Grant compliance

Grant compliance: how to keep the grant you won

A federal grant comes with hundreds of rules. Break one and you can be asked to pay money back, lose payments mid-project or carry an audit finding into your next application. Here is each requirement in the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) in plain English, and a way to check your own grant against them.

Check my grant free Browse the rules

1,094

rule sections in Grantable’s compliance database

122

Uniform Guidance sections, 310 requirements

189

agency-specific sections (NIH, NSF, DOJ, ED and more)

states, 771 state rule sections

The Uniform Guidance is published here. Agency and state rules are available inside Grantable today and are coming to this directory next.

Why grant compliance matters

Grant money is conditional. The award is a promise to follow the rules, and the funder can enforce that promise long after the money is spent.

You can be asked to pay it back

A cost that breaks the cost principles can be disallowed, even years later at audit. The agency then collects it as a debt, which for most nonprofits means paying from unrestricted funds.

2 CFR 200.339 Remedies for noncompliance
2 CFR 200.410 Collection of unallowable costs

Payments can stop mid-project

The agency can withhold payments until a problem is fixed, or suspend or terminate the award in whole or in part, while your staff and program costs keep running.

2 CFR 200.339 Remedies for noncompliance
2 CFR 200.340 Termination

Findings follow you to the next grant

Before making an award, federal agencies review the risk each applicant poses, including history of performance and past audit reports and findings. One bad award can cost you the next one.

2 CFR 200.206 Review of risk posed by applicants
2 CFR 200.516 Audit findings

Someone signs for it

Applications, reports and payment requests carry a signed certification that the information is true and the spending follows the award terms (2 CFR 200.415). A false one can bring civil or criminal penalties.

2 CFR 200.113 Mandatory disclosures

Almost all of it is avoidable. Most findings trace back to something small and early: a budget line nobody checked against the cost principles, a certification signed without reading, a report date that slipped.

Compliance starts at the application

Most federal rules govern how you manage the money, but you commit to them when you apply: in the budget, the narrative and the certifications you sign.

At application

Your budget has to follow the cost principles, your indirect rate has to be allowed, and you certify to dozens of requirements when you sign. Most compliance problems start here, in a budget line or a certification nobody checked.

2 CFR 200.403 Allowable costs
2 CFR 200.414 Indirect costs
2 CFR 200.216 Telecom ban
2 CFR 200.112 Conflict of interest

During the award

You need financial management and internal controls, procurement rules for every purchase, monitoring for subrecipients, and reports on schedule.

2 CFR 200.302 Financial management
2 CFR 200.303 Internal controls
2 CFR 200.318 Procurement
2 CFR 200.332 Pass-through entities

At closeout and audit

Final reports are due within 120 days, records are kept for three years, and organizations spending $1,000,000 or more a year in federal awards need a single audit.

2 CFR 200.344 Closeout
2 CFR 200.334 Record retention
2 CFR 200.501 Audit requirements

Grantable compliance database

How Grantable helps you stay compliant

Your AI grant department reads the rules so nobody on your team has to memorize them. You stay in control: every answer shows the rule it came from, so you can check it yourself.

Answers from the regulation, not from memory

Ask a compliance question in chat and Grantable looks it up in a database of 1,094 rule sections: the Uniform Guidance, agency terms and all 50 states. Each answer cites the rule and links to the source. If the database does not cover a topic, it says so instead of guessing.

Checks your budget and draft before you submit

Upload the funding notice and your draft. Each rule is tied to the part of the application it touches (budget, narrative, certifications), and a review pass checks required sections, limits, attachments and eligibility against the notice.

Uses the rules in force for your award

Rules change; the Uniform Guidance itself was revised in 2024. The database keeps each version and Grantable picks the one that applies by your award date, not simply the newest.

Keeps report dates in view

Each grant you track can carry its next report due date, shown alongside its deadline. On Pro plans, a monthly routine lists the reports due in the next 60 days and drafts an outline for each from your original proposal.

Check my grant free Free federal grant compliance checklist

Plain-English guides

The rules people ask about most, with the current numbers and the section each one comes from.

Most-searched sections

All 122 Uniform Guidance sections

Browse by topic

Allowable costs

115 requirements

2 CFR 200.414 Indirect costs
2 CFR 200.421 Advertising and public relations
2 CFR 200.439 Equipment and other capital expenditures
2 CFR 200.447 Insurance and indemnification
2 CFR 200.449 Interest

Procurement

40 requirements

2 CFR 200 Appendix II Contract Provisions for Non-Federal Entity Contracts Under Federal Awards
2 CFR 200.318 General procurement standards
2 CFR 200.319 Competition
2 CFR 200.317 Procurements by States and Indian Tribes
2 CFR 200.320 Procurement methods

Reporting

24 requirements

2 CFR 200.328 Financial reporting
2 CFR 200.511 Audit findings follow-up
2 CFR 200.329 Monitoring and reporting program performance
2 CFR 200.507 Program-specific audits
2 CFR 200.508 Auditee responsibilities

Financial management

21 requirements

2 CFR 200.502 Basis for determining Federal awards expended
2 CFR 200.400 Policy guide
2 CFR 200.510 Financial statements
2 CFR 200.111 English language
2 CFR 200.302 Financial management

Property and equipment

17 requirements

2 CFR 200.313 Equipment
2 CFR 200.311 Real property
2 CFR 200.314 Supplies
2 CFR 200.315 Intangible property
2 CFR 200.310 Insurance coverage

Records

16 requirements

2 CFR 200.334 Record retention requirements
2 CFR 200.337 Access to records
2 CFR 200.303 Internal controls
2 CFR 200.315 Intangible property
2 CFR 200.335 Requests for transfer of records

Disclosure

10 requirements

2 CFR 200.516 Audit findings
2 CFR 200.112 Conflict of interest
2 CFR 200.113 Mandatory disclosures
2 CFR 200.315 Intangible property
2 CFR 200.329 Monitoring and reporting program performance

Eligibility

8 requirements

2 CFR 200.206 Federal agency review of risk posed by applicants
2 CFR 200.203 Requirement to provide public notice of Federal financial assistance programs
2 CFR 200.204 Notices of funding opportunities
2 CFR 200.332 Requirements for pass-through entities
2 CFR 200.341 Notification of termination requirement

Payment

8 requirements

2 CFR 200.305 Federal payment
2 CFR 200.302 Financial management
2 CFR 200.346 Collection of amounts due
2 CFR 200.410 Collection of unallowable costs
2 CFR 200.463 Recruiting costs

Closeout

8 requirements

2 CFR 200.344 Closeout
2 CFR 200.345 Post-closeout adjustments and continuing responsibilities
2 CFR 200.340 Termination
2 CFR 200.461 Publication and printing costs
2 CFR 200.472 Termination and standard closeout costs

Certifications

7 requirements

2 CFR 200.216 Prohibition on certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment or services
2 CFR 200.300 Statutory and national policy requirements
2 CFR 200.320 Procurement methods
2 CFR 200.325 Federal agency or pass-through entity review
2 CFR 200.450 Lobbying

Cost sharing

6 requirements

2 CFR 200.306 Cost sharing
2 CFR 200.1 Definitions
2 CFR 200.403 Factors affecting allowability of costs

Program income

3 requirements

2 CFR 200.307 Program income

Grantable compliance database

Check your grant against the rules

Upload a funding notice, your draft budget or your award terms and ask what applies. Grantable answers from its compliance database of federal, agency and state rules, with citations to the regulation.

Check my grant free Free federal grant compliance checklist

Grant compliance questions

Why is grant compliance important?

Because the money is conditional. If you break the rules attached to a grant, the funder can disallow costs and make you repay them, withhold payments, or suspend or terminate the award (2 CFR 200.339). Audit findings are also part of the risk review federal agencies run before they make your next award (2 CFR 200.206). Compliance is what lets you keep the grant you won and stay eligible for the next one.

What is grant compliance?

Grant compliance means following the rules attached to grant money: the funder’s terms and, for federal grants, the regulations behind them. It covers how you build the budget, what costs you can charge, how you buy things, how you monitor subrecipients, what you report and when, what records you keep, and whether you need an audit.

Is grant compliance about the application or managing the grant?

Both. Most federal compliance rules are about managing the award, but you commit to them in the application: the budget has to follow the cost principles, the narrative has to show you have the financial systems and capacity, and you sign certifications. Getting the application right is the cheapest place to avoid a finding later.

What regulations apply to federal grants?

Most federal grants follow the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR 200, plus the awarding agency’s own terms (for example the NIH Grants Policy Statement or the DOJ Grants Financial Guide) and cross-cutting rules such as SAM.gov registration (2 CFR 25), subaward reporting (2 CFR 170) and debarment (2 CFR 180). Federal money passed through a state can carry state rules too.

How does Grantable help with grant compliance?

Grantable keeps a compliance database of the Uniform Guidance, agency terms and state grant rules. Ask a question in chat, or upload a funding notice, draft budget or award terms, and it answers from that database with a citation and a link to the source, using the version of the rule that applies to your award date. If the database does not cover a topic, it says so instead of guessing. It also tracks report due dates for the grants you manage. It is not legal advice.

What happens if you are out of compliance?

The agency can add specific conditions to the award, withhold payments, disallow costs (you pay them back), suspend or terminate the award, or begin debarment. Audit findings follow you into future risk reviews. The remedies are in 2 CFR 200.339.

Managing awards day to day? The free grant tracker template tracks report due dates, payments and spending against budget, and the grant management guide covers the full lifecycle.

Plain-English summaries for information only, not legal advice. Always check the regulation text, your award terms and your agency’s guidance.