TLDR
CFDA was renamed Assistance Listing in 2019 — many grant agreements still use the old label.
The Assistance Listing Number (ALN) — still commonly called the CFDA number — is the five-digit program code in XX.XXX format that identifies every federal domestic assistance program. It appears on every grant agreement, every financial report, and every SEFA entry. Getting it wrong on the SEFA is a single audit finding.
Plain-language definition
Every federal grant program has a unique identifying number. CFDA 93.044 is the Aging Services program. CFDA 14.231 is HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants. That number is what links your award to the federal program catalog, to the OMB Compliance Supplement chapter your auditor uses, and to the cluster calculations that determine which programs get audited. It was renamed Assistance Listing Number in 2019 when the catalog moved to SAM.gov — but most people, documents, and systems still say CFDA.
Detailed definition
The ALN format is XX.XXX: the first two digits represent the federal agency (93 = HHS, 14 = HUD, 84 = Education, 45 = NEA/NEH, etc.), and the last three digits identify the specific program within that agency. The full catalog — now called Assistance Listings — is hosted at SAM.gov and contains more than 2,200 active programs.
On any federal grant agreement, the ALN appears on the Notice of Award alongside the award number. On the SEFA, each expenditure is listed under its ALN. On the OMB Compliance Supplement (updated annually), each ALN or program cluster has its own chapter identifying which compliance requirements — activities allowed, matching, reporting, period of performance, subrecipient monitoring — apply to that program.
How it works
The ALN does three jobs simultaneously:
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Links the award to the program catalog. It tells everyone — the awarding agency, the pass-through entity, the auditor, and the auditee — which federal program an award belongs to.
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Drives the SEFA structure. Under 2 CFR 200.510, the SEFA must list all federal awards by ALN. Clusters are defined by OMB and aggregate related ALNs for major-program determination.
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Points the auditor to the right compliance requirements. Each ALN chapter in the OMB Compliance Supplement tells the auditor what to test. A program not covered by a specific chapter falls under the Compliance Supplement’s general audit guidance.
When it applies
The ALN is present from the moment a grant agreement is executed. It must appear on:
- The sub-award agreement if the prime recipient passes through funds
- Every federal financial report (SF-425) submitted
- Every SEFA prepared by the auditee
- USASpending.gov reporting by the federal awarding agency
Pass-through entities have an additional obligation: when sub-awarding, they must inform the subrecipient of the ALN so the subrecipient can correctly complete its own SEFA.
Common misconceptions
Misconception 1: CFDA and ALN are different numbers. They are the same number with different names. OMB renamed the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance to Assistance Listings in 2019. The number format and meaning are identical.
Misconception 2: The ALN changes when a new award is issued under the same program. The ALN stays the same for all awards under the same program. Your specific award has a unique award number, but every award under CFDA 14.267 (CoC) carries the same ALN.
Misconception 3: Pass-through entities don’t need to disclose the ALN to subrecipients. 2 CFR 200.332 explicitly requires pass-through entities to include the ALN in the sub-award agreement. Omitting it is a compliance finding.
Misconception 4: The SEFA only needs the award number, not the ALN. The SEFA requires both: the federal award identification number and the ALN. The ALN is the primary field used for cluster aggregation and major-program determination.
Related terms
- UEI / SAM.gov — the entity identifier paired with ALN on all federal award records.
- SEFA preparation — the schedule that organizes all federal expenditures by ALN; ALN errors here are a direct audit finding.
- Single audit threshold — the $750,000 federal expenditure threshold that triggers single audit; the SEFA (organized by ALN) is the basis for the threshold calculation.
How GrantPipe handles ALNs
GrantPipe records the ALN on every federal grant in the system and surfaces it in SEFA preparation reports. When multiple awards share an ALN, GrantPipe aggregates expenditures automatically for cluster threshold calculations. Pass-through sub-award templates generated in GrantPipe include the ALN as a required field — preventing the common omission that creates compliance findings under 2 CFR 200.332.
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Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listings
Source: Federal Audit Clearinghouse
Source: USASpending.gov
- Assistance Listings (SAM.gov)
- The SAM.gov section that replaced the original Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). It is a comprehensive database of all federal domestic assistance programs, including program objectives, eligibility criteria, application procedures, and the ALN for each program.
DEFINITION
- SEFA (Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards)
- An auditor-required schedule prepared by the auditee listing all federal awards received, organized by ALN. Required under 2 CFR 200.510 for organizations subject to single audit. The SEFA is the starting point for the auditor's major-program determination.
DEFINITION
- OMB Compliance Supplement
- The annual OMB publication that, for each ALN (or program cluster), identifies the applicable compliance requirements, suggests audit procedures, and provides guidance on materiality. Auditors use the Compliance Supplement to design single audit procedures for each major program.
DEFINITION
Q&A
What is the difference between CFDA and ALN?
They are the same thing — different names for the same identifier. CFDA (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance) number was the historical name. In 2019, OMB renamed it to Assistance Listing Number (ALN) and moved the catalog to SAM.gov's Assistance Listings section. Both terms refer to the same XX.XXX formatted program identifier.
Q&A
Where does the CFDA/ALN number appear on a grant?
The ALN appears on the Notice of Award, in the grant agreement text, on the SF-425 federal financial report, in payment systems like ASAP and LOCCS, and on the SEFA. It is the linking field that connects the award, the financial reports, and the audit record.
Q&A
Why does the ALN matter for single audits?
The ALN is how auditors determine which compliance supplement chapter applies to each program, how programs are clustered for major-program determination, and whether pass-through expenditures are correctly attributed. Misreporting ALNs on the SEFA is a finding category in its own right and can cause a program to be miscategorized for major-program testing.
Q&A
Is every federal program assigned an ALN?
Essentially yes — every federal domestic assistance program is assigned an ALN when it is established. The SAM.gov Assistance Listings catalog contains thousands of programs across all federal agencies. Some cross-cutting programs have multiple ALNs for different sub-components.
Frequently asked