The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a
government-wide compendium of Federal programs, projects, services, and
activities that provide assistance or benefits to the American public. It
contains financial and nonfinancial assistance programs administered by
departments and establishments of the Federal government. In 1984, Public Law 98-169
authorized the transfer of responsibilities of the Federal Program Information
Act from the Office of Management and Budget to the General Services
Administration (GSA). The transfer took place in July 1984. These
responsibilities include the dissemination of Federal domestic assistance
program information through the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, pursuant
to the Federal Program Information Act, Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public
Law 98-169. GSA now maintains the Federal assistance information database from
which program information is obtained. The Office of Management and Budget
serves as an intermediary agent between the Federal agencies and GSA, thus
providing oversight to the necessary collection of Federal domestic assistance
program data. As the basic reference source of
Federal programs, the primary purpose of the Catalog is to assist users in
identifying programs that meet specific objectives of the potential applicant,
and to obtain general information on Federal assistance programs. In addition,
the intent of the Catalog is to improve coordination and communication between
the Federal government and State and local governments. The Catalog provides the user
with access to programs administered by Federal departments and agencies in a
single publication. Program information is cross referenced by functional
classification (Functional Index), subject (Subject Index), applicant (Applicant
Index), deadline(s) for program application submission (Deadlines Index), and
authorizing legislation (Authorization Index). These are valuable resource tools
that, if used carefully, can make it easier to identify specific areas of
program interest more efficiently. Other sections of the Catalog
provide users with information on programs added and deleted since the last
edition of the Catalog, a crosswalk of program numbers and title changes,
regional and local offices, intergovernmental review requirements, definitions
of the types of assistance under which programs are administered, proposal
writing, grant application procedures, and additional sources of information on
Federal programs and services. Programs selected for inclusion
in the Federal assistance data base are defined as any function of a Federal
agency that provides assistance or benefits for a State or States, territorial
possession, county, city, other political subdivision, grouping, or
instrumentality thereof; any domestic profit or nonprofit corporation,
institution, or individual, other than an agency of the Federal government. A "Federal domestic
assistance program" may in practice be called a program, an activity, a
service, a project, a process, or some other name, regardless of whether it is
identified as a separate program by statute or regulation. It will be identified
in terms of its legal authority, administering office, funding, purpose,
benefits, and beneficiaries. "Assistance" or
"benefits" refers to the transfer of money, property, services, or
anything of value, the principal purpose of which is to accomplish a public
purpose of support or stimulation authorized by Federal statute. Assistance
includes, but is not limited to grants, loans, loan guarantees, scholarships,
mortgage loans, insurance, and other types of financial assistance, including
cooperative agreements; property, technical assistance, counseling, statistical,
and other expert information; and service activities of regulatory agencies. It
does not include the provision of conventional public information services. For
years, GSA has
published a printed
version of the Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance (CFDA or Catalog), as required by legislation dating to 1977
and 1983. That same legislation allowed
GSA to distribute free copies of the printed Catalog to designated recipients.
In fiscal year 2003, nearly 10,000
paper copies of the Catalog were
distributed at no cost to the recipients. Current
legislation, however, authorizes GSA to determine in what form to prepare and publish the Catalog. Consistent
with the Administration's Electronic-Government initiatives,
the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, and a move to a paper free
environment, GSA will now disseminate
the Catalog electronically through the CFDA website on the Internet. As a result, effective immediately,
GSA will no longer print and distribute free copies of the Catalog. The
Internet and GSA's free CFDA website at http://www.cfda.gov
will be the primary means of disseminating
the Catalog.
The CFDA website
will also contain a PDF file version of
the Catalog
that, when printed by
any user, will
have the same
layout as the printed
document that the Government Printing
Office (GPO)
has provided. GPO
will continue printing
and selling the
CFDA to
interested buyers. For information
about purchasing the
Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance
from GPO, call the Superintendent of
Documents at
202-512-1800 or toll
free at
866-512-1800, or you may
reach GPO's
on-line bookstore at
http://bookstore.gpo.gov. |