Federal Program Information Act
PL 95-220 (S.904), enacted 12/28/1977

PUBLIC LAW 95-220—DEC. 28, 1977 
91 STAT. 1615 
Public Law 95-220 
95th Congress 
An Act 
To provide for the eflBcient and regular distribution of current information on 
Federal domestic assistance programs. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That this Act may 
be cited as the "Federal Program Information Act". 
DEriNITIONS 
SEC. 2. For the purpose of this Act, the term— 
(1) "assistance" refers to the transfer of money, property, 
services, or anything of value; the principal purpose of which is 
to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation author-
ized by Federal statute. Assistance includes, but is not limited to, 
grants, loans, loan guarantees, scholarships, mortgage loans, 
insurance or other types of financial assistance; provision or 
donation of Federal facilities, goods, services, property, tech-
nical assistance, and counseling, statistical and other expert 
information, and service activities of regulatory agencies; but 
does not include provision of conventional public information 
services; 
(2) "Federal agency" means an agency as defined by section 
551 (1) of title 5, United States Code; 
(3) "Federal domestic assistance program" means any function 
of a Federal agency which provides assistance or benefits for a 
State or States, territorial possession, county, city, other political 
subdivision, grouping, or instrumentality thereof; any domestic 
profit or nonprofit corporation, institution, or individual, other 
than an agency of the Federal Government; and 
(4) "administering office" means the lowest subdivision of any 
Federal agency that has direct operational responsibility for 
managing a Federal domestic assistance program. 
DUTIES OP THE DIRECTOR 
SEC. 3. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
(hereinafter referred to as the "Director") shall identify all existing 
Federal domestic assistance programs and provide information on 
each such program to the general public through electronic media as 
authorized under section 5 of this Act and through a printed catalog 
as authorized under section 6 of this Act. 
INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS 
SEC. 4. (a) The Director shall prepare and maintain a Federal 
Assistance Information Data Base (hereinafter referred to in this Act 
as the "data base"). For each Federal domestic assistance program 
the data base shall— 
(1) identify each such program by title, by authorizing statute, 
by administering office, and by an identifying number assigned 
by the Director; 
Dec. 28, 1977 
[S. 904] 
Federal Program 
Information Act. 
31 u s e 1701 
note. 
31 u s e 1701. 
Information, 
availability to 
public. 
31 u s e 1702. 
Federal 
Assistance 
Information Data 
Base. 
31 u s e 1703. 
91 STAT. 1616 
PUBLIC LAW 95-220—DEC. 28, 1977 
Eligibility. 
Financial 
information. 
G>ntacts. 
Application. 
31 use 1704. 
Contracts. 
Information, 
availability to 
public. 
(2) describe the program, the objectives of the program, and 
the types of activities which have been funded under the program; 
(3) describe the eligibility requirements, the formulas govern-
ing the distribution of funds, the types of assistance, the uses and 
restrictions on the use of assistance, and the obligations and duties 
of recipients under the program; 
(4) provide financial information, including the amount of 
funds appropriated for the current fiscal year or, if unavailable, 
the amount of funds requested by the President, and the amounts 
obligated, and the average amounts of awards made in past years; 
(5) identify information contacts including the administering 
office and regional and local offices and their addresses and tele-
phone numbers; 
(6) provide a general description of any application require-
ments and procedures and, to the extent practical, an estimate of 
the time required to process the application. 
(b) (1) Each Federal agency shall furnish to the Director, at such 
times as the Director may determine, current information on all 
domestic assistance programs administered by such Federal agency. 
(2) The Director shall on a regular basis incorporate into the data 
base all relevant information received under paragraph (1) of this 
subsection. 
COMPUTERIZED PROGRAM INFORMATION SYSTEM 
SEC. 5. (a) The Director shall establish and maintain a computer-
ized information system to provide access to the data base. 
(b) The Director, to the ^eatest extent practicable, shall provide 
for the widespread availability of information contained in the data 
base, by computer terminals wherever available. 
(c) The Director, notwithstanding any other provision of law to 
the contrary, when he determines the efficiency of the information 
system established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section requires 
it, may enter into contracts with private organizations to obtain com-
puter time-sharing services including, but not limited to, comj^uter 
telecommunications networks, computer software, and associated 
services. 
(d) The Director shall insure that the information available under 
this Act is made available to the public at a reasonable price. 
(e) The Director may develop information services to further assist 
State and local government officials identify or obtain sources of Fed-
eral assistance. 
, ,5, 
CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 
31 use 1705. 
SEC. 6. (a) The Director shall prepare and publish each year a 
catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs 
(hereinafter 
referred to in this Act as the "catalog"). 
(b) The Director shall prepare and publish supplements to the 
catalog as necessary. 
(c) The Director may prepare and publish specialized compila-
tions of the information in the catalog by function as necessary. 
, , 
, 
. 
(d) The catalog shall contain, in such form as the Director 
determines— 
, 
(1) all substantive information on Federal domestic assistance 
programs that is in the data base at the time that the catalog is 
' 
prepared; 
PUBLIC LAW 95-220—DEC. 28, 1977 
91 STAT. 1617 
(2) any other information which the Director considers may be 
helpful to potential applicants or beneficiaries under such pro-
grams; and 
(3) a detailed index. 
(e) (1) The Director shall make each catalog available to the public 
at a reasonable price. 
(2) There are authorized to be distributed, without cost, catalogs Distribution, 
to Members of Congress, Delegates, Resident Commissioners, agencies, 
State and general purpose units of local government, federally recog-
nized Indian tribes. Federal deposit libraries, and other local reposi-
tories designated by the Director. 
TRANSFER PROVISION 
SEC. 7. The Director is authorized to transfer to the Office of Man- 31 USC 1706. 
agement and Budget all personnel, books, records, and other docu-
ments of the Department of Agriculture of any kind or description 
which he determines to be principally held or engaged in the operation 
and function of the Federal Assistance Programs Retrieval System 
(FAPES). 
AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 
SEC. 8. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated $900,000 31 USC 1707. 
for fiscal year 1978, $1,000,000 for fiscal year 1979, and $1,000,000 for 
fiscal year 1980. 
FEDERAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS STUDY 
SEC. 9. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
conduct a study of existing Federal information systems that provide 
fiscal, budgetary, and program-related data, statistics, and informa-
tion on grant awards and shall report to the Congress, within one year 
from the date of enactment of this Act, his recommendations for 
appropriate dissemination of Federal financial information, a sum-
mary of all executive branch actions taken within the year to consoli-
date, reorganize, and improve the existing financial information 
system, and his recommendations for statutory changes necessary to 
further develop and improve methods for the dissemination of Federal 
financial information, using modern communications technology. 
Approved December 28, 1977. 
Report to 
Congress. 
31 USC 1708. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 95-341 accompanying H.R. 6257 (Coram, on Government 
Operations). 
SENATE REPORT No. 95-135 (Comm. on Governmental Affairs). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 123 (1977): 
May 17, considered and passed Senate. 
Sept. 27, considered and passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 6257. 
Dec. 15, Senate concurred in House amendment.