SF-424 Instructions: Field-by-Field Table and Steps (2026)

By Aoba Works · Published October 19, 2026 · 10 min read

How this guide was made: drafted with AI assistance from the official sources linked below, then passed an automated editorial check before publishing. Our process

• Grants.gov
• Sam.gov
• Uei
• Federal Grants

The SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance) is the cover form for most federal grant packages on Grants.gov. It has 21 numbered fields, and you fill nearly all of them with three things: your SAM.gov entity record (legal name, UEI, EIN, address), the funding notice (agency, Assistance Listing number, opportunity number) and your own project budget. The current version 4.0 has OMB number 4040-0004 and an expiration date of 03/31/2029 (Grants.gov SF-424 4.0 form). Below, each field gets a plain-English line telling you what to type.

Which option is right for you?

The right starting point depends on whether your SAM.gov registration is already active and on how often you apply.

If you're a beginner, start with SAM.gov. Grants.gov won't let you submit without an active SAM registration (Grants.gov: Submit a Workspace Application), so a polished SF-424 can't get past a lapsed record.

Before you start: gather these five items

You need about five pieces of information, and most of them come straight from your SAM.gov record.

1. Legal business name and physical address, exactly as SAM.gov shows them. SAM.gov requires these to match your IRS/TIN records (SAM.gov Entity Registration Checklist).
2. UEI. This is the 12-character Unique Entity ID that SAM.gov assigns (SF-424 instructions).
3. EIN/TIN from the IRS.
4. From the funding notice (NOFO): agency name, Assistance Listing number, funding opportunity number, competition ID if there is one, and the deadline.
5. Your budget totals, split into federal request and any match.

Registration in SAM.gov is free and has to be renewed every 365 days (SAM.gov checklist). Anyone charging a fee to "register" you is a third-party service, not the government.

SF-424 field-by-field: what to type

Each row below gives the field as it appears on the form and what to enter. Field numbers follow the official version 4.0 form (SF-424 4.0; instructions).

Fields 1–7: submission type and identifiers

Field 8: applicant information (copy from SAM.gov)

This is where most rejections and mismatches start. The Office of Justice Programs tells applicants to enter the UEI, legal name and EIN "exactly as it appears on the matching SAM.gov record". It also warns that if the SF-424 and SAM.gov disagree, OJP "will default to the SAM.gov record" (OJP guide).

• 8a. Legal Name: The legal business name from SAM.gov. Don't use a DBA or a shortened name. For example, if SAM shows "Riverbend Community Health Inc.", don't type "Riverbend Health".
• 8b. EIN/TIN: Your IRS Employer Identification Number.
• 8c. UEI: The 12-character UEI from SAM.gov. In Workspace this often comes over automatically from the organization tied to your workspace. Check it anyway.
• 8d. Address: Street, city, county/parish, state, country and ZIP, matching the physical address in SAM.gov.
• 8e. Organizational Unit: Department and division name if you have them, such as "School of Engineering". Small businesses can usually leave this blank.
• 8f. Contact person: The person who can answer questions about this application. In JustGrants, DOJ uses this email address to assign the application to a user (OJP guide), so use a real inbox that someone watches.

Fields 9–15: applicant type, program and project

Field 16: congressional districts

Enter the districts in a fixed format: a two-letter state code, a hyphen, then a three-digit district number. CA-005 means California's 5th district, MD-all covers every district in Maryland, and US-all is for nationwide projects (SF-424 instructions). 16a is your organization's own district. 16b is the main district your project affects. You can attach a list for additional districts. A common mistake is typing "CA-5" or "5". Pad the number to three digits.

Fields 17–18: dates and money

• 17. Proposed Project start and end dates: Use the period of performance the NOFO describes. If the notice says awards begin around a certain date, don't pick a start date earlier than that.
• 18. Estimated Funding: Lines for Federal, Applicant, State, Local, Other and Program Income, plus a Total. These figures need to match your detailed budget form (such as the SF-424A) and your budget narrative. Reviewers compare them.

For example, if you're asking for $250,000 with a $50,000 cash match, Federal is 250,000, Applicant is 50,000 and Total is 300,000. The 50,000 then needs to show up the same way in the budget narrative.

Fields 19–21: review, debt and signature

• 19. Is Application Subject to Review by State Under E.O. 12372? Choose (a) only if your state reviews this program and you've sent the application to the state SPOC; enter that date. Choose (b) if the program is covered but your state hasn't selected it. Choose (c) if the program isn't covered. Check the NOFO and the official SPOC list. States that aren't on the list don't take part (OJP guide).
• 20. Is the Applicant Delinquent on Any Federal Debt? Answer Yes or No for the organization. If Yes, explain and attach the explanation. Don't leave a Yes without one.
• 21. Certification: Check "I Agree". In Workspace, the authorized representative fields are tied to the person who submits, and signing happens when that person submits.

How to submit the SF-424 in Grants.gov Workspace (steps)

You don't sign the SF-424 by hand. A user with the right role signs it electronically when they submit the whole Workspace package.

1. Find the opportunity on Grants.gov, click Apply and create a workspace. You need at least the Workspace Manager role to do this (Workspace roles).
2. On the Forms tab, open the SF-424 as a webform. You can fill forms in the browser rather than download PDFs (Grants.gov).
3. Do the SF-424 first. The forms share common fields such as name, address and UEI, and that information carries over to the other forms only after the SF-424 is filled in (instructions).
4. Finish the other forms and attachments until every required form shows Passed.
5. The participant with the Standard AOR role (or a user with the Expanded AOR role) goes to Manage Workspace → Forms and clicks Sign and Submit in the Workspace Actions box (Grants.gov).
6. When the pop-up asks whether this is a changed/corrected application, answer Yes or No. Then click Sign and Submit again.
7. Save the Grants.gov tracking number from the confirmation screen; it's also emailed to you (Grants.gov).

Common SF-424 mistakes and how to fix them

Most SF-424 problems are data mismatches, not writing problems.

Limitation: Grants.gov's check for Passed status confirms that the format is correct. It can't tell whether your numbers or your district are right, so a "Passed" form can still be wrong.

Next steps

You can fill out a correct SF-424 today if your SAM.gov record is active. The free help covers most of the rest.

DIY today:

1. Open your SAM.gov entity record. Write down the exact legal name, UEI, EIN and physical address, plus the registration expiration date (step-by-step: /how-to-check-sam-gov-registration-status-step-by-step/).
2. Ask whoever manages your organization's Grants.gov account to confirm you have the Standard AOR role, or name the person who does.
3. Fill in fields 10–13 and 16–18 from the NOFO and your budget, then compare field 18 with the budget form.

If you'd rather not do it alone:

• APEX Accelerators give free counseling with SAM.gov registration, paid for by the Department of Defense and local host organizations (SAM.gov external resources). This suits small businesses. It's less suited to university research offices, which usually have their own sponsored-programs staff. Their main focus is contracting, so they may not review the substance of a grant narrative.
• The Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 is free. It's open 24/7 except federal holidays (Grants.gov Support). Call it for technical errors, but don't expect advice on budgets or project design.
• Paid grant consultants charge different fees depending on scope (as of October 2026; ask for a written quote). They make sense for a large, complex application. They don't make sense if your only problem is an SF-424 field, because the free options above already cover that.

Related guides on this site:

• /how-to-apply-for-grants-for-small-business-2026-guide/
• /how-to-write-grants-for-nonprofits-federal-proposal-guide/
• /small-business-grants-for-women-federal-options-2026/

FAQ

Where do I find my UEI for the SF-424?

Look in your entity record on SAM.gov. The UEI is a 12-character ID that SAM.gov assigns (instructions). Copy it exactly as shown; don't type it from memory.

What do I put for congressional district on the SF-424?

Write a two-letter state code, a hyphen and a three-digit district, such as CA-005. If the project covers a whole state, use the "all" form (MD-all), and for a nationwide project use US-all (instructions).

Which box do I check in SF-424 field 19?

Check the NOFO and the SPOC list. Choose (a) only if your state reviews the program and you've already sent it to the state, (b) if the program is covered but your state hasn't selected it, and (c) if E.O. 12372 doesn't apply.

Who signs the SF-424?

The authorized organization representative signs it electronically by clicking Sign and Submit in Workspace. That person needs the Standard AOR role as a workspace participant, or the Expanded AOR role (Workspace roles).

Is the SF-424 the same as the SF-424 (R&R)?

No. The SF-424 (R&R) is a separate research-and-related version that some research agencies use. Use the form that's in your opportunity's package, because it's the one Grants.gov will check.

Sources

• Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) V4.0 form, OMB 4040-0004
• SF-424 V4.0 Instructions (Grants.gov)
• Grants.gov: Submit a Workspace Application
• Grants.gov: Workspace Roles
• Grants.gov: What Is Workspace?
• Grants.gov Support
• SAM.gov Entity Registration Checklist
• SAM.gov External Resources
• OJP Grant Application Resource Guide
• Intergovernmental Review (SPOC List), OJP

Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at shigoto.ai.note@gmail.com. Guides are re-checked against official sources on a rolling schedule.