PKG00287633.pdf

This document is the NOAA Grants Management Division's Budget Narrative Guidance for federal grant applications. It provides comprehensive instructions for preparing detailed budget narratives that explain and justify all federal and non-federal expenditures by object class category, using the SF-424A form for non-construction awards and SF-424C for construction awards. The guidance requires budget narratives to match dollar amounts on all required forms, with separate budgets and justifications for each year in multi-year awards. Applicants must ensure costs are reasonable, allowable, allocable, and necessary to the supported activity, adhering to 2 CFR §200 regulations.

The document details specific requirements for eight major budget categories: Personnel (including salary, percent of time, and months paid with position justifications); Fringe Benefits (with rate calculations and breakdowns if exceeding 35%); Travel (domestic and foreign, with detailed origin/destination and cost itemization); Equipment (items exceeding $5,000 require lease-versus-purchase analysis); Supplies (with unit costs and justification for items exceeding $5,000 or 5% of the award); Contractual (separate budgets for each contract with method of selection and performance criteria); Construction (only when authorized by program legislation, requiring detailed cost documentation); and Other (including subawards and miscellaneous expenses). The guidance also addresses indirect cost rates (fixed, provisional, or pre-determined), cost sharing or matching requirements, and provides sample budget templates and justification examples for each category to demonstrate proper documentation and compliance with federal regulations.