• How do I apply for funding from a Department discretionary grant program?
• What is an application package?
• How do I get an application package?
• Can I apply for an ED grant online?
• How does the Department decide what goes into an application package?
• What are certifications and assurances?
• What are regulations?
• What are funding priorities?
• Is there anything I can do to help shape regulations and funding priorities?
• Whom do I contact if I have questions concerning the application?
• What do I need to know about indirect costs and the indirect cost rate when preparing my application?
• What are performance measures?
• What do I need to know about protection of human participants in research when preparing my application?
• Where do I send the completed application?
• What happens if I miss the application deadline?
• What if there are technical problems with e-Application on the deadline date?
• What if there are technical problems with Grants.gov on the application deadline date?
• What if I find an error or realize I have omitted something in my application after the deadline?
• What happens to an application once the Department receives it?
• What do the letters and numbers mean in my PR/Award number?
• What happens if my application is not eligible?

Applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Education is not a complicated process, but it does require that you give us specific information to enable us to consider your grant application fairly and completely. When you apply for discretionary grant funds, you must provide us with information on two or more different forms. This section identifies some of these forms, why each is needed, how to get copies of them, and where to send them.

How do I apply for funding from a Department discretionary grant program?

To apply for a grant under one of ED’s discretionary grant programs, you should first obtain an application package and follow the instructions in the package. You will generally be required to complete and submit to the Department by a specified date certain standard forms, a narrative description of the project, and a budget or cost estimate for the proposed project’s activities.

What is an application package?

A discretionary grant application package contains all of the information and forms that you will need to apply for a grant from the Department. Application packages typically include the application notice, program regulations and/or legislation, and application instructions and forms. These forms include the Application for Federal Education Assistance or ED 424, as well as the certifications and assurances needed to apply for a grant. Some application packages contain a ‘‘Dear Colleague’’ or ‘‘Dear Applicant’’ letter from a Principal Office official, which gives an overview of the particular program and discusses any funding priorities in effect for a particular competition.

How do I get an application package?

Individuals interested in applying for a grant can obtain a paper application package from the Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), the main distributor of grant application packages and other ED literature. Applicants can order application packages from ED Pubs’ Online Ordering System at: http://www.edpubs.org. Applicants also can contact ED Pubs to request an application at the following address and phone numbers:

ED Pubs
P.O. Box 1398
Jessup, MD 20794-1398
Phone: 1-877-4-ED-PUBS (1-877-433-7827) or 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN)
TTY/TDD: 1-877-576-7734
Fax: 1-301-470-1244

Printed application packages are also available from the specific program office that is responsible for a particular program. Federal Register notices provide the names of individuals in the program offices to contact to obtain application packages. Some application packages are published in the Federal Register for applicants to photocopy and use. In addition, application packages are available online and can be downloaded and printed from the Department’s Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/.

Furthermore, applicants can obtain program information and apply for some grants online using e-Application, the Department’s electronic application system, or Grants.gov, the government-wide shared electronic application system, which is discussed below. Instructions for using both systems are located on each site’s home page at: http://e-grants.ed.gov/ and at http://www.grants.gov/.

Can I apply for an ED grant online?

Yes. For many ED grant program competitions, applicants may apply and in certain cases are required to apply electronically using either e-Application or Grants.gov. E-Application is the Department’s electronic application system that automates and operates in conjunction with the paper-based application process, and Grants.gov is a central Web site for federal assistance used to find and apply for grants across the federal government. An application notice will indicate which system to use to apply electronically for a particular grant program competition. Applicants who submit their application electronically can complete forms and upload project narratives via the Internet to complete their applications. The completed application is saved electronically in a secure database. Applicants can learn how to submit an application electronically via e-Application by going through the demo on the e-Application home page. To find out how to submit electronically using Grants.gov, go to Grants.gov and try the tutorial and/or the training demonstration found under "Customer Support."

Each federal agency will continue to increase over time the number of programs using Grants.gov to receive electronic applications in order to create a federal wide electronic grants application system. The Department is currently using Grants.gov to post information on all funding opportunities and is receiving applications for selected programs through the portal. These activities are part of an effort to consolidate and streamline grantmaking activities across the federal government to make it easier for the public to find and apply for federal discretionary grants.

How does the Department decide what goes into an application package?

The Department uses forms designed to obtain from applicants the information necessary to process their applications. The Department's regulations or applicable statutes require certain information. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires other information. The Department is aware of the paperwork burden and the time it takes to prepare an application and continues to work to reduce the time necessary to prepare an application.

What are certifications and assurances?

Various federal requirements are imposed on applicants and grantees as conditions of receiving grant funds. Application packages contain forms that an applicant is required to sign, promising to abide by various federal laws, regulations, and executive orders that apply to grantees. Certifications relate to issues such as maintaining a drug-free workplace. Assurances relate to issues such as complying with nondiscrimination laws. Some programs give funding to a grantee, who then distributes some of the money to other persons—e.g., contractors, fellowship holders, and others. In these cases, grantees may be required to get certain forms signed by those persons as well.

What are regulations?

The Department generally uses two types of regulations to award and administer grants: program and administrative regulations. Program regulations are rules that apply to all applicants and/or grantees under a particular program. They implement legislation passed by Congress to authorize a specific program, and include applicant and participant eligibility criteria and nature of activities funded, and may include criteria under which applications will be selected for funding and other relevant information. Administrative regulations, on the other hand, apply to all grantees regardless of the program. They implement guidance from OMB contained in OMB Circulars, presidential executive orders, and legislation that affects all applicants for, or recipients of, federal grants. One group of these administrative regulations is collectively known as EDGAR. GPOS maintains the discretionary grant provisions in EDGAR and ensures that program offices interpret and apply the regulations to their programs appropriately. EDGAR also contains evaluation criteria that a program office can use to run a competition if there are no program regulations. The Department posts program regulations and EDGAR on its Web site. In addition, new and amended program and administrative regulations issued by the Department and published throughout the year in the Federal Register are also posted on the Web site.

What are funding priorities?

For some programs, the Department publishes funding priorities in the Federal Register to identify the activities that will be funded in a given year. Funding priorities are used as a way of focusing a competition on the areas for which the secretary is particularly interested in receiving applications. The Department uses three kinds of funding priorities in its programs: absolute, competitive, and invitational.

If the Department publishes an "absolute priority" for a program, it will consider for funding only those applications that address that priority. For example, a published absolute priority to fund only projects that increase the amount of time students are engaged in the study of mathematics and science would mean that only those projects that are designed to achieve this result can be considered for funding.

If the Department publishes "competitive priorities" for a program, applicants addressing those priorities may receive additional points during the competitive review process for doing so.

If the Department publishes "invitational priorities," it encourages applicants to address certain issues in their project design. However, an application that meets the priority receives no competitive or absolute preference over applications that do not meet the priority.

Furthermore, to broaden and diversify the pool of applicants that apply for ED grants and to provide greater opportunities for inexperienced applicants to receive funding, the Department also has the option of giving special consideration to novice applicants in program competitions. Under the regulation, found in EDGAR Part 75.255 (d), programs may either establish a separate competition for novice applicants or include novice applicants in the general program competitions, but give competitive preference by assigning bonus points to the applicant. Programs that use the procedures in their competition will notify the public in the application notice, published in the Federal Register.

If you are considering submitting an application, be sure to read carefully all the material in the application package to identify any published priorities or whether the program is providing special consideration to novice applicants.

Is there anything I can do to help shape regulations and funding priorities?

Yes. The public has the opportunity to comment on proposed regulations and funding priorities. Before the Department publishes final regulations and funding priorities, it issues a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) or notice of proposed funding priorities. These notices are published in the Federal Register and outline the proposed rules and priorities and invite the public to comment on them by a certain deadline. The proposed priorities and regulations are also posted on the Department’s Web site. The comments received are then considered in drafting the final regulations. You can review the Federal Register for Department of Education notices of proposed priorities and rulemaking and provide comments during the specified comment period to the persons named or at the places identified in the notices.

Most of the Department’s application packages contain detailed instructions on how to complete an application. However, if something is still not clear to you after reading the instructions, you can contact the program office that handles that particular program for assistance. The application notice published in the Federal Register and application packages give the name of a contact person for applicant inquiries. In addition, some program offices sponsor pre-application workshops to assist potential applicants in the application process. If a program plans to conduct a workshop, the application notice will state when and where the workshop will be held.

What do I need to know about indirect costs and the indirect cost rate when preparing my application?

Indirect costs are costs an organization incurs for common or joint objectives, which cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular grant project or other institutional activity. Many applicants request funds for indirect costs that they incur while doing the work of a project under a federally funded grant program. Such costs are usually charged to the grant as a percentage of some or all of the direct cost items in the applicant’s budget. This percentage is called the indirect cost rate. Barring limitations imposed by federal law or regulation, indirect costs are allowable costs. However, before an applicant can request funds or claim reimbursement for indirect costs, the applicant must establish an indirect cost rate with the federal government, either yearly or on some other regular cycle.

OMB has assigned to federal departments and agencies the responsibility for determining indirect cost rates for organizations. The department or agency that determines an institution’s indirect cost rate is generally the federal department or agency that provides the institution with the most funding. The agency that develops an indirect cost rate agreement for a particular organization is known as the cognizant agency for indirect cost negotiation. Non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, commercial organizations and state agencies should determine which federal agency provides the preponderance of funding to find out which agency should negotiate their indirect cost rates. The Department of Health and Human Services determines rates for most universities and colleges receiving grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education.

The indirect cost rate that a cognizant federal agency establishes for a grantee or sub-grantee is normally accepted by other federal agencies. Indirect cost rate agreements are separate documents that cover specific time periods. An indirect cost rate agreement must cover the grant’s funding period for budgeting and reimbursement of claims. Applicants that do not have a current indirect cost rate agreement with a cognizant agency are not allowed to charge indirect costs. First-time applicants that do not have an established indirect cost rate and want to apply for an ED grant (or a grant from any other federal department or agency under a program that allows for indirect cost reimbursement) are encouraged to submit an indirect cost rate proposal with their applications. ED will initiate the indirect cost rate determination process (required to receive allowable/supported indirect cost reimbursement under a federal grant) only AFTER an applicant is awarded a grant for the first time.

Applicants should note that even if ED establishes the initial indirect cost rate for a new grantee, ED may not be the cognizant federal agency responsible for determining the rate after it expires. Applicants that do not know which department or agency is responsible for determining their indirect cost rate should speak with the program contact person named in the application notice or package.

Some ED grant programs have a restricted indirect cost rate that stipulates the amount of indirect costs that can be charged to the grant regardless of the rate that was negotiated with an organization’s cognizant agency. Applicants should also check with the program contact person to see if they are applying for a grant with the “supplement not supplant” requirement. Use of a "restricted" indirect cost rate is generally required for programs with non-supplanting provisions.

The Department is moving toward creating a performance-oriented application process that focuses on selecting applications that are structured to meet program performance measures and to yield data that will demonstrate achievement of program outcomes. All grant projects selected for funding must show accountability for the federal dollars they receive. To determine project outcomes, the Department requires applicants to use one or more performance measures, which demonstrate evidence of progress in achieving project objectives. Performance measures can yield quantitative and/or qualitative data about project results, both during the life of the project and on a summative basis at its end. Applicants are encouraged to use measures that typically measure the central desired outcomes of a project, e.g., assessment scores, dropout rates, graduation rates, etc. It is the responsibility of the applicant to develop targets for each measure. Targets are anticipated, desirable results of the project, expressed numerically, that are developed for each year of the grant. Once grantees have actual data that describe the extent to which progress is evident for the project’s measures, those actual data will be reported in each annual performance report.

In addressing selection criteria, applicants must provide the measures required for the project as well as their targets. Additionally, they must describe the data collection and analysis methods they will use to provide data for each of the program measures referenced in the application package, and provide convincing evidence that the proposed approaches (which may include evaluation studies) are appropriate to yielding the intended data.

An applicant’s proposed designs for collecting and analyzing data on performance measures and targets must align with the reporting requirements of the annual and final performance reports.

What do I need to know about protection of human participants in research when preparing my application?

If you plan to conduct research activities involving humans at any time during the proposed project period, you will need to tell us your intentions at the time of application. You will need to indicate on your application if the research activities are exempt from the regulations protecting human subjects. If they are covered (not exempt), you will need to provide specific information about the research activities. If your application is selected for funding, the Department will ask you to obtain an Assurance, if you did not have one at the time of application, and to send us certification that the Institutional Review Board (IRB) named in the Assurance has reviewed and approved the covered research activities. Keep in mind, however, that you are not required to have an Assurance or an IRB in place when you apply to the Department for an award. For additional information about the protection of human subjects in research, check the Department’s Protection of Human Subjects in Research Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/humansub.html.

Where do I send the completed application?

If you are submitting a paper grant application, you should follow the transmittal instructions in a program’s application notice or package. Generally, paper applications are sent to the Application Control Center (ACC) the administrative unit in the Department of Education authorized to accept paper applications for discretionary grants. The address for ACC is specified in the transmittal instructions of a program’s application package. If you are applying for a grant using e-Application or Grants.gov, your application will automatically be forwarded to the appropriate program office when you have completed and submitted your application. You must follow the transmittal instructions provided in the Federal Register notice and/or application package.

What happens if I miss the application deadline?

To be assured of consideration under a grant competition, a paper application from an eligible applicant, with all forms and required paperwork, must be post marked on or before, and mailed to the Application Control Center (or other place specified in the application package), by the deadline date (or the "closing date"). The Department has an absolute policy of accepting no paper applications that are not post marked by the deadline for a particular program's competition. If a paper application is received late and without a legible postmark, or other proof of mailing specified by the Department, reflecting the closing date of the competition, the Department will notify the applicant that the application will not be considered. Please note that some programs may require that the Department receive applications by the deadline or closing date.

In addition, for applicants applying electronically using either e-Application or Grants.gov, the Department will not accept applications submitted after the deadline date and time specified in the application notice.

What if there are technical problems with e-Application on the deadline date?

If you use e-Application to apply for a grant and you are prevented from submitting your application on the closing date because the e-Application system is unavailable, the Department will grant you an extension of one business day in order to transmit your application electronically, by mail, or by hand delivery. For the Department to grant this extension:

• You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have completed and attempted to send your application for the competition. and

• The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes or more between the hours of 8:30 and 3:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, on the deadline date; or the e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time) on the deadline date.

The Department must acknowledge and confirm the periods of unavailability before granting an extension. To request an extension you must notify either the contact person listed in the Federal Register notice, or the e-Grants help desk at 1-888-336-8930.

What if there are technical problems with Grants.gov on the application deadline date?

If you are prevented from electronically submitting your application on the application deadline date because of technical problems with the Grants.gov system, the Department will extend the deadline until 4:30 p.m. EST the following business day to enable you to transmit your application electronically, or by hand delivery. You also may mail your application by following the mailing instructions as described in the application notice.

To receive an extension, you will be asked to provide an explanation of the technical problem you experienced with Grants.gov, along with the Grants.gov Support Desk case number (if available). The Department will accept the application if it can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Grants.gov system and that the problem affected your ability to submit your application by 4:30 p.m. EST on the application deadline date. The Department will contact you after a determination is made on whether your application will be accepted.

Extensions referred to in this section apply only to the unavailability of or technical problems with the Grants.gov system. The Department will not grant prospective applicants an extension if they failed to fully register to submit an application to Grants.gov before the deadline date and time or if the technical problem experienced is unrelated to the Grants.gov system.

What if I find an error or realize I have omitted something in my application after the deadline?

In order to assure fairness to all applicants, the Department does not allow an applicant to submit additional materials after the deadline.

What happens to an application once the Department receives it?

When ED receives a paper application, the Application Control Center records each application, assigns it a PR/Award number , sends a confirmation notice to the applicant, and forwards the application to the appropriate program office, which screens the application for eligibility and completeness. Electronic applications submitted via e-Application are automatically assigned a PR/Award number upon submission, which is both displayed in the on-screen confirmation message and sent via e-mail to the applicant.

Electronic applications submitted via Grants.gov will receive a Grants.gov tracking number upon submission, which is both displayed in the on-screen confirmation message and sent via e-mail to the applicant. Once Grants.gov validates the application successfully, the Department will automatically pull the application and assign a PR/Award number that will be sent to the applicant via e-mail and also displayed on the Grants.gov web site as the “Agency Tracking Number”. Electronic applications are available to the program office staff immediately following the assignment of the PR/Award number. The program staff assigned to the program then arrange a competitive review of all eligible applications by experts.

The PR/Award number is composed of seven parts that provide specific information about your application (e.g., H029A031234-04C):

The first five parts of the PR/Award number remain the same throughout the life of the application, while the last two parts change by budget period. It is essential to include your PR/Award number on all correspondence with the Department.

What happens if my application is not eligible?

If an application does not meet the eligibility criteria for the particular program it addresses, the Department notifies the person who signed the application that the application is not eligible and will not be considered. The notification from the Department explains the reason(s) that the application is not being reviewed in the competition.

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