Important Update - The Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) Has Been Revised!

If you’ve ever received a Federal grant, then you should be familiar with the Office of Management and Budget’s Uniform Guidance (UG) found at 2 CFR 200. The UG streamlines the Federal government’s guidance on Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal awards.

Background:

Between 2012 and 2013, OMB worked with Federal agencies to revise and streamline existing guidance to develop the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) located in 2 CFR 200. This effort was intended to assist programs in delivering better outcomes on behalf of the American people while simultaneously reducing administrative burden and the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse. The Uniform Guidance in part 200, which OMB established in 2013, consolidated, streamlined, and superseded requirements from several earlier OMB Circulars and guidance documents related to Federal financial assistance management and implementation of the Single Audit Act.

OMB Objectives:

OMB's objectives for the current round of revisions to several parts of subtitle A of 2 CFR include: (1) incorporating statutory requirements and administration priorities; (2) reducing agency and recipient burden; (3) clarifying sections that recipients or agencies have interpreted in different ways; and (4) rewriting applicable sections in plain language, improving flow, and addressing inconsistent use of terms.

2024 Changes:

OMB periodically reviews the Uniform Guidance in accordance with 2 CFR 200.109. For example, OMB made further revisions to the Uniform Guidance in 2020. With the 2024 revisions, grant recipients will see some of the following changes:

• Added Whistleblower protections
• Changed prior approval requirements for certain items
• Raised the de minimis rate from 10% to 15%
• Raised the single audit threshold from $750,000 to $1 million
• Equipment acquisition costs went from $5,000 to $10,000

For more on the guidance for federal financial assistance, check out the Federal Register’s official publication that was released on April 22, 2024.

Please check out our SMART training which is a technical assistance initiative sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of US Department of Labor and led by the Office of Grants Management (OGM) to assist its grant recipients and subrecipients in improving its program/project operations through effective grants management.  The training focused on:

Strategies for sound grant management that is built around four cornerstones: 

Monitoring,

Accountability,

Risk mitigation, and

Transparency.

These four themes are also weaved throughout the OMB Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards also known as the Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR Part 200 and DOL’s adoption and approved exceptions of the Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR Part 2900.

For questions or assistance with the new guidance or SMART, please email us at compliance.policy@dol.gov.

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• Posted by: Kaylar Recker
• Posted in: Grants Application and Management