Government Grant Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

  • ACCRUED EXPENDITURES
  • The sum of the charges acquired by a grant recipient during a specific period of time. These expenses include any obligations which require the provision of funds such as: goods and other physical property you have received; and services performed by employees, contractors, other government accounts, vendors, carriers, lessors, and other payees.

  • ACCRUED INCOME
  • The combination of earnings and debts owed to a grant recipient during a specific time period. Earnings include payments received for services performed by the grant recipient, as well as for goods and other physical property delivered to purchasers. Debts include amounts owed to the grant recipient for which there are no current services or performance required of the debtor.

  • ACQUISITION COST OF EQUIPMENT
  • The total invoice price for each piece of equipment, including the cost of modifications, attachments, accessories, or secondary devices necessary to make the equipment usable for its intended purpose. Other charges, such as the cost of installations, shipping, taxes, duty, or protective insurance, can be included or excluded from the equipment acquisition cost based on the recipients' normal accounting practices.

  • APPLICATION PACKAGE
  • A group of specific forms and documents for a specific funding opportunity which are used to apply for a grant.

  • APPLICATION PACKAGE TEMPLATE
  • One or more forms and documents which can be reused for multiple opportunity-specific application packages.

  • AUTHORIZED ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE (AOR)
  • An AOR submits a grant application on behalf of a company, organization, institution, or government. AORs have the authority to sign applications and the required certifications and/or assurances that are necessary to complete the application process.

  • AWARD
  • Financial assistance that provides support or stimulation to accomplish a public purpose. Awards include grants and other agreements in the form of money or property in lieu of money, by the Federal Government to an eligible recipient. The term does not include: technical assistance, which provides services instead of money; other assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies, or insurance; direct payments of any kind to individuals; and, contracts which are required to be entered into and administered under Federal procurement laws and regulations.

  • CASH CONTRIBUTIONS
  • A recipients cash budget, including the budget of money contributed to the recipient by third parties.

  • CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA)
  • An online database of all Federal programs available to state and local governments, 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

  • CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER
  • The identifying number that a Federal program is assigned in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).

  • CLOSEOUT
  • Process by which the awarding agency determines that all applicable administrative actions and all required work has been completed by the recipient and the awarding agency for the award..

  • COMPETITION ID
  • An ID selected by the grant agency which allows distinction of applications with the same funding opportunity number to be assigned unique identifiers

  • CONTRACT
  • A procurement contract awarded to a successful applicant. This is a contract which the applicant enters into with the Federal government on the premise of providing a good or service directly to the agency

  • COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
  • Financial assistance award which requires that the recipient works in cooperation with the awarding agency to carry out the project.

  • COST SHARING OR MATCHING
  • An agreement between the recipient and awarding agency to divide the costs associated with the project. This means the recipient is required to locate additional sources of funding to match or share the costs. This could be either another government agency's funding programs, or a private investor.

  • CURRENT ACCOUNTING PERIOD
  • The period of time the recipient chooses for purposes of financial statements and audits.

  • DATA UNIVERSAL NUMBERING SYSTEM (DUNS)
  • A unique nine-character identification number provided by the commercial company Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

  • DATE OF COMPLETION
  • The date on which all work under an award will be completed or the date on which the agency sponsorship ends.

  • DISALLOWED COSTS
  • Charges to an award amount which the awarding agency determines to be unallowable, in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in the award.

  • DISCRETIONARY GRANT
  • A grant (or cooperative agreement) for which the awarding agency may select the recipient from among all eligible recipients, may decide to make or not make an award based on the programmatic, technical, or scientific content of an application, and can decide the amount of funding to be awarded at their discretion.

  • EQUIPMENT
  • Physical nonexpendable personal property, including exempt property, charged directly to the award.

  • EXCESS PROPERTY
  • Property under the control of an awarding agency which they no longer require, as determined by the head of the awarding agency.

  • EXEMPT PROPERTY
  • Physical personal property acquired in whole or in part with Federal funds, where the awarding agency has authority to endow the title for the property wholly to the award recipient, without further obligation to the Federal Government.

  • FEDERAL SHARE OF REAL PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, OR SUPPLIES
  • The percentage of property and supply costs paid for with the award amount. This also included any improvement costs. The percentage amount is the same as the Federal share of the total coasts under the awards, during the funding period (this excludes any third party in-kind contributions).

  • FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT
  • Any governing body certified by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for programs and services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Recognised governing bodies include and Indian tribes, band, nation, or other organized group / community (including and Native village as defined in section 3 of the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act).

  • FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
  • The payment (either in goods, services, or money) from a Federal agency to a recipient, for the purpose of carrying out a project or program (for Authorization information, refer to 31 U.S.C. 6101(3)). An agency may provide financial assistance through various types of transactions, including grants, cooperative agreements, loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies, insurance, food commodities, direct appropriations, and transfers of property in place of money.

  • FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT
  • A document used by the Federal agencies to notify the public of discretionary grant or cooperative agreement awards, usually as a result of a funding competition. Funding opportunity announcements are also known as program announcements, notices of funding availability, solicitations, or other names depending on the agency and type of program.

  • FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER
  • The number assigned to a funding announcement by the Federal agency.

  • FUNDING PERIOD
  • The period of time when Federal funding is available for use by the recipient.

  • GOVERNMENT
  • A State or local government or a federally recognized Indian tribal government.

  • GRANT
  • An award of financial assistance with the principal purpose of transferring goods, services, or monies from a Federal agency to a recipient for the purpose of support or stimulation programs / projects for the public as authorized by law (see 31 U.S.C. 6101(3)). A grant used to acquire property or services for the Federal government's direct benefit or use.

  • INTANGIBLE PROPERTY AND DEBT INSTRUMENTS
  • Includes trademarks, copyrights, patents and patent applications, and such property as loans, notes and other debt instruments, lease agreements, stock and other instruments of property ownership, whether considered tangible or intangible.

  • LOCAL GOVERNMENT
  • A local unit of government, including specifically a county, municipality, city, town, township, local public authority, school district, special district, intra-state district, council of governments (whether or not incorporated as a non-profit corporation under State law), any other regional or interstate entity, or any agency or instrument of local government.

  • MANDATORY GRANT
  • A grant (or cooperative agreement) awarded under a program where the agency is required to make an award to each eligible applicant. These grants are awarded under the conditions and for the amount (or based on the formula) specified in the regulations.

  • OBLIGATIONS
  • The amounts (in dollars) that during a specific time period that require payments by the award recipient. These amounts are calculated on orders placed, contracts, awarded grants, service received, and similar transactions during the given time period.

  • ORGANIZATION
  • A grant applicant who is submitting an application on behalf of a company, state, local or tribal government, academia or research institution, not-for-profit, or any other type of institution.

  • OUTLAYS OR EXPENDITURES
  • Charges made by the applicant to the project or program, which may be reported on a cash charge or accumulated charge basis.

  • PERSONAL PROPERTY
  • Property of any kind except real property. It may be tangible (having physical existence), such as equipment or property, or intangible, (having no physical existence), such as copyrights, patents, or securities.

  • POINT OF CONTACT (POC)
  • An individual designated as the person responsible for authorization and maintenance of information on behalf of a registrant. Additionally, they coordinate communication among organizations.

  • PRIOR APPROVAL
  • Written approval by an authorized official of the awarding agency official demonstrating prior consent to the request / application.

  • PROGRAM INCOME
  • Gross income earned by the award recipient that is directly generated by the agency supported project, or earned as a result of the award.

  • PROJECT COSTS
  • All allowable costs, incurred by an award recipient during the project period (outlined in the applicable Federal cost principles; Sec. 74.27); this also includes the value of contributions made by third parties. Allowable costs directly relate to accomplishing the objects of the award during the project period.

  • PROJECT PERIOD
  • The period that the project is sponsored by the agency. The time period is usually established in the award document.

  • PROPERTY
  • Real property, equipment, intangible property and debt instruments.

  • REAL PROPERTY
  • Land, including land improvements, structures and paraphernalia, but excludes movable machinery and equipment.

  • RECIPIENT
  • An organization receiving financial assistance directly from an awarding agency for the purpose of carrying out a project or program

  • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
  • All research activities (both basic and applied) and development activities that are supported at universities, colleges, hospitals, other non-profit institutions, and commercial organizations. Research is defined study on a specific subject directed toward crating a broader knowledge or understanding of the subject. Development is the use of knowledge from research directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes. The term research also applies to research training in research and development facilities that currently don't offer such activities.

  • STANDARD FORM 424 (SF-424) SERIES FORMS
  • Standard government-wide grant application forms including: SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance cover page); SF-424A (Budget Information Non-construction Programs); SF-424B (Assurances Non-construction Programs; SF-424C (Budget Information Construction Programs); and SF-424D (Assurances Construction Programs).

  • SUBAWARD
  • An award made to an eligible sub-recipient by a grant recipient from their award. This can either be money, or property in lieu of money. The term includes financial assistance when provided by any legal agreement, even if the agreement is called a contract, but does not include purchasing of goods and services, nor does it include any form of assistance which is excluded from the definition of award.

  • SUBRECIPIENT
  • The legal entity to which a sub-award is made; and is accountable to the award recipient for the use of the funds provided.

  • SUPPLIES
  • All personal property excluding equipment, intangible property, and debt instruments as defined in this glossary.

  • SUSPENSION
  • A temporary retraction of a recipients financial assistance by the awarding agency, after the award has been granted. It remains in suspension status until corrective action is taken by the recipient, or a decision is made to terminate the award.

  • TERMINATION
  • The cancellation of financial sponsorship, in whole or in part, under agreement at any time prior to the date of completion.

  • THIRD PARTY IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS
  • The value of non-cash contributions provided by non-Federal third parties. Third party in-kind contributions may be in the form of real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, and the value of goods and services directly benefiting the project or program.

  • UNOBLIGATED BALANCE
  • The remaining balance of funds that a recipient has not obligated and is determined by deducting the total obligations for the total funds authorized.
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