TAGGS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How do I print TAGGS data or a Search Result? You can print the Report of Search Results by clicking on the Print option on the top right side of the website.

Can I browse data instead of searching? Yes, you can browse data using the forms that are available in the Reports section of the website.

How can I change the text size of the website? Click on the Text A+ at the top right side of the page to increase the font size. To decrease the text, click Text A-. Restore the text size to the default size by clicking the Text A.

How can I pause the text in the Did You Know portal on the home page? You can pause the text in the Did You Know portal by clicking directly on the text that is displaying, or by clicking the pause (middle) button at the bottom of the portal.

How do I conduct an Advanced Search? At the top of the TAGGS webpage, under the logo, select "Searches" and then "Advanced Search." The Advanced Search enables you to search through approximately 500,000 Grant Awards in the TAGGS database, using a single criterion or multiple search criteria. After you have selected the criteria you want to use, you have the option of choosing any column headings you would like to display in your result by clicking one or more check boxes in the Select Columns for Report section near the bottom of this form. Then choose the number of Results per Page you would like to have displayed in your output from the drop down box. Go to advanced search help for more information.

Can I select multiple Fiscal Years in the Advanced Search? Yes, you can select multiple fiscal years in the Advanced Search.

How can I search for a foreign award without having an award number? You can search the foreign awards under Location Search and then click on the Search Foreign Award tab.

What is a CFDA number? The CFDA number refers to a unique identifier for a grant program that enables you to locate the program in Grants.gov and the HHS Grants Forecast. Every federal funding opportunity announcement must include a CFDA number.

Why does the CFDA number list change when I change my Fiscal Year selection? CFDA numbers are tied to Fiscal Year. Only those CFDA numbers that are available for the selected fiscal year will displayed in the list.

What is an Action Issue Date? This is the Date of Grants Management Officer’s signature on the award notice.

What is an Announcement Date? The date on which the formal announcement of the availability of Federal funding through a DHHS grant program was published in The Federal Register, HRSA Preview NIH Guide, or other approved publication.

What is a Recipient? The Recipient is party who is receives the grant award.

Is the TAGGS website accessible for people with disabilities? The TAGGS website complies with all the checkpoints of the Section 508 Accessibility Guidelines, and has been verified using automated tools and expert reviews. TAGGS uses dynamically generated Web pages; it is not possible to literally test every page. However, each dynamically generated output style has been tested.

DATA QUALITY Answers

How can I get an answer to a question about data quality? If you have questions or concerns about the content or quality of TAGGS data, please contact us using the Data Quality Feedback form on this site.

How frequently is TAGGS data refreshed? The TAGGS database is refreshed early in the morning every day, but the Agencies do not provide new data on a daily basis. Once new data has been added to TAGGS, it is available whenever the user performs a search or creates a report. However, it is possible to receive no new data when repeating a search after the TAGGS daily refresh if no new data has been added by a given agency for that day.

Why is grants data on this TAGGS website sometimes different from that which is posted on other government sites? TAGGS submits grants data twice a month to USASpending.gov. As such, the data posted on USASpending.gov and other government sites may differ from that on the TAGGS website, since the TAGGS website contains the most current data posting (i.e., TAGGS is updated daily).

Why does the CFDA number list change when I change my Fiscal Year selection? The user can see only the CFDA numbers that are available during the selected Fiscal year.

Why is one CFDA sometimes associated with multiple awards? Some CFDA numbers are retired and recycled over time. Therefore, if the user performs multiple searches over multiple years, it is possible to have the same CFDA number appear for different awards.

Why am I sometimes not able to get results from a location search on "place of performance"? Some data elements for a given award (e.g., Place of Performance) because those elements may not have been collected or required at the time of the award, so they are not available as search criteria.

Why do I sometimes get no results when searching for foreign awards? A likely cause is that you are picking data elements for your search criteria that may not have been collected or required for some foreign awards. If this is the case, TAGGS will return no results.

Other Questions Answers

What is ARRA? On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. It is often referred to informally as the "Recovery Act." The legislation attempts to prevent the loss of health coverage, promote prevention programs, and lower health care spending for many Americans during difficult economic times. Some ARRA dollars have been distributed through HHS in the form of grants, and are tracked in TAGGS. To search ARRA information in TAGGS, visit the Search ARRA Awards page.

What is USASpending? The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006,required that the Office of Management and Budget establish a single searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost to access, to contain specified data on each Federal award. The website, USAspending.gov, was launched in December 2007 to fulfill these requirements. The information shown on the website is provided by the Federal Agencies through six main source systems. USAspending.gov receives and displays data pertaining to obligations (amounts awarded for federally sponsored projects during a given budget period), not outlays or expenditures (actual cash disbursements made against each project).

TAGGS data is one of the data sources for USASpending.gov. TAGGS provides updated data to USASpending.gov twice a month, on the 5th and the 20th.

What is the Recipient Readiness Tool (RRT)? The RRT is a web-based application developed to assist recipients of Recovery Act awards with their required reporting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The RRT provides some, but not all, of the data recipients need for reporting. The RRT contains data from the TAGGS database that is updated on a regular basis, and enables recipients to search for award data by state and recipient name, or by DUNS number.

The RRT provides the recipient reporting data in a format that replicates the OMB's required Recipient Report for easy data copy and paste. Recipients can also print RRT-supplied data or download it in an Excel or XML file.

What is a Fiscal Year (FY)? The Federal government uses a defined 12 month period for its own accounting purposes as a financial or fiscal year. The Federal fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the following calendar year. For instance, fiscal year 2007 is 10/1/2006 - 9/30/2007.

What Is an OPDIV? The HHS Operating Division (OPDIV) is an agency that provides a services to carry out the HHS mission. The 11 OPDIVs*, including the Office of the Secretary (OS), serve the public by providing research, information on public health, guidance and direction on food and drug safety, awarding grants and other funding, health insurance, and many other services. Visit the HHS web site for more information about each OPDIV.

*The 11 OPDIVs include the Office of the Secretary (OS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also administers the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). ATSDR is not included in the count of 11 OPDIVs.