RFA_Guidelines_Revised.pdf

This document is NOAA Grants Management Division's Budget Narrative Guidance for federal grant applications. All applications must include a detailed budget narrative explaining and justifying federal and non-federal expenditures by object class category as listed on the SF-424A (or SF-424C for construction awards). The narrative must match dollar amounts on all required forms and explain each calculation in support of budget categories. For multi-year awards, applicants must provide separate budgets and justifications for each year. Costs must be reasonable, allowable, allocatable, and necessary to the supported activity, following 2 CFR §200 requirements. No Federal or non-Federal grant funds may be expended for in-kind goods or services, transportation, travel, or other expenses for Federal employees.

The guidance provides detailed requirements for eight major budget categories: Personnel (including salaries, position descriptions, and time allocations); Fringe Benefits (rates and computations for health insurance, retirement, and other benefits); Travel (domestic and foreign, with specific justifications required); Equipment (items over one year useful life with per-unit costs exceeding $5,000 or an entity's capitalization threshold, requiring lease-versus-purchase analysis); Supplies (itemized by type with quantities and costs, exceeding $5,000 threshold requiring detailed justification); Contractual (separate budgets for each contract with method of selection, scope of work, and performance accountability); Construction (only when authorized by program legislation, using SF-424C with supporting documentation); and Other (subawards, conference costs, training materials, and miscellaneous expenses). The document includes sample budget formats and justification examples for each category, followed by sections on Total Direct Charges, Indirect Charges (fixed, provisional, or pre-determined rates negotiated through NICRA agreements), and Cost Share or Match requirements.