Background

On December 26, 2013, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published, in the Federal Register, the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards; Final Rule, 2 CFR Chapter I, Chapter II, Part 200 ("Uniform Guidance") .  The Uniform Guidance was part of a major reform initiative of the federal government to streamline the process for making and monitoring assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements), and to reduce the administrative burden while increasing accountability and transparency in federal awards management. 

Such guidance consolidated and replaced eight (8) separate OMB Circulars, including A-110 (Administrative Requirements), A-21 (Cost Principles), and A-133 (Audit Requirements), into a single document and has changed some fundamental concepts underlying the management of sponsored programs.

Federal agencies (e.g., DOE, NIH, NSF, USDA, etc.) were required to develop their own agency-specific policies that conform to the Uniform Guidance while non-federal institutions (including the University of California), had to assess their policies and processes to ensure compliance with the Uniform Guidance and agency-specific policies. 

Upon assessing the impact of the regulations on existing UCR policies and processes, an overview of their assessment was presented at the UCR C&G User's Group Meeting on January 29, 2015 focusing on What the PI Needs to Know. 

Access to the Uniform Guidance: Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations

In 2024, OMB released an updated version of the Uniform Guidance, a redline document showing the 2024 revisions, and issued an accompanying implementation memorandum, as well as reference guides.