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Annex D: FAM Part 1 - Requirements for All OSMRE Assistance Agreements

CHAPTER 1-100

DESCRIBING THE FEDERAL ASSISTANCE MANUAL

1-100-00 What is FAM?

1-100-10 What does this chapter do?

1-100-20 How is FAM organized?

1-100-30 What information can be found in each of the parts of FAM?

1-100-40 How do we revise FAM?

1-100-50 How do we approve an exception to a FAM requirement?

1-100-00 What is FAM?

The Federal Assistance Manual (FAM) provides policies and procedures to manage grants and 

cooperative agreements awarded to you by us, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 

Enforcement (OSMRE). FAM is an official OSMRE directive, identified as number GMT-10 in 

our directive system. 

1-100-10 What does this chapter do?

This chapter describes the organization of FAM. It identifies the OSMRE office that is 

responsible for this manual. It explains how we go about changing or updating this manual, and 

how you can give us your comments and suggestions for FAM. This chapter also sets a process 

for us to use if we determine that we should not follow a policy in FAM.

1-100-20 How is FAM organized?

A. We divided the complete FAM into seven broad parts by grouping together topics or 

chapters on related financial assistance policies or programs. A chapter is the standard 

unit in FAM, generally addressing one financial assistance topic or process. Within 

chapters, information is broken out into sections, paragraphs, and subparagraphs as 

needed.

B. The numbering system of the FAM reflects this structure.

Part......................1

Chapter..................1-100

Section..................1-100-20

Paragraph...............1-100-20A

Subparagraph...........1-100-20A.1

1-100-30 What information can be found in each of the parts of FAM?
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FAM chapters are broadly grouped into seven parts.

Part 1- Requirements for All OSMRE Assistance Agreements This includes general policies and 

procedures for any OSMRE grant or cooperative agreement. These chapters describe the rules, 

and processes we use to award and manage assistance agreements. 

Part 2 General Requirements for Federal Assistance This includes policies for the assistance 

awarded by all federal agencies. These policies come from Federal laws, executive orders, and 

regulations, particularly Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars.

Part 3- Allowable Costs This explains which costs may be charged to OSMRE assistance 

agreements and how to handle different types of costs.

Part 4- Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Grant Program This includes specific program, financial, 

and grant processing requirements for the AML program.

Part 5- Regulatory Grant Program This includes specific requirements for the Title V regulatory 

program.

Part 6- Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program This includes specific requirements for 

watershed cooperative agreements. 

Part 7- Technical Studies Cooperative Agreement Programs This includes specific requirements 

for applied science, and underground mine map agreements.

1-100-40 How do we revise FAM?

A. The Division of Reclamation Support, in the Program Support Directorate in OSMRE 

headquarters, is responsible to manage FAM.

B. We will revise FAM when necessary to reflect changes in OSMRE financial assistance 

programs, the policies and procedures governing assistance, or the processes we use to 

award and manage assistance agreements.

C. We encourage all FAM users to suggest improvements or revisions to this 

manual. Please send suggestions or comments to the Assistant Director, Program 

Support (AD-PS), or contact us through this website.

D. We will make proposed revisions to FAM available for review. We will address the 

comments we receive as required by OSMRE policy on directives. 

E. We may issue temporary FAM directives to reflect short-term changes. We may also use 

temporary FAM directives to implement new or revised policies or procedures quickly. 
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We may allow a temporary directive to lapse when the information is no longer needed, 

or we may incorporate the change permanently into FAM in the next major revision.

1-100-50 How do we approve an exception to a FAM requirement?

A. If Federal statute requires us not to follow FAM, the OSMRE awarding office must act as 

the law requires. The OSMRE office must notify the AD-PS of the conflict between the 

statute and FAM. 

B. We want to implement FAM as consistently as possible. Therefore, we must keep 

deviations from the FAM to a minimum. We will use the following procedures to request 

and approve FAM exceptions which are not required by Federal law.

1. The OSMRE office authorized to approve an award (our awarding office) may 

send requests to deviate from FAM through the Regional Director to the AD-PS. 

The request must identify the programs affected and the FAM provision for which 

the exception is requested. The request must clearly explain and justify the 

requested exception.

2. The AD-PS may approve deviation requests which only affect one assistance 

agreement. The official file for that agreement must document the FAM rule 

involved, the reason for deviating from it, and the name and title of the 

authorizing official.

3. The Director or Deputy Director must approve deviations affecting more than one 

assistance agreement.