Notice of Award (NoA)

If SAMHSA approves your application for funding, a Notice of Award (NoA) will be emailed the person listed as the Business Official on the HHS Checklist 5161 in your application.

The NoA is the legal document issued to notify the grantee that an award has been granted and that funds may be requested from the designated HHS payment system or office. A NoA is issued for the initial budget period and each subsequent budget period in the approved project period. The Grants Management Officer (GMO), who is authorized to distribute funds on behalf of SAMHSA, signs the NoA.

An amended NoA may be issued during a budget period if there is an action resulting in a change in the budget or project period, amount of support, or other change in the terms and conditions of award. For additional information on this situation, refer to post-award changes requiring prior approval.

The NoA highlights several important details, including the:

• Grantee and the approved program director
• Federal share funding level and budget and project periods
• Standard terms and conditions and information for reporting requirements

Parts of an NoA

All SAMHSA NoAs contain the following sections. Access a sample NoA (PDF | 6.6 MB).

Program name: Identifies the program title under which the federal funding is being awarded.

Center information: Identifies which SAMHSA center awarded grant funds for the project.

Grant number: The unique identifier of the grant. The suffix indicates the current year of support. For example, -01 indicates the first year of support, and -02 indicates the second year of support.

FAIN: The unique Federal Award Identification Number.

Program director: The person designated by the recipient organization with the responsibility for the daily oversight of the program or project.

Project title: The title of the grant-supported project. The title usually describes the essence of the project.

Grantee address: The address of the recipient organization.

Business address: The address where SAMHSA may send official correspondence.

Budget period: The interval of time, usually a 12-month budget period, into which a project period is divided for budgetary and funding purposes.

Project period: The total time SAMHSA has programmatically approved a federal project for federal support. This does not constitute a commitment by the federal government to fund the entire project period. Each budget period within the project period is subject to the availability of funds and satisfactory progress of the project or program.

Dear Grantee: This section notifies the recipient that they are legally responsible and accountable to SAMHSA for the grant-supported project. This section also notifies the recipient that by drawing down funds from the Payment Management System (PMS), they acknowledge acceptance of the grant and compliance with the terms and conditions and other policies, rules, and regulations.

Section I—Award Data: Provides information on the amount of the award for the stated budget period, the award recipient, and any applicable program-specific legislation and regulations. This includes:

• Award Calculation
• Summary Totals for All Years
• Accounting Information

Section II—Payment/Hotline Information: Provides information about accessing your award funds in the PMS, as well as reporting fraud waste and abuse of federal funds to the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Section III—Terms and Conditions: Provides “order of precedence” that explains the laws and regulations that govern the award. Recipients are responsible for understanding and complying with the rules and regulations in this section. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in enforcement actions, up to and including termination of the award. This section also includes the Treatment of Program Income.

Section IV—Special Terms and Conditions: Lists any special program-specific and grants management terms and conditions that must be addressed by the recipients during the award.

SAMHSA contact information: Lists the contact information for the Government Program Officer (GPO) and the Grants Management Specialist (GMS) assigned to your grant.