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Annex B: Definitions

DEFINITIONS

Accounting System – Method for the separate identification of receipts, disbursements, assets 

and liabilities, and for the summarization of financial information in a manner which will enable 

the recipient to prepare the reports required by the Federal agency for an assistance agreement.

Accrual Basis – Accounting basis which recognizes transactions when they occur, regardless of 

the timing of related cash receipts and payments.

Acquisition Cost - The net invoice price of purchased property, including any attachments or 

accessories needed to make the property usable for the purpose for which it was acquired. 

Related charges such as taxes, freight, or installation should be included or excluded from 

acquisition cost in accordance with the recipient’s regular accounting practices.

Administratively Complete – The determination we make that all required parts of an 

assistance application are present and that sufficient information is provided to determine that 

costs are necessary reasonable, allowable, and allocable.

Alterations and Renovations - Work required to change the physical characteristics of an 

existing facility or installed equipment as needed by the program to make it more useful for its 

current purpose or adapt it to a changed use.

Amendment – A formal written change to the amount, terms and conditions, performance 

period or scope of work of an assistance agreement.

Appeal Procedures – Procedures which permit an applicant or recipient to request review of a 

particular issue or decision at a higher level. Appeals of OSMRE decisions are submitted to the 

appropriate Regional Director or to the Director of OSMRE.

Applicable Credit – A negative expenditure item which offsets or reduces an expense. 

Examples are purchase discounts, rebates, trade-ins, and adjustments of overpayments and 

erroneous charges.

Approval Package – The set of documents related to an assistance agreement application which 

is prepared by the grants specialist to justify and support the approval recommendation made to 

the official authorized to approve the award.

Assistance Agreement – A grant or cooperative agreement awarded by a Federal agency to 

provide financial assistance to a recipient.

Audit – A formal review to verify and assess an organization’s financial and programmatic 

operations.
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Awarding Office – The OSMRE Regional, Field, or Area office or offices which award and 

manage a recipient’s assistance agreement.

Budget – The approved financial plan for both Federal and non-Federal funds to carry out the 

purpose of the assistance agreement. This plan is the financial expression of the project or 

program as approved during the application and award process.

Budget Revision – A change to an assistance agreement budget approved by the Federal agency 

as needed to carry out the purposes of the project.

Budget Underrun – The amount of Federal funds awarded exceeds the needs of the recipient by 

more than $10,000 or ten percent of the total agreement amount, whichever is greater. The 

recipient must notify the Federal agency promptly when a budget underrun is expected to occur.

Cash Basis – Accounting basis which recognizes transactions only when cash changes hands.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) – A comprehensive listing and description of 

Federal programs and activities which provide financial assistance or benefits to the public.

Certified State or Tribe – A state or tribe in which the Governor or Tribal governing body has 

certified and the Secretary has concurred that the state (or Indian tribe) has reclaimed and 

achieved all of the priorities for abandoned coal mines and other affected lands that existed prior 

to 1977.

Closeout – Completion by the recipient and Federal agency of all appropriate final actions for an 

assistance agreement except audit.

Conflict of Interest – Outside activities, relationships, or financial interests of a recipient or an 

employee which may lead the entity to be motivated, or to give the appearance of being 

motivated, by a desire for private gain. 

Consultant – A person engaged to give professional advice or services for a fee, but not as an 

employee of the paying organization.

Cooperative Agreement – An agreement between a Federal agency and a recipient to provide 

funds to achieve a specified public purpose of support or stimulation, authorized by Federal 

statute, with significant Federal involvement in performance.

Cost Analysis – The process of obtaining cost breakdowns, examining or verifying cost data, 

and evaluating specific elements of costs to determine that costs in an assistance agreement 

budget are necessary, reasonable, and appropriate.
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Cost Principles – The principles published in OMB regulations which Federal agencies use to 

determine whether costs are allowable in Federal assistance agreements.

Cost Transfers – The reassignment of costs from one project activity to another.

Costs – The allowable direct costs of an assistance agreement activity, plus the allocable 

portions of the allowable indirect costs of an organization, less allocable credits.

Debarment – The exclusion of a person or entity from participating in covered Federal 

transactions, following proper notification, hearing and appeal procedures.

Deviation from Policy – The use of any policy, procedure, form or condition which is 

inconsistent with agency policy, or the failure to use a prescribed policy, procedure, form, or 

condition for an assistance agreement.

Direct Costs – Costs that can be identified specifically to a particular program or cost objective.

Disbursements – Payments in cash or by check or electronic funds transfer.

Discretionary Grants – Programs that permit Federal agencies, under specific authorizing 

legislation, to use a competitive process to select the projects and entities to receive Federal 

financial assistance.

Distribution – The process the Federal agency uses to divide funding available for a mandatory 

grant program between the eligible program recipients.

Environmental Impact – The probable environmental consequences of any major Federal 

action.

Equal Employment Opportunity – Non-discrimination against any person in recruitment, 

examination, appointment, training, promotion, retention, and discipline because of political or 

religious opinions or affiliations, or because of race, national origin, or other nonmerit factors.

Equipment – Tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an 

acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit. See Property.

Expiration Date – The ending date of the performance period of an assistance agreement.

Extension – Delay the date of an action. Change the ending date of an assistance agreement to 

provide additional time to complete the program activity. Change the due date to provide 

additional time to complete a required action such as a report.

Federal Reclamation Program Project – Emergency or high priority AML abatement or 

reclamation project undertaken by OSMRE on lands and waters not under an approved state or 
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Tribal reclamation or emergency program. Reclamation may be funded through a Federal 

contract, a cooperative agreement with a state or tribe, or an interagency agreement with another 

Federal agency.

Federal Share – The percentage of the total net cost of an activity paid with Federal assistance 

funds. The Federal cost share percentage can also be applied to property or income to determine 

the Federal share of assets.

Federally-Recognized Indian Tribal Government – The governing body or a governmental 

agency of any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community certified by the 

Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided through the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Forms Clearance – Process for a Federal agency to obtain prior clearance from OMB in order to 

require multiple non-Federal entities to complete a form or respond to an information request. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – Law governing the release of certain requested 

information to any member of the public.

Grant – An award of financial assistance from a Federal agency to a recipient to achieve a 

specified public purpose of support or stimulation, authorized by Federal statute, where agency 

involvement in the project is expected to be minimal.

Grantee – Organization or entity receiving a grant. See Recipient.

Indirect Costs – Costs incurred by an organization for a common or joint purpose benefiting 

more than one cost objective or program and not readily assignable to the cost objective 

specifically benefited.

In-Kind – Contributions other than cash, such as goods and services or the use of real or 

personal property, made by the recipient or by third parties directly benefiting and specifically 

identifiable to the assistance program activity.

Lobbying – Any activity designed to influence a member of Congress to favor or oppose any 

legislation, including appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill or 

resolution proposing such legislation.

Mandatory Grants – Grants that a Federal agency must award to all entities which meet the 

eligibility and compliance requirements of the authorizing law and regulations.

Match – Level of non-Federal support, cash or in-kind, a recipient is required by law or 

regulations to provide to be eligible for an assistance agreement under a specific program.
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Obligations – Legal commitment by an organization which binds funds for payment, such as the 

award of an assistance agreement or a contract.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – The principal staff office in the Office of the 

President for administrative and financial matters.

Outlays – Costs charged to the assistance agreement.

Payment – Federal funds transferred to recipients by electronic fund transfer. Payments may be 

in advance of cash outlays by the recipient or reimbursements of previous outlays from the

recipient’s own cash.

Performance Period – The period of time when the recipient is authorized under an assistance 

agreement to perform the supported program and charge its costs to the agreement.

Pre-award Costs – Expenses incurred by an applicant prior to the award of the assistance 

agreement.

Privacy Act of 1974 – Law mandating that personal information about individuals collected by 

Federal agencies be limited to that which is legally authorized and necessary. Personal 

information must be maintained, used and disseminated so as to prevent unwarranted intrusions 

upon individual privacy.

Prior Approval – Written agreement by an authorized Federal official to a recipient’s request to 

change the project or assistance agreement. The recipient must receive the approval before they 

take the action.

Program Income – Gross earnings directly generated from activities supported by an assistance 

agreement.

Project – An AML project is an area containing one or more abandoned mine land problems. A 

project may be a group of related reclamation activities with a common objective within a 

political subdivision of a state or within a logical geographic area such as a watershed, 

conservation district or county planning area.

Property

a. Real property – land, land improvements, buildings, facilities and related minor property 

and gear, excluding movable machinery and equipment.

b. Personal property – property of any kind except real property.

c. Tangible personal property – personal property having physical existence.
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d. Intangible personal property – personal property without physical existence, such as 

patents, inventions, and copyrights.

e. Expendable personal property - personal property other than equipment.

f. Nonexpendable personal property - tangible personal property with a useful life of more 

than one year.

NOTE: A recipient may use its own definition of property provided that its definition 

would at least include all property as defined above.

Recipient – The organization or individual entity that receives an assistance agreement and 

assumes legal and financial responsibility and accountability both for the awarded funds and for 

the performance of the supported activity.

Regulations – Governmental orders having the force of law. Regulations are published in the 

Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) as the official notification to the 

public of the implementation of a program or the establishment of rules or procedures.

Scope Change – A programmatic change in the work to be performed under an assistance 

agreement that is outside the range of work contemplated at the time of award.

Site Visit – Meeting or review by Federal program, grants or management staff or consultants at 

a recipient’s office or at the site of any activity supported by the assistance agreement.

State – Any of the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, any 

territory or possession of the United States, or any instrumentality of a state, including state 

institutions of higher education and hospitals, but not including the governments of the political 

subdivisions of the state.

State Plan – Proposal to establish a regulatory or reclamation program under the Surface Mining 

Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) submitted by an eligible state or tribe and approved by 

the Secretary of the Interior.

Subgrant – An award by a recipient to an eligible third party of financial assistance in money or 

property from an assistance agreement. The term does not include procurement purchases or 

contracts made by a recipient.

Supplies – Expendable personal property.

Suspension – A Federal action which temporarily halts operations under an assistance agreement 

because of a problem. Suspension allows time for corrective action by the recipient or the 

Federal agency’s decision to terminate the agreement.
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Technical Assistance – Advice or training provided by the Federal agency or staff to increase 

the effectiveness of the recipient’s program and/or administrative staff.

Termination – Cancellation, in whole or in part, of Federal support under an assistance 

agreement prior to completion or the approved expiration date of the agreement. 

Uncertified State or Tribe – A state or tribe that has not yet reclaimed all lands and water that 

were either mined for coal or affected by coal mining and abandoned or left in an inadequate 

reclamation status prior to 1977.

Unobligated Balance – The portion of the total authorized funding which remains available to 

incur additional costs for the program.

Unpaid Obligations – Transactions for goods or services the recipient has committed to pay for 

but has not yet paid, whether or not the goods or a bill have been received.