The Catalog contains Federal domestic assistance programs available to: State and local governments (including the District of Columbia and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments); Territories (and possessions) of the United States; domestic public, quasi-public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions; specialized groups; and individuals.

Programs in the Catalog provide information on the:

• Federal agency administering a program;
• Authorization upon which a program is based;
• Objectives and goals of a program;
• Types of financial and nonfinancial assistance offered under a program;
• Uses and restrictions placed upon a program;
• Eligibility requirements;
• Application and award process;
• Amount of obligations for the past, current, and future fiscal years;
• Regulations, guidelines and literature relevant to a program;
• Information contacts at the headquarters, regional, and local offices;
• Programs that are related based upon program objectives and uses;
• Examples of funded projects;
• Criteria for selecting proposals; and
• Individual agency policies and Federal management policy directives pertaining to a program.

Programs in the Catalog provide a wide range of benefits and services, which have been grouped into 20 basic functional categories, and 176 subcategories which identify specific areas of interest. Listed below are the 20 basic categories in which all programs have been grouped by primary purpose.

• Agriculture
• Business and Commerce
• Community Development
• Consumer Protection
• Cultural Affairs
• Disaster Prevention and Relief
• Education
• Employment, Labor, and Training
• Energy
• Environmental Quality
• Food and Nutrition
• Health
• Housing
• Income Security and Social Services
• Information and Statistics
• Law, Justice, and Legal Services
• Natural Resources
• Regional Development
• Science and Technology
• Transportation

Programs in the Catalog also include service activities of regulatory agencies.

The Catalog does not include:

• Solicited contracts administered under procurement laws and regulations for the purchase of goods and services for the Federal government;
• Foreign activities except as such programs have direct economic benefit in the domestic economy. (A program that provides both domestic and foreign assistance will be included with the description of the program oriented toward the domestic aspect.);
• Personnel recruitment programs of individual Federal departments which offer employment opportunities as part of normal recruiting operations, (the overall government-wide programs of the Office of Personnel Management are included);
• Benefits or assistance available only to current employees of the Federal government either civilian or military;
• New programs proposed in the Budget for which appropriations have not been enacted; or
• Programs which are no longer active due to expired authorization or appropriation.