SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance)

The SF-424, formally titled “Application for Federal Assistance,” is the OMB-approved cover form used to open the great majority of applications for federal grants and cooperative agreements submitted through Grants.gov. It functions as the standardized front page of a federal application package: it captures who is applying, what is being requested, and under what funding opportunity, while the substantive project content (budget detail, narrative, biosketches, and other program-specific attachments) is supplied through separate forms bundled alongside it in the same submission.

What the form captures

The SF-424 collects a fixed set of administrative and identifying data fields, including:

• Applicant legal name, address, and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) — the identifier assigned through SAM.gov registration
• Type of applicant (e.g., institution of higher education, nonprofit, state government) and type of application (new, continuation, revision)
• The specific Funding Opportunity Number and CFDA/Assistance Listing number the application responds to
• Project title, proposed period of performance, and congressional district(s) affected
• Estimated federal and non-federal funding amounts
• Certification by the applicant organization’s Authorized Organization Representative (AOR)

Because these fields are largely the same across federal agencies, the SF-424 lets Grants.gov use one common cover form rather than requiring every agency to design its own from scratch.

The SF-424 family

“SF-424” is often used loosely to refer to an entire family of related forms, though only the base form carries the SF-424 name itself:

• SF-424 (base form, OMB Number 4040-0004) — the general-purpose cover form used by most non-research federal assistance programs.
• SF-424A — Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (OMB Number 4040-0006), an itemized object-class budget commonly paired with the base SF-424.
• SF-424B — Assurances for Non-Construction Programs, a standard set of applicant certifications (e.g., compliance with civil rights and environmental statutes) still required by a number of agency programs, though some agencies have moved equivalent certifications into agency-specific forms.
• SF-424C / SF-424D — the budget and assurances counterparts used for construction-program applications.
• SF-424 R&R (“Research and Related”) — a distinct version of the cover form built for research funding agencies. NIH, NSF, and other research funders use the R&R form set instead of the base SF-424 family; it links to companion R&R forms such as the R&R Budget, R&R Senior/Key Person Profile, and R&R Other Project Information, which together replace the SF-424A/B structure for research applications.

Which version an applicant sees is determined by the funding opportunity itself, not by applicant choice — each opportunity on Grants.gov is packaged with a specific, fixed set of forms.

Fillable PDF versus Workspace submission

Grants.gov publishes sample, fillable PDF copies of SF-424 forms (organized by version number, e.g. V4.0, V2.1) in its public forms repository, and these are what most searches for a “fillable SF-424” are looking for. It is important to understand what these PDFs are and are not: Grants.gov states explicitly that the standalone PDFs in its forms repository are for sample/preview purposes only and cannot themselves be submitted as an application. An actual application has to be completed and transmitted through Grants.gov Workspace, the online, multi-user environment where an applicant team fills out the live SF-424 (or SF-424 R&R) and its companion forms together, validates them against the funding opportunity’s requirements, and submits the completed package as a set. A locally filled-out standalone PDF is a useful way to draft or preview answers offline, but it does not substitute for completing the equivalent fields inside a Workspace.

Prerequisites before completing the form

Before an organization can complete and submit an SF-424 through Grants.gov, it needs an active Grants.gov registration, which in turn depends on active SAM.gov entity registration and a valid Unique Entity Identifier. These are entity-level prerequisites, not something completed at the point of filling out a single SF-424 — an organization typically registers once and then reuses that registration across many subsequent applications.

Related terms

• Grants.gov Registration
• SAM.gov (System for Award Management)
• Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the SF-424 itself the whole grant application?

No. The SF-424 is only the standardized cover form that identifies the applicant and the funding request; the substantive project content — budget details, narrative, biosketches, and other program-specific attachments — is submitted through separate forms bundled with it in the same Grants.gov package.

What’s the difference between the SF-424 and the SF-424 R&R?

The base SF-424 is the general-purpose cover form used by most non-research federal assistance programs, while the SF-424 R&R (“Research and Related”) is a distinct version built for research funding agencies such as NIH and NSF. The R&R form links to companion R&R forms — including the R&R Budget and R&R Senior/Key Person Profile — that replace the SF-424A/B structure used with the base form.

Can I fill out the SF-424 PDF from Grants.gov and submit it directly?

No. The fillable PDFs in Grants.gov’s public forms repository are sample/preview copies only and cannot be submitted as an application. An actual submission has to be completed and transmitted through Grants.gov Workspace, where the live SF-424 and its companion forms are filled out, validated, and submitted together as a set.

Do I choose which version of the SF-424 to use?

No — the version is determined by the specific funding opportunity, not by applicant preference. Each opportunity on Grants.gov is packaged with a fixed set of forms, so which SF-424 variant (base, R&R, or another family member) an applicant sees depends entirely on which opportunity they’re applying to.

What do I need in place before I can complete an SF-424?

An active Grants.gov registration, which in turn requires active SAM.gov entity registration and a valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). These are entity-level prerequisites completed once and then reused across many subsequent applications, not something set up at the point of filling out a single form.

Is there a version of the SF-424 for individual applicants rather than organizations?

Yes. The base SF-424 covered here is built for organizational applicants — it collects fields like the applicant’s legal entity name, UEI, and an Authorized Organization Representative’s certification. Individuals applying for federal assistance directly, without applying through an organization, use a separate, shorter version of the form designed for individual applicants.