How to Fill Out and Submit the SF-424A: Sections, Narrative, and Filing

To fill out the SF-424A, enter your project’s non-construction costs across the form’s six sections (A through F): a budget summary, a detailed breakdown by object class category, non-federal resources, forecasted cash needs for year one, estimates for future years, and remarks on your indirect cost rate. The form goes in as part of a Grants.gov application package alongside the main SF-424, and every total has to reconcile with every other total before you submit.

One boundary to settle first. SF-424A is for non-construction programs only. If the project involves building, renovation, or land acquisition, the correct form is SF-424C, which uses different cost categories such as architectural fees and site work.¹ The Notice of Funding Opportunity tells you which form applies. Submitting the wrong one usually kills the application at administrative screening before anyone looks at the merits.²

What to Have Ready Before You Open the Form

An Active SAM.gov Registration

You cannot submit through Grants.gov without an active entity registration in SAM.gov. A Unique Entity ID alone will not do it; you need the full registration, which can take up to 10 business days to process, and it expires every 365 days.³ Check your status at least two weeks before the deadline. A registration that lapses the day before will block submission.

Your Indirect Cost Rate

Section B has a line for indirect charges and Section F asks about the rate itself, so you need to know your rate before you start entering numbers. If your organization has a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) with a federal cognizant agency, use that rate. If not, you can elect a de minimis rate of up to 15 percent of modified total direct costs (MTDC).⁴ The de minimis rate needs no supporting documentation, but once you elect it you must apply it to all your federal awards until you negotiate a formal rate. Organizations receiving their first federal award have 90 days to submit a NICRA proposal if they want a negotiated rate instead.

Cost Estimates Organized by Object Class

Pull together figures for personnel salaries, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual services, and other direct costs, following the object class categories in 2 CFR Part 200.⁵ Also identify your non-federal funding sources — cash match, in-kind contributions, or state funds — since those get their own section. If the NOFO requires cost sharing, those amounts must be verifiable, necessary, and not already pledged to another federal award.⁶

Section A — Budget Summary

The form fits up to four grant programs on one sheet. Most applicants are working with one. On Line 1, put the program title in Column (a) and the Assistance Listing number (formerly the CFDA number) in Column (b). Columns (c) and (d) are for unobligated funds carried over from a prior award for the same program; new applications leave these blank. Column (e) gets your requested federal amount, Column (f) your non-federal contribution, and Column (g) the total.² Lines 2 through 4 handle additional programs if you have them. Line 5 totals the sheet.

Section B — Budget Categories

This is where most of the work happens. Break down total project costs (federal and non-federal combined) into object class categories for each program in Section A. The column headings (1) through (4) should match your Section A program titles.⁷

Line 6a — Personnel: Salaries and wages for your employees on the project. Not consultants or subcontractor staff.
Line 6b — Fringe Benefits: Employer-paid benefits (health insurance, retirement, payroll taxes) calculated on the salaries in 6a. Consultant fringe goes under Contractual.
Line 6c — Travel: Transportation, lodging, and per diem for your employees on official project business. Consultant and subcontractor travel goes under Contractual.
Line 6d — Equipment: Tangible items with a useful life over one year and a per-unit cost of $10,000 or more. If your organization’s capitalization policy sets a lower threshold, use the lower number.⁸
Line 6e — Supplies: Consumables and tangible goods below the equipment threshold.
Line 6f — Contractual: All costs for consultants, subcontractors, and subrecipients, including their travel, fringe, and supplies, as a single amount.
Line 6g — Construction: Leave blank. Any construction costs mean you should be on SF-424C.
Line 6h — Other: Direct costs that do not fit above, such as local travel for employees not in official travel status, participant support costs, or printing.
Line 6i — Total Direct Charges: Sum of 6a through 6h.
Line 6j — Indirect Charges: Your indirect costs, calculated from your NICRA or the de minimis rate applied to MTDC.⁴
Line 6k — Totals: Sum of 6i and 6j. Must match the corresponding total in Section A.

The single most common error in Section B is double-counting third-party costs: putting a consultant’s travel on Line 6c or a subcontractor’s fringe on Line 6b. The instructions are explicit that all costs for third-party services go under Contractual as one amount.⁷

Section C — Non-Federal Resources

For each program, identify where your non-federal funds are coming from. Column (b) is for your own organization’s contribution, Column (c) for state government, Column (d) for other sources such as foundations or local governments. Column (e) totals should match the non-federal figures in Section A.⁹ Sources counted toward required cost sharing must meet 2 CFR 200.306: verifiable, not committed to another federal award, and allowable under the cost principles.⁶

Section D — Forecasted Cash Needs

Project total spending for the first program year broken into quarters. Line 13 is federal, Line 14 is non-federal. The quarterly figures need to add up to your first-year totals. The section tells the agency whether your spending will front-load (early equipment purchases, for instance) or stay level across the year.

Section E — Budget Estimates for Future Years

If the project runs more than one year, estimate federal funds needed for each remaining year, up to four additional years. These are projections, not binding commitments; future-year funding usually depends on performance and appropriations. The numbers should still be reasonable and consistent with the project narrative.

Section F — Other Budget Information

Line 21 is for total direct charges, Line 22 for indirect charges. Line 23, Remarks, is where you name your indirect cost rate type (provisional, predetermined, fixed, or de minimis), the rate percentage, and the base it applies to. If you have a NICRA, some agencies want the agreement date and cognizant agency here as well. Use Remarks for any unusual budget items or cost assumptions that need explaining.²

The Budget Narrative That Goes With It

Most agencies want a separate budget narrative or justification alongside the SF-424A. The form is numbers; the narrative explains them. Your NOFO will tell you whether it is required and what format to follow, but the narrative has to align dollar-for-dollar with the form. A workable narrative walks through each object class category and shows how you got to the number: staff counts and FTE levels, salary rates, the basis for travel estimates, why particular equipment is needed, what the contractual line covers.

Reviewers use the narrative to judge whether costs are reasonable and necessary. An $85,000 Contractual line with no explanation gives them nothing to evaluate. The same $85,000 explained as a licensed evaluator at $425 per day for 200 days across two sites tells them exactly what they need. The SF-424A answers how much; the narrative answers why.

Submitting Through Grants.gov

Once your totals reconcile across sections, upload the completed form to your Grants.gov Workspace with the rest of the package. You can complete the form directly in Workspace or download and fill the PDF from Grants.gov.⁹ The Authorized Organization Representative your organization designated through SAM.gov and Grants.gov applies the electronic signature to submit. That signature certifies both the accuracy of the information and the organization’s intent to comply.¹⁰

The application has to be fully uploaded, submitted, and time-stamped by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time on the deadline date.¹¹ The system issues a tracking number (formatted like GRANT99999999) that lets you monitor status on the Grants.gov tracking page.¹² Do not wait for the last hour. System congestion near deadlines is real, and technical failures on the applicant’s end generally do not get you an extension.

Mistakes That Get Applications Rejected

Applications that fail administrative review usually fail on mechanics, not substance. The budget errors that come up most often:

Totals that do not reconcile: Section B has to match Section A. Section C has to match the non-federal amounts in Section A. Section D has to add to the first-year total. A dollar off is enough for some agencies to flag the application non-compliant.
Requesting outside the funding range: Most NOFOs set a minimum and maximum award. A budget above the ceiling or below the floor can be rejected before merit review.
Missing pieces of the package: The SF-424A is one form among several. A missing budget narrative, certification, or supplemental form can disqualify the whole application.
Costs in the wrong category: Consultant travel under Travel instead of Contractual, or items under $10,000 as Equipment instead of Supplies, tells reviewers the applicant does not know federal cost principles.
Ineligible expenses: Some agencies prohibit food, entertainment, or pre-award spending. If those appear in the budget, the application can be declined.
Lapsed SAM.gov registration: If it expires before submission, the system blocks the filing. Check at least two weeks out.³

If the Numbers Are Wrong

Honest estimation errors are expected. Agencies know proposed and actual spending drift apart, and 2 CFR 200.308 provides mechanisms for budget revisions after an award.¹³ Deliberately inflating costs or misrepresenting how funds will be used is a different matter. False or fraudulent claims tied to a federal award can create False Claims Act liability, with treble damages plus per-claim civil penalties currently in the range of roughly $14,000 to $28,000 per violation. An agency can also suspend or debar the organization, which cuts off future federal funding across every agency.

1
Grants.gov. OMB Form SF-424C
2
U.S. Department of Agriculture. OMB Form SF-424A
3
SAM.gov. Entity Registration
4
eCFR. 2 CFR 200.414 – Indirect Costs
5
eCFR. 2 CFR Part 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
6
eCFR. 2 CFR 200.306 – Cost Sharing or Matching
7
Grants.gov. Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (SF-424A) Form Instructions
8
eCFR. 2 CFR 200.1 – Definitions
9
Grants.gov. OMB Form SF-424A
10
National Institutes of Health. NIH Grants Policy Statement – Recipient Staff
11
Federal Register. Common Instructions and Information for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant
12
Grants.gov. Track My Application
13
eCFR. 2 CFR 200.308 – Revision of Budget and Program Plans