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Conditions of Award and Acceptance

Award Notification and Acceptance Procedures

Your application has gone through the review process and you have just been approved for an award. The next step in this process is award notification. Here are the details:

  • The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) sends award notifications by email through the Grants Management System (GMS) to the individuals listed in your application as the point of contact and the authorizing official.
  • GMS automatically issues the notifications after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the award date.
  • The email notification includes detailed instructions on how to access and view the award documents and how to accept the award in GMS.

The award document serves as the official document binding the recipient and OJP to the grant agreement. A sample award document is included in Appendix I. It includes the name of recipient, project title, award period, budget period, type of Federal funds (awards and cooperative agreements), amount of Federal funds, award number, and special conditions that must be met during the award period.

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You have 45 days from the award date to accept the award document or the award may be terminated. The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) awards have a 90-day acceptance time frame.

To accept the award, you must log into GMS and designate a Financial Point of Contact (FPOC). You can find instructions for designating a FPOC in the GMS User Guide.

Here are some important points about the FPOC:

  • He or she will be responsible for the financial administration of the award.
  • He or she may be the same as the Principal Point of Contact (PPOC). Alternatively, the FPOC may be one or more separate individuals designated by the recipient.
  • The designation of the FPOC must be completed in GMS before the award acceptance documents can be printed.

Once the FPOC has been designated, recipients should:

  • Print and read the award document carefully.
  • Have the award document signed and dated by the authorized recipient official designated in the application to indicate full acceptance of all terms and conditions. The name of this person is preprinted on the award document. An electronic signature will not be accepted.
  • The authorized recipient official should also initial the bottom right corner of each page of the special conditions to signify agreement.

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  • If the name of the person accepting the award is not the name preprinted on the award document, then the recipient must submit a Grant Adjustment Notice (GAN) to explain the reason for the change. Submission of the GAN is done through the GMS. The award acceptance document will be rejected if it is signed by anyone other than the authorizing recipient official named on the award document unless a GAN has been approved.
  • If the signature on the award document is not legible enough for OJP to tell that the signature is that of the authorized recipient official, it will delay final award document acceptance, and may even cause rejection of the award document.

The signed award document and the special conditions should be submitted to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Control Desk using any of the following methods:

  • Email to [email protected]
  • Toll-free fax to 866-388-3055
  • Local fax (Washington, DC) to 202-354-4081
  • Alternate fax to 202-353-8475

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Select only one of these submission options to avoid duplicate submissions. The original signed award document should be retained by the award recipient in its official award file.

If you decide not to accept the award, please contact your program manager to discuss any changes that need to be made. No Federal funds will be disbursed to a recipient until OJP has received the signed award document indicating acceptance of the award and all special conditions.

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By signing the award acceptance document, the recipient confirms that the project director is an employee of the recipient???s organization.

You may direct questions concerning award notification and/or acceptance to OCFO Customer Service.