VI. Grants and Agreements

The Forest Service uses many different types of grants, agreements, and contracts to document work with others. Each of these instruments is available to the Forest Service under a legal authority from Congress, and each comes with its own set of requirements. The appropriate instrument depends primarily on what the partnership will accomplish, who will benefit, and who is providing funding.

This chapter provides an introduction to commonly used grants and agreements. Contracts are discussed in Chapter VII – Contracting with Partners. Users who are ready to document their partnership should work with the appropriate Forest Service personnel and consult the sources of guidance listed at the end of this chapter as needed. This chapter:

• Provides overviews of the most common mutual benefit agreements

• Explains how the Forest Service uses Federal Financial Assistance, which includes grants and Cooperative Agreements

• Describes other types of agreements that do not fall under mutual benefit agreements or Federal Financial Assistance

• Provides a decision tree to guide users to the right instrument and provides references to more detailed resources, including many instrument templates

This chapter frequently references relevant sections of the Forest Service Handbook (FSH) and Forest Service Manual (FSM). These documents are available on the Forest Service website (http://www.fs.fed.us/im/directives/).

Cooperative agreement

This term is often used in a general sense to refer to all agreements with partners. This use of the term can generate confusion since there is a specific type of agreement called a Cooperative Agreement. The “Federal Financial Assistance and Contracts” section in this chapter describes this specific agreement.

Authorities for Agreements

The federal government, including the Forest Service, is authorized under several laws to work with partners to carry out projects. In addition, there are laws unique to the Forest Service – and even to certain branches of the Forest Service – that provide additional authorities and instruments for working in partnership and collaboration with communities, individuals, and organizations.

Mutual Benefit Agreements

Agreements developed and awarded for mutual benefit are considered formal partnership agreements. Inherent in the requirement of mutual benefit is that both the Forest Service and the partner will contribute toward the shared goals, and both will benefit. Contributions may include cash and/or in-kind services. Some of the most commonly used mutual benefit agreements include: