Grants vs. Cooperative Agreements vs. Contracts
The three main federal funding instruments, and the different rulebooks that come with each.
Federal money comes through different instruments. A grant and a cooperative agreement are assistance: the government funds a public purpose and the recipient defines the work (the cooperative agreement just adds substantial federal involvement). A contract is acquisition: the government buys a specific deliverable it specifies and controls.
The instrument determines the rules: assistance follows the Uniform Guidance, while contracts follow the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), with tighter deliverables and different cost rules.
Assistance and acquisition run on different rulebooks, so the instrument type changes how the whole award is managed.
Track the whole lifecycle
GrantsManager gives PIs and administrators one real-time view of proposals, awards, budgets, and compliance, so terms like this stop living in spreadsheets.