptions and dependencies

• Assumptions
  • Separate repository: The protocol and associated developer tools will be hosted in one or more repos that are separate from HHS/simpler-grants-gov.
  • Implementation for simpler.grants.gov: While we expect to update our existing simpler.grants.gov API to adopt this protocol, that implementation is out of scope for this deliverable.
  • External hosting: Resources for this protocol (e.g. static site) will likely be hosted outside of the existing grants.gov environments and use a non “.gov” domain.
• Dependencies: N/A

[widal001]

Sprint 1.7 updates

Status: 🟢 On track

Sprint goal

• Set up repo and static site simpler-grants-protocol#1
• Record foundational decisions simpler-grants-protocol#2

Accomplishments

• Set up a new repo: https://github.com/HHS/simpler-grants-protocol
• Set up scaffolding and CI/CD process to deploy the site to GitHub pages: https://hhs.github.io/simpler-grants-protocol/
• Recorded initial ADRs for website, hosting, and specification framework

Rollover

N/A

Risks

No major risks at this time

Next sprint (Sprint 2.1)

• [Spec] Planning and discovery simpler-grants-protocol#34
• [Website] Update content and IA simpler-grants-protocol#26
• [Branding] Choose a working title for the protocol simpler-grants-protocol#31

[widal001]

Sprint 2.1 updates

Status: 🟢 On track

Sprint goal

• [Spec] Planning and discovery simpler-grants-protocol#34
• [Website] Update content and IA simpler-grants-protocol#26
• [Branding] Choose a working title for the protocol simpler-grants-protocol#31

Accomplishments

• Created the first version of a TypeSpec library for the protocol spec
• Updated and expanded the content on the website
• Picked a working title for the protocol (CommonGrants) and created a shortlist of other names
• Documented some key design decisions that will influence the scope and design of the protocol

Rollover

• Finalizing the name for the protocol

Risks

• No major risks right now

Next sprint (Sprint 2.2)

• [CLI] Planning and design simpler-grants-protocol#27
• [Spec] Create v0.1.0-beta library simpler-grants-protocol#39
• [Spec] Publish v0.1.0-beta to npm simpler-grants-protocol#24