PKG00294223.pdf

This document is NOAA Grants Management Division's Budget Narrative Guidance for federal grant applications. It provides detailed instructions for preparing budget narratives that explain and justify all federal and non-federal expenditures by object class category using SF-424A forms (or SF-424C for construction awards). All budget narratives must match dollar amounts on required forms, explain calculations, and provide cost justifications supporting each budget category.

The guidance addresses eight primary cost categories: Personnel (including position titles, salaries, percent of time allocation, and months paid, with clarification that administrative and clerical staff costs are typically indirect F&A costs unless conditions for direct charging are met); Fringe Benefits (requiring documentation of rates and computation methods, with breakdown requirements for rates exceeding 35% unless a NICRA is provided); Travel (distinguishing domestic travel within U.S. territories from foreign travel, requiring Fly America Act compliance, with detailed justifications for origin, destination, number of trips, lodging, per diem, and ground transportation); Equipment (defined as tangible property exceeding one year useful life and $5,000 unit cost, requiring lease-versus-purchase analysis for items over $5,000 and objective justification related to program objectives); Supplies (itemized by type with unit costs and quantities, requiring explanation for items exceeding $5,000 or 5% of award value); Contractual (including separate budgets for each contract with method of selection, performance period, scope of work, and accountability criteria); Construction (allowable only when specifically authorized by program legislation or DOC operating unit); and Other (including subawards and miscellaneous expenses with detailed justification and exclusion of unallowable costs). The guidance requires multi-year awards to provide separate budgets and justifications for each year, and emphasizes that all proposed costs must be reasonable, allowable, allocable, and necessary, complying with 2 CFR §200 requirements.