FY 1999 TOTAL: $22,732,707,053
Discretionary Grant Awards by Grant Type

Discretionary grant awards comprise only 13% of the total FY 1999 grant funds, but they account for 92% of the total number of grant awards made in FY 1999. Discretionary grants are those that permit the Federal government, according to specific authorizing legislation, to exercise judgment, or "discretion," in selecting the applicant/recipient organization, through a competitive grant process. The types of activities commonly supported by discretionary grants include demonstration, research, training, service, and construction projects or programs. Discretionary grants are sometimes referred to as "project grants."

In this report, grants awarded as a cooperative agreement are included in the charts summarizing discretionary grant awards. A cooperative agreement is an award instrument of financial assistance where "substantial involvement" is anticipated between the DHHS awarding agency and the recipient during performance of the project or activity. This means that the recipient can expect Federal programmatic collaboration or participation in managing the award.

• Discretionary Grants - account for 11% of the total FY 1999 grant funds, and 85% of the total number of FY 1999 grants.

• Cooperative Agreements - account for only 2% of the total FY 1999 grant funds, and 8% of the total number of FY 1999 grants.