Responsibilities of Award Recipients

Before developing a proposal, the project director and the authorizing official of the applicant institution should review the following responsibilities to determine if their institution can comply with these requirements.

The award recipient is required to:

have a sound financial management system that records separately within its general accounting system the receipt and disbursement of grant funds and cost sharing contributions and that monitors the expenditure of these funds against the approved budget;
carry out project activities in accordance with the work plan provided in the approved application, and ensure that changes in key project personnel, project scope or design, or in the arrangements to contract out project activities are submitted to NEH in advance for review and approval;
have in place a written system for prior review and approval of all project actions and expenditures that the award recipient is permitted to approve;
document of the time spent by all project personnel on project activities;
have an audit performed that meets the requirements of 2 CFR 200 Subpart F - Audit Requirements whenever $750,000 or more in federal funds is expended during a fiscal year;
ensure that all procurement transactions are conducted in an open and free competition and that procurement contracts for more than the simplified acquisition threshold* that are not awarded by competitive bids or offers are justified and documented;
return to NEH a portion of the income earned on services and products resulting from project activities when this is required by the terms and conditions of an award;
acknowledge NEH support in all materials publicizing or resulting from project activities;
notify NEH about any allegation of research misconduct if the allegation involves NEH-funded research (or an application for NEH funding) and if the award recipient's inquiry into the allegation determines that there is sufficient evidence to investigate in accordance with NEH's Research Misconduct Policy;
maintain active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) with current information at all times during which they have an active award or application under consideration;
ensure that all subrecipients obtain a valid Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and have an active registration in SAM;
submit financial and performance reports as required by the terms and conditions of the award; and
comply with the General Terms and Conditions for Awards.

Assurances and Certification

By signing and submitting the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance (Standard Form 424 Short Organizational or Standard Form 424 Individual) applicants to NEH provide the following required Assurances and Certification and agree to comply with the applicable general terms and conditions if accepting an award.

Assurances on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability

Upon application for an NEH award, applicants must provide the applicable assurances that the program or activity will be operated in compliance with NEH regulations, in particular with the requirement for Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Federally Assisted Programs or Activities, located at 45 CFR Part 1170.

Lobbying Certification

When applicants request more than $100,000 in grant funds, they must certify that no federal funds have been or will be paid to persons to influence the funding decision (lobby) for the proposal that is being submitted for consideration.

The text of the certification follows:

The applicant certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief:

that no federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid by or on behalf of the undersigned to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of a federal contract, the making of a federal grant, the making of a federal loan, the entering into a cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of a federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement;
that if any funds other than federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person (other than a regularly employed officer or employee of the applicant) for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with this federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall request, complete, and submit Standard Form LLL, “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,” in accordance with its instructions; and
that the applicant shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award documents for all subawards at all tiers (including subcontracts, subgrants, and contracts under grants, loans, and cooperative agreements) and that all subrecipients shall certify and disclose accordingly.

This certification is a material representation of fact upon which the Endowment will rely in making funding decisions. If it is later determined that the applicant knowingly submitted a false certification or did not comply with the requirements, the Endowment may seek judicial enforcement of the certification or may suspend or terminate the award.

Davis-Bacon Act

In projecting your budget, be advised that any construction or renovation contract in excess of $2,000 awarded by recipients or subrecipients and funded by federal funds, in whole or in part, are subject in their entirety to the Davis-Bacon Act as amended, (40 U.S.C. 3141 - 3144, and 3146 - 3148) as supplement by the Department of Labor regulations (29 CFR Part 5, "Labor Standards Provisions Applicable to Contracts Covering Federally Financed and Assisted Construction"). Grant recipients are required by law to furnish assurances to the Secretary of Labor that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors on Endowment-supported construction projects shall be paid wages at rates that are not less than those prevailing on similar construction in the locality, as determined by the Secretary of Labor.

Additional information is available by contacting the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and House Division, Division of Contract Standards and Operations, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20210.

Bid Guarantees and Bonding Requirements

Recipients whose contracts for construction or facility improvements exceed the simplified acquisition threshold*, are required to obtain a bid guarantee from each bidder equivalent to 5 percent of the bid price. The recipient must also require contractors to have both performance and payment bonds for 100 percent of the contract price (2 CFR §200.325 Bonding Requirements). “The cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost” or “percentage of construction cost” methods of contracting may not be used.

Code of Ethics for Projects Related to Native Americans

Award recipients must ensure that researchers and scholars working on NEH-sponsored projects related to Native Americans, Aleut, Eskimo, or Native Hawaiian peoples adhere to the following provisions:

Every effort should be made in advance of project design and execution to engage the agreement, advice, and cooperation of members of the Native community in planning and executing the project and in disseminating the project results. This intention should be communicated to the Native community and the anticipated consequences and results of the research or data gathering should be explained as fully as possible to the individuals and groups likely to be affected.
Where research or exhibition of materials involves the acquisition of material (objects and documents) and transfer of information on the assumption of trust between persons, the rights, expressed interests and sensitivities of those originating the material must be safeguarded.
The scholar/researcher/principal investigator must consider the foreseeable repercussions of research and publication on the participant population and to inform them of the probable impact.
Native community consultants may remain anonymous or be specifically named and given credit if they so choose. This right should be respected where it has been explicitly promised. Where there is no clear understanding to the contrary, sources should be kept confidential. Because funded proposals, grant reports and other written material in the Endowment's possession are available to the public, no consultant or source should be identified in these documents contrary to the wishes of the community consultants.
Investigators using recording devices such as cameras or tape recorders or the technique of oral interviewing are also subject to the above criteria. Subjects under study should understand the capacities of such machines and should be free to accept or reject their use.
Individuals or group community consultants should be fairly compensated (through reciprocal exchange or monetary payment) for their services/information. Furthermore, subjects under study may not be exploited. Scholars should make every attempt to guarantee appropriate credit (in the form of co-authorship or co-investigatorship) and the distribution of financial rewards where appropriate for products resulting from projects.
Any report or work considered for publication (and where applicable and possible, films or exhibitions) should be deposited with the Native representatives or the elders and traditional leaders of the community. Community leaders should be able to view the films or exhibitions which result from work undertaken in the community.
This Code should not interfere with or preclude any formal agreements made between researchers and Native peoples for the conduct of research undertaken with Federal funds. Further, the Code does not preclude or supersede ethical codes subscribed to and endorsed by various professional associations, but rather intends only to make clear the standards expected of those receiving Endowment funds.

This Code conforms to the principles of Public Law 95-341 as amended (the Indian Religious Freedom Act), Public Law 89-665 as amended (the National Historic Preservation Act), and other relevant public laws governing relations with native peoples of North America. Those who direct projects that are subject to the Code of Ethics must familiarize themselves with the laws on which it is based to ensure full compliance with the Code. Although the body of the law and customs on which the Code is constructed is rooted in relations with native peoples of North America, researchers are urged to follow it whenever living cultures and peoples are involved.

*Simplified acquisition threshold: for grants and cooperative agreements awarded before December 26, 2014, the threshold was $100,000; for grants and cooperative agreements awarded December 26, 2014 through June 19, 2018, the threshold was $150,000; for grants and cooperative agreements awarded after June 20, 2018, the threshold is $250,000.