Sneak Preview: NIFA Updates Its Financial Assistance Policy Guide
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants 360 article.) The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a grant-making agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recently updated its NIFA Federal Assistance Policy Guide to incorporate changes stemming from the Office of Management and Budget’s August 2020 revisions to the uniform guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200) and other associated policies.
NIFA’s policy guide describes the statutory and regulatory responsibilities of NIFA-funded recipients. Maintained by NIFA’s Office of Grants and Financial Management (OGFM), the policy guide provides comprehensive guidance on roles and responsibilities, application and review processes, award notification and administrative procedures, award terms and conditions, uniform administrative requirements, allowable costs, reporting requirements, closeout procedures and audit requirements.
The guide uses a system to denote whether the provisions apply to all NIFA awards, only to competitive awards or only to capacity awards (i.e., support for research and extension activities at land-grant institutions through grants to states on the basis of statutory formulas). It also specifies whether the general requirements do not apply to a particular program or type of financial assistance. In limited cases, NIFA makes noncompetitive awards.
When NIFA issues a notice of award, it will incorporate by reference, along with other provisions, the NIFA policy guide as an award provision. It is not intended to provide details on every grant process (pre-award through closeout) but, rather, be a compendium of policies and requirements, the agency notes.
“The function of this NIFA policy guide is to assist in the interpretation of statutory and regulatory requirements,” the agency explains in the guide. “The policy guide does not replace the regulatory and statutory language and is intended to be compliant with governing statutes and the requirements of [grants and agreements provisions at] 2 C.F.R. parts 200, 400, 415 and 416, and [NIFA regulations at] 7 C.F.R. parts 3419 and 3430. However, in the case of a conflict, the statutes and regulations govern.”
The 2021 policy guide supersedes the following previous NIFA manuals: Administrative Manual for the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Program (March 2000); Administrative Manual for Evans-Allen Cooperative Agricultural Research (March 2000); Administrative Manual for Continuing Animal Health and Disease Research Program (September 1992); Administrative Manual for the Hatch (Experiment Station) Act as Amended (March 2000); Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program Policies (October 1983); Administrative Handbook for Cooperative Extension Work, Chapter III (May 1994); and all previous versions of the NIFA Financial Assistance Policy Guide.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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