Where federal grants are published, and what a funding notice contains

The summary shown on Grants.gov must carry nine things. They are the federal agency's name, the funding opportunity's title, and the announcement type, which says whether this is the first announcement or a change to an earlier one. Then the funding opportunity number, when the agency has assigned one, and the assistance listing number or numbers. Then the funding details: the total the agency expects to award, how many awards it anticipates, and the expected value of each, which may be a range or an average. Last come the key dates, an executive summary in plain language, and the agency's contact information (2 CFR 200.204(a)).

The key dates are the due dates for applications and for any letters of intent or preapplications. If a notice goes out before the application materials are ready, the dates include the day those materials will be released. The agency should give an anticipated award date if it can, and the executive summary names the program's goals, its target audience and who may apply (2 CFR 200.204(a)).

The full text follows a fixed outline, Appendix I to 2 CFR part 200, so similar information sits under similar headings in every agency's notice. The required sections are Basic Information, Eligibility, Program Description, Application Contents and Format, Submission Requirements and Deadlines, Application Review Information, Award Notices, and Post-Award Requirements and Administration (2 CFR 200.204(c) and Appendix I).

Eligibility lists the kinds of entity that may apply, any further limits, what would make a project ineligible, and whether cost sharing is required. When cost sharing is not required, the notice must say so (Appendix I to 2 CFR part 200).

Program Description gives the purpose of the funding, the agency's priorities, the goals and the results it expects, and the laws and rules behind the program. Application Contents and Format says what an application must contain, the forms to use, and any page limits, formatting rules and signature requirements (Appendix I).

Submission Requirements and Deadlines says how to get the application materials, how to submit, the due dates and times, and what to do if the submission system fails. It also carries the SAM.gov requirement. Each applicant must be registered in SAM.gov before submitting, give a valid unique entity identifier in its application, and keep an active registration while it has an award or an application under consideration (Appendix I). Contracts or grants: which registration do you need? explains the registration purpose a grant applicant chooses.

Application Review Information describes the criteria that make an application ineligible before review, the review criteria and their relative weights, and how applications are selected. Award Notices says what a selected applicant receives and how the others are told. Post-Award Requirements and Administration names the terms a recipient takes on and the reports it files (Appendix I).

An assistance listing describes a federal program, not one open opportunity. Grants.gov's glossary says the Assistance Listings, formerly known as the CFDA, are the authoritative source of information about federal programs that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance and other types of assistance. It adds that SAM.gov holds them (Grants.gov, Grant Terminology and Grant Programs).

Each program has an assistance listing number, formerly the CFDA number, and the first two digits identify the federal agency that administers it. A notice of funding opportunity cites the number of the program it draws on, which is how a notice and a program are tied together (Grants.gov, Grant Terminology; 2 CFR 200.204(a)).

Grants.gov's search page takes a keyword, an opportunity number or an assistance listing, and narrows the list by opportunity status, funding instrument type, eligibility, category and agency. The four statuses are forecasted, posted, closed and archived (Grants.gov, Search Grants).

What the search returns is a synopsis: summary information taken from the funding opportunity announcement, with a direct link to the announcement or a downloadable copy of it. The posted date is the day the agency published the opportunity on Grants.gov, and the close date is the deadline the agency set for applications (Grants.gov, Grant Terminology).

Grants.gov also publishes its list as an XML extract, and that is what Firmenza reads. Contract opportunities in Firmenza says what the grant matches show. They are Grants.gov opportunities that match the grant settings in your profile, each labeled as a grant and linked to its Grants.gov page, with program titles from SAM.gov's Assistance Listings, as published.

The notice says. Grants.gov's eligibility page says every funding opportunity carries application instructions with a section that defines eligibility. It adds that an applicant who is not eligible for a given opportunity wastes the time and money spent on the application (Grants.gov, Grant Eligibility).

The same page lists the kinds of applicant its search can filter by. They are state, county, city and tribal governments; school districts and institutions of higher education; public housing authorities; nonprofits with and without a tax-exempt status; for-profit organizations; small businesses; and individuals, though it says most opportunities are for organizations. For small businesses, Grants.gov says grants may be awarded to companies meeting the size standards the Small Business Administration sets (Grants.gov, Grant Eligibility).

Whether your business is small, or eligible under a given notice, is a question about your own facts. The notice's eligibility section is the text that answers it, and a free counselor or an attorney can go through it with you; the card just below this guide names where to ask. Do nonprofits need a SAM.gov registration? covers an applicant that is a nonprofit, and SBIR and STTR registrations covers the research programs that ask for registrations of their own.

It cannot say whether a program will fund your work, whether your business is eligible under a notice, or how long an opportunity stays open. Each of those is in the notice itself, which the rules above require to say it. This guide read 2 CFR 200.204, Appendix I to part 200 and Grants.gov's own learning and search pages, and not SAM.gov's assistance listings pages, so it describes the listings in Grants.gov's words.