From Simpler.Grants.gov to the federal standard

Simpler.Grants.gov publishes opportunity data in its own format, while the federal grant data standards define a different structure for reporting the same information. This page takes one opportunity record from Simpler.Grants.gov, converts it into a federal Notice of Funding Opportunity Information Collection, and then validates the result against the JSON Schemas inschemas/, which are the same files documented elsewhere on this site.

Output meets the federal grant data standards

17 federal data elements were populated and checked against the published JSON Schemas, 3 of which required restating a value in a different government code system.

What changed

Most of the source fields map onto a federal element with a different name and no change in value. The rows marked recoded are the ones that matter, because the two systems identify the same real-world entity using different code systems, and the federal standard rejects a value drawn from the wrong one. Values are shortened to keep the table readable, with the full text available in each cell's tooltip.

Information	Simpler.Grants.gov	Federal standard	Governing data element
Opportunity title	STEM Education Grant Program	STEM Education Grant Program	FundingOpportunityTitle 1.01.05
Opportunity number	HHS-2025-001	HHS-2025-001	FundingOpportunityIdentifier 1.01.04
Description	Supports State educational…	Supports State educational…	FundingOpportunityDescription 1.01.08
Department	HHS	075recoded	AwardingAgencyCode 1.01.01
Awarding agency	HHS-NIH	7529recoded	AwardingSubTierAgencyCode 1.01.02
Assistance listing	93.123	93.123	AssistanceListingNOFORelatedIdentifier 1.02
Total funding available	1000000	1000000	FundingOpportunityEstimatedAmount 1.09.05
Applications open	2026-01-01	2026-01-01	FundingOpportunityProjectApplicationPeriodStartDate 1.11.05
Applications close	2026-03-01	2026-03-01	FundingOpportunityProjectApplicationPeriodEndDate 1.11.06
Who may apply	state_governments	ET22010recoded	EligibleApplicantEntityTypeCode 2.01.01

Why recoding matters

Simpler.Grants.gov identifies the National Institutes of Health as HHS-NIH, whereas the federal standard expects the Treasury and GSA hierarchy code 7529, which is constrained to four characters beginning with two digits. Sending the original value would fail validation outright, and substituting the department abbreviation HHS for the agency code would be the worse outcome of the two, because three characters satisfies that element's length rule and the record would validate while naming the wrong organization.

The records

The opportunity as Simpler.Grants.gov publishes it, alongside the federal Notice of Funding Opportunity Information Collection generated from it.

Federal NOFO IC (output)

{
  "id": "573525f2-8e15-4405-83fb-e6523511d893",
  "status": "open",
  "createdDate": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "lastModifiedDate": "2026-01-15T00:00:00.000Z",
  "fundingOpportunity": {
    "awardingAgencyCode": "075",
    "awardingAgencyName": "Department of Health and Human Services",
    "awardingSubTierAgencyCode": "7529",
    "awardingSubTierAgencyName": "National Institutes of Health",
    "fundingOpportunityNumber": "HHS-2025-001",
    "fundingOpportunityTitle": "STEM Education Grant Program",
    "fundingOpportunityDescription": "Supports State educational agencies in expanding access to high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction in high-need elementary schools.",
    "relatedAssistanceListings": [
      {
        "identifier": "93.123",
        "title": "STEM Education"
      }
    ],
    "anticipatedAmount": "1000000"
  },
  "projects": [
    {
      "anticipatedApplicationPeriodStartDate": "2026-01-01",
      "anticipatedApplicationPeriodEndDate": "2026-03-01",
      "eligibleApplicantTypes": [
        "ET22010"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Simpler.Grants.gov (input)

{
  "opportunity_id": "573525f2-8e15-4405-83fb-e6523511d893",
  "legacy_opportunity_id": 12345,
  "opportunity_number": "HHS-2025-001",
  "opportunity_title": "STEM Education Grant Program",
  "agency_code": "HHS-NIH",
  "agency_name": "National Institutes of Health",
  "top_level_agency_code": "HHS",
  "top_level_agency_name": "Department of Health and Human Services",
  "category": "discretionary",
  "opportunity_assistance_listings": [
    {
      "assistance_listing_number": "93.123",
      "program_title": "STEM Education"
    }
  ],
  "summary": {
    "summary_description": "Supports State educational agencies in expanding access to high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction in high-need elementary schools.",
    "is_cost_sharing": true,
    "is_forecast": false,
    "post_date": "2026-01-01",
    "close_date": "2026-03-01",
    "expected_number_of_awards": 10,
    "estimated_total_program_funding": 1000000,
    "award_floor": 50000,
    "award_ceiling": 200000,
    "funding_instruments": [
      "grant"
    ],
    "funding_categories": [
      "education"
    ],
    "applicant_types": [
      "state_governments"
    ],
    "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000000+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2026-01-15T00:00:00.000000+00:00"
  },
  "opportunity_status": "posted",
  "attachments": [],
  "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000000+00:00",
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T00:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

How the conversion works

Neither plugin knows anything about the other, because each one maps its own system to and fromCommonGrants, a shared interchange format, which means that adding a new system requires a single mapping rather than one for every counterpart it needs to exchange data with:

Simpler.Grants.gov  ──▶  CommonGrants  ──▶  Federal NOFO IC
                    ◀──                ◀──

Where the source has no equivalent for a federal element, that element is omitted rather than filled in with a guess, and a code that cannot be translated is reported as a conversion note instead of being passed through, so the output never validates while holding a value from the wrong code system. The remaining gaps, including the agency and applicant-type crosswalks that still need to be extended beyond the agencies used in this example, are documented inTRANSFORMS.md.