§200.202. Program planning and design. — Inbound Citations

Sections 200.201 through 200.217 prescribe instructions and other pre-award matters to be used by Federal agencies in the program planning, announcement, application, and award processes.

Unless prohibited by Federal statute, the Federal agency must design and execute a merit review process of applications for discretionary Federal awards. The objective of a merit review process is to select recipients most likely to be successful in delivering results based on the program objectives as outlined in section § 200.202. A merit review is an objective process of evaluating Federal award applications in accordance with the written standards of the Federal agency. These standards should identify the number of people the agency requires to participate in the merit review process and provide opportunities for a diverse group of participants, including those representing underserved communities. The merit review process explained in this section must be described or incorporated by reference in the applicable funding opportunity. See appendix I to this part. See also § 200.204. The Federal agency must also periodically review its merit review process.

(a) Federal agencies are responsible for ensuring that specific Federal award conditions and performance expectations are consistent with the program design (See § 200.202 and § 200.301).

(a) Where applicable, performance goals, indicators, targets, and baseline data must be included in the Federal award. The Federal agency must also specify in the terms and conditions of the Federal award how performance will be assessed, including the timing and scope of expected performance. See §§ 200.202 and 200.301 for more information on Federal award performance goals.

(a) The Federal agency must measure the recipient's performance to show achievement of program goals and objectives, share lessons learned, improve program outcomes, and foster the adoption of promising practices. The Federal agency should establish program goals and objectives during program planning and design (see § 200.202). The Federal agency should clearly communicate the specific program goals and objectives in the Federal award, including how the Federal agency will measure the achievement of the goals and objectives, the expected timeline, and information on how the recipient must report the achievement of program goals and objectives. The Federal agency should also clearly communicate in the Federal award any expected outcomes (such as outputs, service performance, or public impacts of any of these), indicators, targets, baseline data, or data collections that the recipient is responsible for measuring and reporting. The Federal agency must ensure all requirements for measuring performance align with the Federal agency's strategic goals, strategic objectives, or performance goals relevant to a program (see OMB Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget Part 6).

REE Agencies may enter into non-assistance cooperative agreements, as authorized by this part, without regard to any requirements for competition specified in 2 CFR 200.202 and 200.206. (7 U.S.C. 3318(e)).

In lieu of 2 CFR 200.201 through 200.204, 200.206, and 200.306, this section establishes project development, resource contributions, indirect cost reimbursement, and tuition remission provisions for non-assistance cooperative agreements.

The Federal Program Information Act (31 U.S.C. 6101 through 6106), as implemented through OMB guidance at 2 CFR 200.202 requires the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies to provide certain information about their assistance programs to the OMB and the General Services Administration (GSA). The GSA makes this information available to the public by publishing it in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).