Project Details

Agency Name: Harris County

Agency Type: County

Services: Technical Assistance

Client Goals

Harris County is expected to receive $915M in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to direct towards pandemic recovery. As part of the governance process, Harris County established a program management office, which includes Safal Partners, to ensure the efficient use of funds. The funds are being directed towards four priority areas: Jobs and Education, Health, Housing, and County Operations.

Safal Approach

As a sub-contractor for Boston Consulting Group, Safal Partners is supporting Harris County in Texas in tracking the planning and spending of COVID-19 relief funding. Safal’s major roles consist of developing project management tools, monitoring active project status, documenting efficient systems, facilitating KPI and data collection, and reporting. Safal developed a comprehensive project plan that includes global milestones that need to occur across all projects. This tool is utilized by each project team to track program completion and to support each team’s overall project management. Safal works to ensure strong systems are in place and documented. Safal has created multiple process flows, including a full-project lifecycle, a financial review model, and an invoicing process flow to ensure all systems are standardized and communicated. KPI collection is directly facilitated by Safal; Safal utilizes the KPIs to create project updates and to assess overall project health. Additionally, Safal facilitates granular data submission from the program vendors directly to Harris County. Safal assists Harris County with all ARPA SLFRF reports required to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including creating a timeline, compiling required inputs, and tracking progress. All of the above activities ensure the health of all projects are monitored, efficient processes occur across projects, and transparency is present in the overall use of funds.