So what about Tempest-GEMS and small grants? Me, I’d skip them. But I have entered a few times. Sometimes by entering them in addition to the large projects, I see the whole picture better. It is personal preference. Yes, the law says that you must keep the documents for years. And Tempest-GEMS can do that reliably.
FEMA Public Assistance Small projects fall below a threshold which is $130,000 in April 2020. You do your close out when you do the application in the Grants Portal or with your paper submission.
If you missed money you don’t get to go back to the window and ask for more.
If the money you got is a few dollars more than the actual costs. You keep that.
And you don’t have to spend hours per week keeping up with the long-term grant management effort. That’s a win.
You weight the pluses and minuses. If your aggregated costs are about $100,000 you may not have much of a choice. If your costs are creeping up and past that point, know your options.