The 2002 edition is sold on a subscription basis by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. It consists of the basic manual. The order for the Catalog must be accompanied by a check or money order made payable to the Superintendent of Documents. Although the Catalog is published by the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration, subscriptions for the Catalog are only available through the Government Printing Office. INTRODUCTION Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a government-wide compendium of Federal programs, projects, services, and activities which provide assistance or benefits to the American public. It contains financial and nonfinancial assistance programs administered by departments and establishments of the Federal government. The Catalog is published in two editions using the most current data available at the time either edition of the Catalog is compiled. The Basic edition of the Catalog, usually published in June, reflects completed congressional action on program legislation. The Update, usually published in December, reflects completed congressional action on the President's budget proposals and on substantive legislation as of the date of compilation, and includes information on Federal programs that was not available at the time the June edition compiled. Beginning in 2001, the December Update edition of the Catalog will no longer be published in print. Both the June Basic edition and the December Update edition are published in various electronic formats. The Catalog website (http://www.cfda.gov) always contains the most current published information. In 1984, Public Law 98-169 authorized the transfer of certain responsibilities of Public Law 95-220, the Federal Program Information Act, from the Office of Management and Budget to the General Services Administration (GSA). These responsibilities include the dissemination of Federal domestic assistance program information through the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. GSA now maintains the Federal assistance information data base from which the Catalog is published. The Office of Management and Budget serves as an intermediary agent between the Federal agencies and GSA, providing oversight to the collection of Federal domestic assistance program data. As the basic reference source of Federal programs, the primary purpose of the Catalog is to assist users in identifying programs which meet specific objectives of the potential applicant, and to obtain general information on Federal assistance programs. In addition, the intent of the Catalog is to improve coordination and communication between the Federal government and State and local governments. The Catalog provides the user with access to programs administered by Federal departments and agencies in a single publication. Program information is cross referenced by functional classification (Functional Index), subject (Subject Index), applicant (Applicant Index), deadline(s) for program application submission (Deadlines Index), and authorizing legislation (Authorization Appendix). These are valuable resource tools which, if used carefully, can make it easier to identify specific areas of program interest more efficiently. Other sections of the Catalog provide users with information on programs added and deleted since the last edition of the Catalog, a crosswalk of program number and title changes, regional and local offices, intergovernmental review requirements, definitions of the types of assistance under which programs are administered, proposal writing, grant application procedures, and additional sources of information on Federal programs and services. Programs selected for inclusion in the Catalog are defined as any function of a Federal agency that provides assistance or benefits for a State or States, territorial possession, county, city, other political subdivision, grouping, or instrumentality thereof; any domestic profit or nonprofit corporation, institution, or individual, other than an agency of the Federal government. A "Federal domestic assistance program" may in practice be called a program, an activity, a service, a project, a process, or some other name, regardless of whether it is identified as a separate program by statute or regulation. It will be identified in terms of its legal authority, administering office, funding, purpose, benefits, and beneficiaries. "Assistance" or "benefits" refers to the transfer of money, property, services, or anything of value, the principal purpose of which is to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by Federal |