The process of applying for, managing, and reporting on grants can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Smaller utility companies often have fewer staff and financial resources, making it difficult to handle the administrative tasks associated with managing a large grant. Even large utilities and grant administrators may find it difficult to keep up with the ever-changing requirements and processes associated with more recent funding opportunities, such as TDEC’s ARP grants. This presentation will provide practical tips and tricks to help navigate grant implementation, based upon SSR’s experience managing complex TDEC ARP grants. In 2021, the State of Tennessee dedicated $1.35 billion of the state’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funding to water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure projects. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) was placed in charge of administering the funds through the State Water Infrastructure Grants (SWIG) program. SSR has helped several Tennessee utilities and municipalities apply for and manage grants awarded through the SWIG program. One such municipality is a Tennessee County whose grant involves five local utility partners across seven water and wastewater infrastructure projects. SSR was procured by the County to help manage this unique partnership. Navigating a TDEC ARP grant of this complexity has required SSR to develop several templates and processes to streamline their grant management, and SSR would like to use this presentation to share the practical tips they have learned along the way relating to the TDEC ARP reimbursement and site visit processes. Currently only a fraction of the obligated ARP funds from TDEC have been reimbursed. The tools we have created could assist in limiting the dreaded reimbursement RFI and help increase this reimbursement number. In this presentation, SSR will show the reimbursement templates they have created for the County’s utility partners, illustrate how they have set up their spreadsheets to keep track of the reimbursements, and share some of their top tips for avoiding reimbursement RFIs. TDEC has issued milestone requirements to track and maintain progress for all ARP grants. Within those, it currently states that construction activity is required to start by August 30th, 2025. For all projects receiving ARP funding for construction activities, TDEC requires site inspections to monitor project progress, verify ARP compliance, and ensure financial accountability. Having participated in several ARP site inspections with subgrantees and their construction teams, SSR has developed streamlined steps to help grantees prepare for a well-organized and successful inspection. In this presentation, SSR will share these steps, as well as general site visit recommendations, to help attendees prepare for this requirement. Overall, attendees will walk away with practical tips to help them navigate TDEC ARP reimbursements, site visits, and more.