Item 3 - GTOPs Improvement Plan — original pdf

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M E M O R A N D U M TO: The City of Austin’s Technology Commission FROM: Dan Martinez, Business Process Specialist Austin Economic Development – Community Technology Initiative DATE: October 8, 2025 SUBJECT: Grant For Technology Opportunities Program 2026 Action Plan Background The City of Austin’s Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan, as adopted by Resolution No. 20141120-074, includes every Austin resident having an opportunity to be fully engaged in digital society, accessing and using digital and communications technology. Austin Economic Development (AED)– Community Technology Initiative is the lead office for implementation of this plan. The Grant for Technology Opportunities Program (GTOPs) is a grant administered by AED – Community Technology Initiative directed at improving the community's ability to fully participate in the digital society to achieve the goals of the Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan. Purpose and Process The purpose of this report is to review the significant changes coming to the 2026 cycle of the GTOPs. Each year, AED – Community Technology Initiative performs a review of the prior grant cycle in preparation for the next year of grants. For this year’s annual strategic planning and review process, feedback surveys were deployed to all GTOPs applicants and reviewers. Contractor closeout reports also have process feedback questions, the response of which were included in the analysis. Lastly, staff observations collected throughout the year were considered. From these data sources, an Action Plan was drafted. This Action Plan is being presented to the Technology Commission for evaluation and feedback. Please feel free to contact me at dan.martinez@austintexas.gov if you need additional information. Dan Martinez, Business Process Specialist Date ______________________________ __________________ cc: Khotan Harmon, Community Technology Officer, AED – Community Technology Attachments Attachment A – GTOPs 2026 Action Plan Attachment A: GTOPs 2026 Action Plan Action Item 1: Enhancements to the GTOPs Review Process 1. Discontinuation of the Grant Review Binder: Traditionally, GTOPs Core review panelists are offered the option to have all application materials compiled into a physical review binder. Some panelists prefer to have a physical version to more easily read and keep notes on. This past cycle, issues with the grant application portal and the increased length of application materials led to extensive delays in compiling and printing these binders. GTOPs staff recommends replacing this binder with a staff designed note taking document and digital compilation of all application materials. 2. GTOPs Staff Enhanced Oversight of Q+A Proccess: Efforts to have panelists conduct Q+A independently from GTOPs staff have not been fruitful. GTOPs staff will increase oversight in this portion of the review process to ensure that panelists complete the Q+A correctly. Staff will directly handle the scheduling of cohort Q+A meetings and sit in on these sessions. 3. Application Review Tutorial: Review panelists have requested additional guidance on how to best review GTOPs applications. GTOPs staff will create an application review walkthrough document/video outlining the entire process and best practices for review of all pathway applications. Action Item 2: Improvements to the GTOPs Application Process 1. Discontinuation of GTOPs Office Hours: GTOPs staff implemented application office hours for the FY25 cycle. Applicants could drop in at their leisure to request assistance or have any application-related questions answered. Low engagement with these office hours led GTOPs staff to suggest removing these set windows of time from the GTOPs calendar. Instead, GTOPs staff will make themselves available for 1:1 assistance to applicants upon request. 2. GTOPs Mini and Capacity Timelines Adjustment: Various process setbacks led to delays with the GTOPs Mini and Capacity pathways. GTOPs staff recommends moving the application window for both Mini and Capacity pathways to January to coincide with the GTOPs Core application window. Aligning these applications windows will assist with staff focus and bandwidth for all pathways. 3. Spanish Language Assistance for Mini and Capacity Pathways: To comply with Austin Economic Development (AED) requirements, GTOPs staff will commit to assisting Spanish language applicants with completing applications for GTOPs Mini and Capacity. Spanish language assistance is already offered for GTOPs Core. 4. City of Austin Vendor Registration Requirement: Registration within the City of Austin’s vendor management system is already a major requirement for contracting as outlined by the contract. Awardees who are not already registered within the system would face significant delays during the contracting process. To avoid any setbacks, GTOPs staff will require all applicants to complete registration prior to submitting their application. A field will be added to all pathways for all applicants to include their vendor code in their initial application. 5. Set a Window for GTOPs Decision Protests: Once award notifications have been sent to applicant organizations, a one-week window for GTOPs decision protests will begin. The week after the protest window will be designated for the adjudication of any received protests, totaling in two weeks allotted to protests. Additionally, GTOPs staff will provide guidelines for applicants on how and when to submit a protest and additional standard operating procedures for GTOPS staff on how to conduct and review a protest. 6. Enhancements to the GTOPs Application Guide: The GTOPs applicant guide will be updated to reflect changes to all three pathways that have occurred over the last year and planned adjustments staff will implement in the following year. i. Mandate that the GTOPs boilerplate contract is required reading prior to filing an application. ii. Specifically include language that directs applicants to review the “Fundable/Non-fundable items” listed in the boilerplate contract iii. Additional guidelines and best practices for generative artificial intelligence usage when applying for any of the GTOPs pathways iv. Include language that notifies all applicants that all application records are subject to public information requests v. Updates to the Capacity portion of the guide to specify that there are no performance reporting requirements for this pathway. Action Item 3: Updates to the GTOPs Performance Reporting Process 1. Additional guidance for performance reporting for GTOPs Mini: GTOPs staff recommend creating a document for GTOPs Mini awardees that outlines how to properly create GTOPs specific performance measure goals and details the performance reporting process. Templates, examples, term definitions, and programmatic needs for measures will be included in this document. Action Item 4: Streamlining the GTOPs Contracting Process 1. Consolidation of Contract Overview Meetings: GTOPs staff held individual contract overview meetings for all GTOPs Core awardees. These meetings were burdensome on staff time and bandwidth. To streamline the contracting process, all awardees will be invited to a single mandatory meeting that outlines the boilerplate contract, exhibit negotiation process, and insurance requirements. 2. Adjustment of award allocations: GTOPs staff and AED leadership recommend adjusting the financial allocations for all GTOPs pathways to eliminate some of the administrative work required by this program. The recommended award allocations have been adjusted to balance the number of requests received by each pathway with the award amount. The suggested adjustments have been detailed below: i. GTOPs Core: Ten to twelve varying awards between $35,000 - $20,0000 to eight $40,000 awards. ii. GTOPs Mini: Will remain consistent with six $10,000 awards iii. GTOPs Capacity: Ten $2,500 awards to eight $2,500 awards