The grant application and grant award notices provide critical guidance in setting up and managing the TVR program. This section will guide you through your review of these documents.

A blank GAN cover page

The Grant Award Notification (GAN)

The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) at the U.S. Department of Education notifies successful grant applicants with the Grant Award Notification (GAN). The GAN is the official document that states the terms, conditions, and amount of an award. For a brief video explaining the GAN in detail, please click here.

Grant Attachments and Enclosures

The GAN contains Grant Attachments and Enclosures sections, which contain vital information about your award.

The Grant Attachments section contains 14 different attachments which describe the additional terms and conditions of the award. A sample AIVRS Grant Attachments document is here, and a brief video about the Grant Attachments can be viewed here.
The Enclosures section is composed of three different enclosures, which give further guidance on administrative procedures (e.g., where to mail required reports) and fiscal management requirements. A sample AIVRS Grant Enclosures document can be seen here, and a brief video about the Enclosures can be viewed here.

Review of the Grant Application documents

It is important for a new program director to become familiar with the initial grant application, as well as any modifications submitted after the award. The most important “takeaways” from the grant are the program goals and objectives, the program budget and the work plan.
The grant application is divided into six sections which describe the various components, methods of provision and deliverables of the project. The document titled Where to Find Program Components in the Grant Proposal identifies the sections where specific program components, such as goals and objectives, program targets, and key personnel are described.
The work plan breaks the program goals, objectives and activities into a timeline that shows when the work will be completed, what the work will entail, who will do it, and what the outcomes and deliverables will be. Setting up a Work Plan describes the components of a work plan and provides work plan examples. Though there will likely be a work plan in the grant application, it may be helpful to reformat it to better serve program operation and/or personal preference.
The program budget and budget narrative are separate from the grant application narrative sections. The budget includes the ED 524 forms (sample here) showing the requested Department of Education (federal) funds and non-federal (match) funds or in-kind match values. Also included in the budget section are an annual operating budget (sample here) and sample budget narratives including each grant year. Please see Budget Narrative—Federal funds and Budget Narrative—Non-Federal Funds for examples.
For reference, to see the instructions for the latest grant competition, see the 2023 Application Kit for New AIVRS grants.