Data Element Name Data Element Description
Abstract A narrative description of an award program's goals and objectives.
Action Issue Date The date the action being reported was issued / signed by the Government or a binding agreement was reached.
Assistance Listing The title of the area of work in SAM.gov under which the federal award was funded in the legacy system known as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.
Assistance Listing Number (ALN) The SAM.gov system assigns each assistance listing a unique number that follows the assistance listing throughout the assistance lifecycle. This enables data and funding transparency. The complete Assistance Listing (ALN) number is a five-digit number.
Award Action Type A descriptive categorization of the award action. Examples include NEW, SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION, and NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION, and ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPLEMENT (+ OR -) (DISCRETIONARY OR BLOCK AWARDS).
Award Activity Type Description of an award activity identified by an associated Award Activity Type Code. Examples include HEALTH SERVICES, MEDICAID, SOCIAL SERVICES, DEMONSTRATION, TANF, SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH (INCLUDES SURVEYS), and OTHER.
Award Class The short description based on HHS Grants Policy Directive Part 1.02. Examples include BLOCK, CLOSE-ENDED, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT, DIRECT PAYMENT FOR SPECIFIC USE, DISCRETIONARY, and OPEN-ENDED.
Award Code A number used to identify the award action within a particular budget year of support. Note: For each subsequent action within a budget year of support, the code is incremented by one.
Award Description A plain language description of the Federal award purpose; activities to be performed; deliverables and expected outcomes; intended beneficiary(ies); and subrecipient activities if known/specified at the time of award.
Award Number The unique identification number for an award that may be encoded with the awarding organization's identity, the activity/type of program code, and a serial number. Though construction differs across operating divisions, it should include only the identifying numbers that are constant across the life of the project.
Award Title The name of the award as it appears on the award document.
Block Block grants are given primarily to general purpose governmental units in accordance with a statutory formula. Such grants can be used for a variety of activities within a broad functional area (GAO Redbook, GAO-05-734SP, September 2005).
Budget Year Identifies the budget period of support within the project period. Budget years of support can cross fiscal years. For example, a 3-year project period would typically have budget periods 01, 02, and 03. Note: A budget year of support can be longer than 12 months.
Common Accounting Number (CAN) To provide certain organizational identification. The first three digits of the CAN are structured to identify (1) the OPDIV accounting system within the Department, and (2) the accounting points of each OPDIV component.
Cooperative Agreement Cooperative agreements are a legal instrument of financial assistance between a federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and a non-federal entity that, consistent with 31 U.S.C. §§ 6302-6305:
  • i. Is used to enter into a relationship the principal purpose of which is to transfer anything of value from the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity to the non-federal entity to carry out a public purpose authorized by a law of the United States (see 31 U.S.C. § 6101(3)); and not to acquire property or services for the federal government or pass-through entity's direct benefit or use;
  • ii. Is distinguished from a grant in that it provides for substantial involvement between the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and the non-federal entity in carrying out the activity contemplated by the federal award.
  • iii. The term does not include:
    • (a) A cooperative research and development agreement as defined in 15 U.S.C. § 3710a; or
    • (b) An agreement that provides only:
      1. Direct United States Government cash assistance to an individual;
      2. A subsidy;
      3. A loan;
      4. A loan guarantee; or
      5. Insurance
      (Source: 45 CFR 75.2)
DIRECT PAYMENT FOR SPECIFIC USE Financial assistance provided by the federal government directly to individuals, private firms, and other private institutions for a particular activity. To receive this assistance, the recipient must perform certain agreed-upon activities and meet certain milestones. Direct payments don’t include solicited contracts for the procurement of goods and services for the government.
DISCRETIONARY Discretionary grant programs are grant programs where, although the authorizing statute may define eligibility and certain parameters of the financial assistance, an OPDIV is not required to make awards to all eligible entities and, therefore, has discretion, based on the outcome of an objective review process and application of other published factors, as to who receives an award and the amount of the award. Awards under discretionary grant programs include non-competitive awards such as single-source awards, earmarks, and unsolicited requests for funding.
Fiscal Year The Federal government's fiscal year that runs from 1 October of the current year through 30 September the following year. For example, fiscal year 2015 began October 1, 2014 and ended September 30, 2015. In TAGGS, it is associated with a specific award for reporting purposes. The format is a four-digit number, for example 2014, 2015, 2016, or 2017.
Funding Fiscal Year The fiscal year that the Award Action is being funded.
Funding Opportunity Number (FON) The number that a federal agency assigns to its grant announcement.
Issue Date Fiscal Year The fiscal year that the Award Action is being reported to TAGGS.
Legal Entity Address First line of the awardee or recipient’s legal business address where the office represented by the Unique Entity Identifier (as registered in the System for Award Management) is located.
Legal Entity City Name of the city in which the awardee or recipient’s legal business address is located.
Legal Entity Congressional District The congressional district in which the awardee or recipient is located. This is not a required data element for non-U.S. addresses.
Legal Entity Country Code for the country in which the awardee or recipient is located, using the International Standard for country codes (ISO) 3166-1 Alpha-3 GENC Profile, minus the codes listed for those territories and possessions of the United States already identified as “states.”
Legal Entity County Name of the county in which the awardee or recipient’s legal business address is located.
Legal Entity Name The name of the awardee/recipient that relates to the Awardee UEI. For U.S. based companies, this name is what the business ordinarily files in its formation documents with the individual states (when this is required).
Legal Entity State United States Postal Service (USPS) two-letter abbreviation for the state or territory in which the awardee or recipient’s legal business address is located. Identify States, the District of Columbia, territories (i.e., American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands) and associated states (i.e., Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau) by their USPS two-letter abbreviation for the purposes of reporting.
Legal Entity Zip Code USPS five digit zoning code associated with the awardee or recipient’s legal business address. This field must be blank for non-US addresses.
Metro/Non-Metro Grant data that is considered Metropolitan or Non-Metropolitan, using the definitions provided by OMB's county-wide designations. A Metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population. Micropolitan counties are considered non-Metro along with all counties that are not classified as either Metro or Micro.
OPDIV The acronym for operating division.
Principal Investigator An individual(s), designated by the recipient, who is responsible for directing the project or program being supported by a grant. The Principal Investigator is responsible and accountable to officials of the recipient organization for the proper conduct of the project, program, or activity.
Program Office The (DHHS) organization that is authorized to award and administer grants.
Recipient The entity receiving a grant or cooperative agreement directly from a Federal agency to carry out a project or program. Although the project or program may be performed by a component of the larger entity, the entire legal entity named on the Notice of Award is legally responsible for carrying out the program or project.
Recipient Class The short name for the recipient organization type. Examples include City Government, County Government, Federal Government, Foreign Non-Profit Organization, etc.
Recipient Type The short name for the recipient business type, and based on the recipient EIN registered information in the DHHS/PMS/Central Registry System. Examples include Community Action Organization, Consultant, Educational Department, Financial Department, and Health Department.
Recovery Act Flag Identifies award with funding that originated from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Public Law 111–5), also commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act. Field values are either REC or NON.
STAFFDIV The acronym for staff division.
Type of Assistance Used in the Assistance Listing Number (ALN) to indicate the form in which the assistance is awarded by the Federal government, and initially received for use or distribution by the applicant.
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) A Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is a 12-character (alpha-numeric) code that uniquely identifies all entities. Any entity registering to do business with the government in terms of contracts or grants and assistance awards is required to have one. Unique Entity IDs are issued by SAM.gov and are a part of an entity's record in the Entity Information section of SAM.gov.