Terry Xiao Blog
Finance and Business
CFDA – Where to Begin to Look for Federal Grant Money
All Federal Government projects, programs, services and activities that provide assistance and benefits to citizens are cataloged in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. All financial and non-financial assistance programs implemented through departments and establishments for the United States Federal government are recorded in the CFDA.
In 1984 the Office of Management and Budget transferred responsibility for Federal domestic assistance program information to the General Services Administration. This transfer was mandated by the Federal Program Information Act and included requirements for distribution of the CFDA.
The General Services Administration is responsible for the database of Federal assistance. The OMB acts as the conduit agency between the Federal agencies and the General Services Administration delivering the required oversight to the program data related to domestic assistance.
The CFDA is the basic reference manual providing information on all Federal domestic activities. Its most critical function is allowing users to identify programs of particular interest. The CFDA also is a tremendous resource for basic information on Federal assistance programs. Additionally, the Catalog endeavors to improve communications and enhance coordination between State and Local entities and the Federal government.
The Catalog lets grant seekers access all domestic programs managed by Federal agencies and departments in a single resource. All information is cross referenced by functional classification, Subject Index, applicant, Deadlines Index, and Authorization Index. All of this information is invaluable as resource tools that can make it easier to identify specific areas of program interest more efficiently.
For years, GSA has published a printed version of the Catalog, as required by legislation dating to 1977 and 1983. That same legislation allowed GSA to distribute free copies of the printed Catalog to designated recipients. In fiscal year 2003, nearly 10,000 paper copies of the Catalog were distributed at no cost to the recipients.
New rulings now gives the General Services Administration discretion in what form to produce and disseminate the Catalog. The General Services Administration is endeavoring to move to a more paper free environment and toward that end now maintains and distributes the Catalog through the CFDA Website. The GSA no longer prints and distributes free copies of the Catalog.
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