Subrecipient Monitoring
Introduction
Subawards, also known as subcontracts or subgrants, refer to the award of financial assistance in the form of money (or property in lieu of money), made by you under your award to an eligible subrecipient or by a subrecipient to a lower-tier subrecipient.
- Subawards are used when the intent is to have another organization help carry out a portion of the scope of work described in your award application.
- It does not matter what the legal agreement between your organization and the subrecipient is called (subaward, subcontract, subgrant, purchase order). A subaward is designed to help you carry out the program for which you were awarded funding.
- A subaward does not apply to the procurement of goods or services.
None of the principal activities of the award or project-supported effort can be subawarded to another organization without specific prior approval by the awarding agency. If you included the intention to make subawards in your application, the approval may be considered given, if these activities are funded as proposed.
All such arrangements must be formalized in a contract or other written agreement between the parties involved. The contract or other written agreement must not affect your overall responsibility and accountability to the Federal Government as the original award recipient for the duration of the project. As the primary recipient of the award, you are responsible for monitoring the subrecipient and ascertaining that all fiscal and programmatic responsibilities are fulfilled.