31 U.S.C. § 6304
Section 6304 · Using grant agreements
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Head Start Family Education Program, Inc. v. Cooperative Educational Service Agency 11 (1995)
Most recently applied in Hymas v. United States (January 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
An executive agency shall use a grant agreement as the legal instrument reflecting a relationship between the United States Government and a State, a local government, or other recipient when—
(1) the principal purpose of the relationship is to transfer a thing of value to the State or local government or other recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States instead of acquiring (by purchase, lease, or barter) property or services for the direct benefit or use of the United States Government; and
(2) substantial involvement is not expected between the executive agency and the State, local government, or other recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated in the agreement.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The words “type of” are omitted as unnecessary. The words “money, property, services” are omitted as being included in “a thing of value”. The words “in order” are omitted as surplus. The words “law of the United States” are substituted for “Federal statute” for consistency.