How do forms on Grants.gov get approved?

Grants.gov utilizes two categories of forms in application packages: agency-specific and government-wide. All forms used in grant opportunities posted on Grants.gov must be Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved. OMB does not allow agencies to attach non-cleared forms to Grants.gov application packages or require non-cleared forms to be filled out later in the application process. Grants.gov is responsible for clearing new and renewed government-wide forms. All of the government-wide forms in Grants.gov are identified with an 8-digit OMB control number that begin with “4040.”

The process to clear a form is established by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This clearance process is managed through OMB. The PRA requires that data collections (forms) go through a process to notify the public of the availability of a new or renewed form. Agencies that plan to use the form must estimate how long it will take an applicant to fill out the form (burden hours). The public and the agencies can provide comments on the form during two publication cycles of a 60-day and a 30-day Federal Register Notice (FRN).
Grants.gov receives questions regarding the use of forms that have an expired date on them. Forms appear to expire while they are under the PRA process. This is because the process overlaps the expiration date. As long as the 60-day FRN publishes within 60 days of the expiration date, then the form is still covered and remains “approved.” Once the 60-day FRN is published, Grants.gov and the working groups still must go through the comment review process, publish a 30-day FRN, review any additional comments and have OMB review and approve the final package. This process can take several months after the original expiration date occurs. Additional time is required to build the form in Grants.gov. We cannot begin this process until OMB has approved the form, since OMB can request additional changes to the form. Below is a basic schedule of time required by the PRA process for forms clearance.

Grant Policy Committee working group proposes form changes: 1 month
Collect burden hour estimates from the agencies: 1 month
Supporting statement, form and instructions mock-up prepared,
60-day FRN published: 2 months
Working group reviews comments received via FRN from
public and agencies, revise form as necessary: 1-2 months
Revised form and instructions submitted via 30-day FRN to OMB: 1 month
OMB reviews comments, may revise, approves form with new
expiration date: 2-3 months

Total Estimated Time to Clear the Form: 8-10 months