Federal grant agreements rest on established legal principles that define them as enforceable contracts between awarding agencies and recipients. It highlights the core elements that constitute a legally binding agreement, including offer, acceptance, and completion.
Key Insights
- Federal grants operate as legally binding agreements, incorporating the essential components of a contract: offer, acceptance, and completion.
- The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) publicly communicates the agency's intent to fund and outlines the terms applicants must follow.
- Legally enforceable terms and conditions are detailed in the Notice of Award, which governs how funds must be used and managed.
This lesson is a preview from our Grants Management Certificate Program. Enroll in a course for detailed lessons, live instructor support, and project-based training.
Let's talk about the legal basis for a grant agreement. Grants are contracts, per se, but they have essential elements of a contract or legal agreement. There's an offer, an agency's notification of funding.
There's an acceptance, the applicant's response, and compliance with the terms of the notice of an agreement or notice of an award. And then there's completion, the issuance of the notice of the grant award executed or funds drawn down. So what does this mean? When you enter into a grant, you are entering into a legally binding agreement with the federal government.
And most of these legally binding terms and conditions are contained in the notice of the awards, general terms and conditions. This is also generally published to the public in what we call the NOFO, the Notice of Funding Opportunity.