Glossary

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS: Regulations that implement (1) guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) contained in circulars that apply to the administration of all federal grants and cooperative agreements, (2) Presidential Executive Orders (where regulation is necessary), and (3) legislation that affects all applicants or recipients of federal grants and cooperative agreements.

APPLICATION TYPES: Continuation Application provides additional funding awarded for budget periods following the initial budget period of multi-year discretionary grant or cooperative agreement. Noncompeting Continuation Application requests for financial or direct assistance for a second or subsequent budget period within a previously approved project period. Competing Continuation Application requests financial or direct assistance to extend, for one or more additional budget periods, a project period that would otherwise expire. Supplemental Application is a request for an increase in support during a current budget period for expansion of the project's scope or research protocol or to meet increased administrative costs unforeseen at the time of the new, noncompeting continuation, or competing continuation application.

ASSURANCES: A listing of a variety of requirements, found in different federal laws, regulations, and executive orders that applicants agree in writing to observe as a condition of receiving federal assistance.

CATALOG OF DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA): Published by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and updated with loose-leaf additions, this catalog describes all federal programs that distribute funds to states, organizations, and individuals (example: 84.022 identifies Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program.) The Catalog is available in most major libraries or by subscription and is also available electronically.

CERTIFICATION: A statement, signed by an applicant or recipient as a prerequisite for receiving federal funds, that it meets or will adhere to certain conditions and/or will undertake or not undertake certain actions.

CHALLENGE GRANTS: Nonprofit institutions interested in developing new sources of long-term support for educational, scholarly, preservation, and public programs. Grantees are required to raise additional dollars in new or increased donations for every federal dollar offered.

CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR) : Compilation of all final regulations issued by federal agencies and published annually by the National Archives and Records Administration in the Federal Register; divided into numbered 'Titles'; (example: Title 34 contains the regulations of the Department of Education.). Available electronically:

Code of Federal Regulations (via GPO Access)

COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY:: As of January 4, 2002, the Department of Commerce ceased publishing the Commerce Business Daily (CBD). Official coverage of all federal procurement opportunities exceeding $25,000 is now available in Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps):

Commerce Business Daily (CBD) (via GPO Access)

CONTRACT: An award of money to carry out a specific task for a government agency, as described in a request for proposal (RFP) publicized in the Commerce Business Daily. Contracts are awarded to bidders submitting proposals that best meet the requirements of the announced work, within a competitive budget range. Electronic RFP updates are available by connecting to the Commerce Business Daily.

COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT: A mechanism of support that involves greater involvement bythe federal government in the scientific/programmatic outcome of the award than in the provision of funds.

DIRECT COSTS: Costs that can be identified specifically with a particular project or program.

DISCRETIONARY GRANT: An award of financial assistance in the form of money, or property in lieu of money, by the federal government to an eligible recipient, usually made on the basis of a competitive review process.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS (EDGAR): Administrative regulations governing Department of Education discretionary grant and cooperative agreement programs found in Parts 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, and 86 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (EIN): The number the Internal Revenue Service assigns to every employer. University of Pittsburgh's EIN number

ENTITY NUMBER: Used to identify a recipient (as distinct from the award itself) in its dealings with the Department if Education; enables the Department to establish an account and identify the correct recipient to receive the funds awarded under a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement.

FACILITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (also known as Indirect Costs, Overhead, F & A, IDC): Costs of an organization incurred for common or joint objectives which cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular grant project or other institutional activity.
Current University of Pittsburgh's F & A Cost Rates

FEDBISOPPS: Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) is the single government point-of-entry for Federal government-wide procurement opportunities over $25,000

FEDERAL REGISTER: A publication issued daily by the National Archives and Records Administration listing all federal regulations and legal notices, including announcements of all federal grant competitions. This publication is available in most major libraries and by subscription. The electronic version is available:

Federal Register (via GPO Access)

FELLOWSHIPS: Provides support for research training at various educational levels

FUNDING PRIORITIES: Activities, identified by an agency in advance of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement competition, that applicants are asked to include in an application so as to receive preference in the review process; they include absolute priorities (the applicant must address them in order to be considered for funding), competitive priorities (the applicant can choose whether or not to address them and the application might receive additional points for doing so, depending how well the applicant addresses the priority), and invitational priorities (the applicant is encouraged to address the stated priorities, but the application does not receive extra points for doing so).

GRANT: An award of financial assistance by the federal government whereby money and/or direct assistance is provided to carry out approved activities. A grant is to be used whenever the agency anticipates no substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient during performance of the financially assisted activities. Research grants are awarded to institutions on behalf of a principal investigator to facilitate pursuit of a scientific focus or objective in the area of the investigator's interest and competence. Grants can be classified on the basis of type of activity(ies) supported (research, training, service, etc.); degree of discretion allowed the awarding office (mandatory or discretionary); and/or method of determining amounts of award (negotiated basis or formula.

GRANTEE: The institution (public or private, nonprofit or for-profit, educational institution, hospital, corporation, organization, agency, or other legally accountable entity) that receives a grant or cooperative agreement and assumes legal, financial, and scientific responsibility and accountability both for the awarded funds and for the performance of the grant-supported activity. In certain cases, a grantee may be an individual in the United States or an institution in a foreign country.

INITIAL REVIEW GROUP: Any one of the study sections or peer review committees of scientists that advise on the scientific and technical merit of research applications submitted for support.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING GRANT: Grant awarded to eligible institutions to support predoctoral and postdoctoral research training to prepare scientists for careers in behavioral and biomedical research. Graduate students and postdoctoral trainees are appointed to the training grant by the training institution.

LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCY (LEA): An agency that exercises administrative control of, or performs a service function for, the public elementary or secondary schools in a specific area within a state or territory, usually called a school district.

NEGOTIATION: Preaward discussions conducted by the Grants Division to establish the conditions and amount of a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement; based on recommendations from the cognizant principal office, a cost analysis of the applicant's budget, and a review of proposed activities.

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) CIRCULARS: Administrative policy documents that give instruction to federal agencies on a variety of topics, including the administration of federal grants and cooperative agreements.

PEER REVIEW: A system of review of research applications that utilizes reviewers who are the professional equals of the principal investigator responsible for directing or conducting the proposed project.

PREAPPLICATION: A summary statement of the intent of the applicant to request federal funds. It is used to determine the applicant's eligibility, determine how well the proposed project can compete with other similar applications, and eliminate any proposals that have little or no chance for federal funding before applicants incur significant expenditures for preparing an application.

PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS: Formal statements that describe and give notice to the grantee community of the existence of a extramural research activity or announce the initiation of a new or modified activity or mechanism of support and invite applications for grant or cooperative agreement support.

PROGRAM OFFICER: An agency program office staff person responsible for 1) developing program regulations, application notices, and application packages, 2) overseeing the review and ranking of applications submitted under their programs, 3) providing detailed funding recommendations to the Grants Division for applications, 4) participating in negotiations, as necessary, 5) providing technical assistance to applicants and recipients, 6) monitoring funded projects, and 7) making recommendations about recipients' requests for revisions to project activities and budgets.

PROJECT PERIOD: The total amount of time (sometimes several years) during which an agency authorizes a recipient to complete the approved work of the project described in the application; project periods of more than one year are divided into budget periods.

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS: A formal announcement typically from a governmental sponsor that invites grant or cooperative agreement applications in a well-defined scientific area to support specific program initiatives, indicating the amount of funds set aside for the competition and the estimated number of awards to be made. To electronically identify National Institutes of Health (NIH) Requests for Applications, connect to the NIH Guide web site.

SMALL GRANTS: Provide research support, specifically limited in time and amount, for activities such as pilot projects, testing of new techniques, or feasibility studies of innovative, high-risk research, which would provide a basis for more extended research.

STATE EDUCATION AGENCY (SEA): A state board of education or other agency or officer primarily responsible for the supervision of public elementary and secondary schools in a state.

STATE FORMULA GRANTS: These are entitlement grants made to states in accordance with a variety of formulas such as the number of children or students to be served. In state-administered grants, the state itself is the grantee and may award grants to subgrantees on either a discretionary or formula basis. State formula grant programs, provide grants to State education agencies who in turn send the funds to local school districts to serve students. State Education Agencies receive funds based on formulas specified in program regulations.

STIPEND: A payment made to an individual under a fellowship or training grant in accordance with pre-established levels to provide for the individual's living expenses during the period of training.

STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Funding in support of undergraduate or graduate students attending colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions that meet an agency's eligibility requirements; sometimes referred to as 'student aid'. To electronically locate information about financial aid, go to FinAid: The Financial Aid Information Page, sponsored by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).