The Assistance Listing Number, formerly known as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number, is a five-digit number assigned in the awarding document for all federal assistance award mechanisms, including federal grants and cooperative agreements. Used for governmental reporting and auditing, the Assistance Listing Number is clearly identified in all award notices.
Example: Assistance Listing Number in Notice of Award
The first two digits of the Assistance Listing Number reflect the major federal agency. The partial list below represents the most common agencies used at UCSF.
- 12: U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
- 16: U.S. Department of Justice
- 17: U.S. Department of Labor
- 19: U.S. Department of State
- 43: National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
- 45: National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities
- 47: National Science Foundation (NSF)
- 64: Department of Veterans Affairs
- 81: U.S. Department of Energy
- 84: U.S. Department of Education
- 93: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS)
- 97: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- 98: Agency for International Development
The final three digits (following a decimal) indicate the federal program funding the project.
To meet federal audit requirements under Subpart F – Audit Requirements and as outlined in the OMB Guidance 2 CFR §200 (Uniform Guidance), all federal and federal flow through funding must be assigned an Assistance Listing Number for tracking purposes. In cases where federal contracts and purchase orders are not assigned one at the time of award, and for those federal programs that do not assign an Assistance Listing Number, CGA uses .999 as a placeholder.
UC federal auditors use the Assistance Listing Number to identify the volume of funding that each UC campus has received under a specific program. Auditors use this information to determine which campus will be identified for the Uniform Guidance Single Audit and/or which campus will contribute to a specific program that has been selected for audit. Missing and/or incorrect Assistance Listing Numbers can result in an audit finding for UCSF.
Even though the federal government has changed the name to the Assistance Listing Number, UCSF still labels this field in the Research Administration System (RAS) as CFDA for UCOP reporting annually. To meet all UC and federal requirements, it is important that each award record in RAS has the correct Assistance Listing Number assigned. Research administrators should confirm during award set-up that this field is populated and matches the awarding document. Contact CGA at [email protected] if any discrepancies are identified.