Summary
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has a number of non-entitlement discretionary grant programs to collect the information from grant applicants needed to evaluate and rank applicants and protect the integrity of the grantee selection process. All FNS discretionary grant programs will be eligible but not required to use the uniform grant application package. The authorities for these grants vary. The term “grant” in this submission refers only to non-entitlement discretionary competitive and non-competitive grants or cooperative agreements. The uniform grant application package will include general information and instructions; requirements for the program narrative statement describing how the grant goals, objectives, and outcomes will be reached, as well as a description of the budget; the Standard Forms SF-424 series, and SF-LLL, which request basic information, budget information, and disclosure of lobbying activities certification, respectively. In addition, grantees must submit SF-906, Grant Program Accounting System and Financial Capability Questionnaire. Grantees will also be required to submit Standard Form SF-425, Federal Financial Report form, and the FNS908, Performance Progress Report form.
If FNS decides to use the uniform grant application package, FNS will note in the grant solicitation that applicants must use the uniform grant application package and that the information collection has already been approved by OMB. If FNS chooses not to use the uniform grant application package or finds it necessary for grant applicants to submit extra information not included in the uniform package, FNS will issue a notice of at least 30 days inviting public comments on its plan to gather different or additional information be making a grant solicitation, unless this has already been addressed in earlier published notices.
Need and Use of the Information
The primary users of the information collected from the applicant are FNS and other federal staff who will serve on a panel to systematically review, evaluate, and approve the competitive and non-competitive grant/cooperative agreement applications and recommend the applicants most likely to meet program objectives and most responsive to the solicitation. The selection criteria will be contained in the Request for Application package. Without this information, FNS will not have adequate data to select appropriate grantees or evaluate which grants should be continued or monitor financial reporting requirements.
Request for Comments
Comments regarding this information collection received by Jan. 29, 2026 will be considered.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on RegInfo.gov. Find this particular information collection by selecting "Currently under 30-day Review - Open for Public Comments" or by using the search function. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such persons are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.