Grant Terminology
The follow are provided as a courtesy to potential grant
applicants.
Applicant
is the entity requesting a grant.
Application
notice
is published on fedgrants.gov and invites applications for
one or more discretionary grant competitions. It provides basic program
and fiscal information on each competition, informs potential applicants
when and where they can obtain applications, and cites the deadline date
for a particular competition.
Application
package
contains the application notice for one or more programs, and all the
information and forms needed to apply for a discretionary grant.
Appropriations
legislation is a law passed by Congress to provide a certain level of
funding for a grant program in a given year.
Assurances
are a variety of requirements, found in different Federal laws,
regulations, and executive orders, which applicants agree in writing to
observe as a condition of receiving federal assistance.
Authorizing
legislation is a law passed by Congress that establishes or continues a
grant program.
Authorized
Representative is the official within an applicant organization with the legal
authority to give assurances, make commitments, enter into contracts, and
execute such documents on behalf of the applicant as may be required by a
grant maker. The signature of the Authorized Representative certifies that
commitments made on grant proposals will be honored and ensures that the
applicant agrees to conform to the grant maker's regulations, guidelines,
and policies. Note that the Authorized Representative is not necessarily
the Project Director.
Budget
period
is an interval of time into which a project period is divided for
budgetary purposes.
Budget
narrative explains the budget. Explanations can include the derivation of
amounts (for example, a $1,250 budget item derives from 100 people at five
meetings each using a $2.50 expendable item), the itemization of totals,
the purpose of purchased supplies and services, and the justification of
the size of salaries, fringe benefits, and indirect costs.
Catalog
of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) lists all domestic assistance
programs of the Federal Government. It includes information about a program's
authorization, fiscal details, accomplishments, regulations, guidelines,
eligibility requirements, information contacts, and application and award
process. It is maintained by the General Services Administration in
both a printed publication and a database. It can be found on the
web at http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html.
Certification
is a statement, signed by an applicant or grantee as a prerequisite for
receiving Federal funds, that it meets or will adhere to certain
conditions and/or will undertake or not undertake certain actions.
CFDA
number
is an identifying number for a Federal assistance program, composed of a
unique two-digit prefix to identify the Federal agency (e.g., 10 for the
Department of Agriculture), followed by a period and a unique three-digit
code for each authorized program.
Competitive
review process is used by FNS to select discretionary grant applications for
funding, in which applications are scored by subject-area experts and the
most highly scored applications are considered for funding.
Deadline
date
is the date by which a discretionary grant
application must be received by the Food and Nutrition Service in order
for it to be considered for funding.
Discretionary
grant
is an award of financial assistance in the form of money by the Federal
government to an eligible grantee, usually made on the basis of a
competitive review process.
DUNS
Number
is a nine-digit number assigned to an organization by Dun &
Bradstreet. The number does not convey any information about the
recipient. A built-in check digit helps assure the accuracy of the DUNS
Number. The ninth digit of each number is the check digit, which is
mathematically related to the other digits.
Federal
Register is a daily compilation of Federal regulations and other Federal
agency documents of public interest, which is prepared by the National
Archives and Records Administration for public distribution by the
Government Printing Office.
FNS stands for the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA).
Funding
priorities are a means of focusing a grant competition on the areas in
which the agency is particularly interested in receiving applications.
Priorities can be absolute, which the applicant must address in
order to be considered for funding; competitive, which the
applicant has the option of choosing whether or not to address and for
which they may receive additional points, or invitational, which
the applicant is encouraged but not required to address.
Grantee
is an individual or organization that has been awarded financial
assistance under one of the agency's grant programs.
Grant
Award Notification is an official document signed by the authorized official
stating the amount and the terms and conditions of an award for a
discretionary grant.
Indirect
costs
are costs an organization incurs for common or joint objectives that
cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular grant
project or other institutional activity. FNS' has compiled a list of
websites with helpful indirect cost information and materials. This page
is found at /fm/Documents/IndCosts_Links.htm.
Indirect
cost rate is a percentage established by a Federal department or agency
for a grantee organization, which the grantee uses in computing the dollar
amount it charges to the grant to reimburse itself for indirect costs
incurred in doing the work of the grant project.
Program
regulations implement legislation passed by Congress to authorize a specific
grant program, and include applicant eligibility criteria, nature of
activities funded, selection criteria under which applications will be
selected for funding, and other relevant information.
Project
period
is the total amount of time during which FNS authorizes a
grantee to complete the approved work of the project described in the
application.
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