Providing grant information to current and prospective HHS grantees

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is one of the largest federal departments, the nation's largest health insurer, and the largest grant-making agency. HHS manages an array of grant programs in basic and applied science, public health, income support, child development, and health and social services.

Collectively, these programs are the Department�s primary means to achieve its strategic goals:

• Reduce the major threats to the health and well-being of Americans.
• Enhance the ability of the Nation's health care system to effectively respond to bioterrorism and other public health challenges.
• Increase the percentage of the Nation's children and adults who have access to health care services, and expand consumer choices.
• Enhance the capacity and productivity of the Nation's health science research enterprise.
• Improve the quality of health care services.
• Improve the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, and communities, especially those most in need.
• Improve the stability and healthy development of our Nation's children and youth.
• Achieve excellence in management practices.

To realize these goals HHS forms partnerships with other federal departments; state, local, and tribal governments; academic institutions; hospitals, the business community; nonprofit and volunteer organizations; faith-based and community-based organizations; and foreign countries and international organizations. The primary vehicle used in these partnerships is a grant. Grants are financial assistance awards that provide support or stimulation to accomplish a public purpose authorized by Federal statute. The primary beneficiary under a grant or cooperative agreement is the public, as opposed to the Government.

The HHS grant portfolio is the largest in the federal government. HHS administers over 300 grant programs and awards approximately 75,000 grants to over 10,000 grantees annually, most directly to states in the form of mandatory grants. The HHS annual grant budget amounts to approximately 60% of the federal government's grant dollars.

HHS awards two types of grants, mandatory and discretionary. Mandatory grants are those that a federal agency is required by statute to award if the recipient, usually a state, submits an acceptable State Plan or application and meets the eligibility and compliance requirements of the statutory and regulatory provisions of the grant program. Discretionary grants permit the federal government, according to specific authorizing legislation, to exercise judgment, or �discretion,� in selecting the applicant/recipient organization, through a competitive grant process.

In the health area, the Medicaid program, a jointly-funded Federal-State health insurance program, assists states in proving adequate medical care for low-income people. Other health programs encompass biomedical research, training of biomedical research scientists and health professionals, support of health professional schools, development and delivery of health services, disease prevention and health promotion programs, and construction of research, educational and health facilities.

HHS social service programs provide support to every group of Americans, including children, youth, families, and the elderly. Social service programs include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, refugee assistance, enforcement of child support payment orders, foster care and adoption, prevention of child abuse and neglect, Indian tribal services, and Head Start programs.

More detailed information about HHS Grant Funding can be found on the Tracking and Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) web site and the TAGGS Annual Reports.