2018 TAGGS Annual Report

Department of Health & Human Services

Main Content

Welcome to TAGGS

The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of Americans by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services. In support of its mission, HHS manages hundreds of programs which awards approximately 101,398 grants annually. Tracking and accounting for HHS grant spending and providing high quality data to the public and external stakeholders is critical to fulfilling HHS's mission and strategic goals.

  • HHS awarded 101,398 grants to over 12,000 recipients.
  • HHS awarded approximately $516 billion in grants.
  • The 6 states receiving the most HHS grant funds were California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) awarded over 79% of all HHS grant dollars.
  • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded about 68% of all HHS awards.
  • HHS awarded $459 billion, or 89% of the total grant award dollars, to entitlement (or non-discretionary) grants.
  • Of the $57 billion in discretionary grants, HHS agencies awarded $836 million to 99 international recipients.
  • Universities and colleges represent 36 of the top 50 HHS discretionary grant recipients.
HHS Grant Management Process: Planning, Announcement, Application Evaluation, Negotiation, Award, Postaward Monitoring, Closeout

The Annual Report

This annual report reflects a summary of grants HHS awarded during Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018). Data for this annual report was taken from the TAGGS database as of November 26, 2018. Grants are a legal instrument reflecting the relationship between the United States Government and a State, local government, or other entity when “the principal purpose of the relationship is to transfer a thing of value to the State or local government or other recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States instead of acquiring (by purchase, lease, or barter) property or services for the direct benefit or use of the United States Government” (31 U.S.C. §6304).

This report does not include information related to technical assistance, which provides services instead of money; or contracts, which are required to be entered into and administered under procurement laws and regulations.

The public can view how HHS tracks and accounts for grant spending by visiting the Annual Reports section on the Tracking Accountability In Government Grants System (TAGGS) Website (taggs.hhs.gov/AnnualReport). Users can download the full report in the PDF format, or view the report online for a fully visual and interactive experience. Both formats provide an open and transparent view of HHS‘s grants portfolio: the PDF summarizes grant data at a high level displaying tables and charts for quick viewing; while the online report enhances the users experience by providing interactive maps and graphs that make it easy for visitors to explore award data in multiple views and provides tools to customize and display information, as well as download graphs and data.

Executive Summary

During FY18, as the largest federal grant-making agency, HHS served as a leader within the federal financial assistance community and as an integral partner to OMB in the multiple government-wide efforts to continue building on the work of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) and to improve the business of grants for all stakeholders. One such effort was an OMB-led, government-wide grants management data standardization working group tasked to develop a standardized set of data elements and associated definitions for incorporation into the respective policies, business processes, and associated systems of the federal financial assistance community. This effort was often referred to as the Financial Integrated Business Framework (FIBF) and is part of the Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal 8 within the President’s Management Agenda.

Additionally, HHS initiated an internal grants initiative entitled Reinvent Grants Management as part of the broader set of Reimagine HHS activities. This initiative is geared towards a single user experience for grant recipients, reducing burden in grants management functions, and enhancing performance measurement.

Throughout FY18, DATA Act compliance continued to evolve and remain a priority for government-wide data standards that can be shared by the multiple communities and increase the availability, accuracy, and usefulness of Federal spending information. The implementation of the use of Activity Address Codes (AAC) for the HHS financial assistance community as of October 1, 2018 will report the new data elements for Funding Agency Code, Funding Sub-Tier Agency Code, Funding Office Code, Awarding Agency Code, Awarding Sub-Tier Agency Code, and Awarding Office Code for new financial assistance awards. This reporting requirement aligned the Procurement and Financial Assistance communities in the use and reporting of these Federal Hierarchy data elements. Additionally, HHS leveraged its ongoing efforts to transform the Department’s grants closeout processes and address its backlog of grants needing to be closed, when it complied with and responded to the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act (GONE Act). The purpose of the GONE Act is to quantify each agency’s open grants and cooperative agreements that need to be closed as well as the associated undisbursed balances, address the reasons for any awards remaining open, and to ultimately improve the timely closeout of Federal grant awards to improve accountability and oversight in grants management. HHS's workgroups put forth significant effort over the course of this fiscal year to insure the Department was well positioned to meet reporting requirements pertaining to the financial assistance community.

Additionally, HHS leveraged its ongoing efforts to transform the Department’s grants closeout processes and address its backlog of grants needing to be closed, when it complied with and responded to the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act (GONE Act). The purpose of the GONE Act is to quantify each agency’s open grants and cooperative agreements that need to be closed as well as the associated undisbursed balances, address the reasons for any awards remaining open, and to ultimately improve the timely closeout of Federal grant awards to improve accountability and oversight in grants management. HHS's workgroups put forth significant effort over the course of this fiscal year to insure the Department was well positioned to meet reporting requirements pertaining to the financial assistance community.

FY 2018 Grant Awards & Award Dollars

The animated charts in the Overview, Types of Funding, and Agency Totals sections present different views of HHS's grant spending in FY 2018.

Click on a button below to review each chart. Hover over any circle to view detailed information.

Overview: The Overview chart shows the total number of awards and award dollars that HHS issued during FY 2018. This chart also displays by awarding agency: total spending by award dollars and number of awards, percent of total dollars and number of awards compared to all other HHS awarding agencies, and the percent change from FY 2017.

The circle size shows the relative dollar amount. Dark colors indicate a big change from the previous year, light colors reflect a small change.

Types of Funding: The chart shows differences in spending between discretionary and non-discretionary awards. Hover over the the two types of funding to view the definition of each.

Agency Totals: The chart shows discretionary and non-discretionary awards grouped and displayed by awarding agency. Agencies with two circles awarded both types of grants.

Largest Increases
Largest Decreases

Total HHS Award Dollars: $515,968,099,408

Total HHS Awards:
101,398

Colors indicate small to large changes from FY 2017 to FY 2018

  • –7%
  • –3%
  • 0
  • +3%
  • +7%

Non-discretionary award

An award made by an HHS awarding agency in keeping with specific statutory authority under which the agency has no ability to exercise judgment (“discretion”), due to “mandatory” award requirements, in selecting the applicant/recipient organization through a competitive process. Non-discretionary awards can be both formula and non-formula based.

Colors indicate small to large changes from FY 2017 to FY 2018.

  • –7%
  • –3%
  • 0
  • +3%
  • +7%

Discretionary award

An award made by an HHS awarding agency in keeping with specific statutory authority which enables the agency to exercise judgment (“discretion”) in selecting the applicant/recipient organization through a competitive award process.

Changes to Discretionary Spending

Color shows amount of change from 2017 to 2018.

  • –7%
  • –3%
  • 0
  • +3%
  • +7%

* OPDIVS with no circles have no Award Amount

View Discretionary Table Download Discretionary Excel File View Non-Discretionary Table Download Non-Discretionary Excel File

HHS 2018 Organization

HHS is comprised of OPDIVs and STAFFDIVs, each with its own unique mission. The organization chart below presents the overall structure of HHS during FY 2018. The OPDIVs/STAFFDIVs are responsible for administering and managing approximately 526 grant programs which are described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). Note that in this report, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry awards are included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant funding data.

*Components of the Public Health Service. #Administratively-supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Not all OPDIVs listed on the Organization Chart award grants. To learn more and to find links to home pages and sub-charts, visit the text version of the 2018 HHS Organizational Chart.