Blanket Justification for Arts Endowment Funding Application Guidelines and Requirements for Individuals

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REQUESTING PAYMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS
Literature Fellowships

Rev. 8/11/25

To request award funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as an individual award recipient, you
must submit a payment request through REACH at https://reach.arts.gov/Login. Submission of a Payment
Request constitutes your agreement to comply with all the terms and conditions of the award.
The online payment request form in REACH is designed for organizations and is not specifically customized for
Literature Fellowships. Read these instructions before beginning; follow them carefully. If you have questions,
send a message via the Messages Tab in your award record in REACH. If you cannot access REACH, email the
Office of Grants Management (OGM) at grants@arts.gov.
BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION:
If you have changed banks since receiving the award, contact grants@arts.gov. OGM will work with you to
update your bank account information through a secure means. Send a REACH message to alert OGM staff that
you have submitted updated banking information.
 Do not send any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) via email or messaging; this includes bank
account information.
 Do not submit a payment request until you have been notified by the NEA that the bank account
information has been updated.
NOTE:
 Payments can only be remitted to a United States financial institution or bank. No funds can be
transferred to a foreign financial institution.
 Submit payment requests only after the award's performance period begins.
 Check the Documents Tab in REACH and carefully review the award letter (in some cases) and/or the
Notice of Action for any specific reporting requirements that apply to your grant. Some award
recipients may be required to submit additional information with a payment request.
 The NEA partners with Enterprise Service Center (ESC), a division of the US Department of
Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to process payments. If there are questions
regarding your banking information, you may receive an email from ESC. ESC’s emails are sent from an
faa.gov address. If you have any concerns, send a message via the Messages Tab to the NEA.
When filling out the payment request form,
 Ignore the notice regarding SAM.gov registration. As an individual, you are not required to be
registered in SAM.gov.
 Make sure that the pop-up blocker on your browser is disabled.
 Do not click SUBMIT PAYMENT REQUEST more than once; allow time for the system to process your
request.
 If you made a mistake, you can edit the payment request form while it is in the “Submitted” status. To
revise, click “edit” under the Actions column. You will not be able to edit a request if it is in the “Under
Review” status.
 See Appendix A for an illustration of the “Submit a Payment Request” web form.
Page 1 of 5

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD

STEP I. OPEN REACH AND THE PAYMENT REQUEST FORM
Access the Payment Request form by logging into your REACH account and selecting the correct award
number. Go to the Payments tab. Click the ADD PAYMENT REQUEST button to open the form.

STEP II. FILL OUT THE PAYMENT REQUEST FORM
The payment header includes a summary of basic data about the award.
Line 1. Recipient Account or ID Number (Optional): Leave empty.
Line 2a. Type of Payment Requested (Reimbursement/Advance/Both): Pick “Reimbursement.”
Line 2b. Type of Payment Requested (Partial/Final): If this is the last or only payment request you plan to
make, select FINAL, otherwise select PARTIAL.
Line 3. Basis of Request: Select CASH.
Line 4. Period Covered by this Request Starting Date: This date cannot be prior to the start date of the award.
It must be either the start date or a date up to the end date of the award.
Line 5. Period Covered by this Request Ending Date: This date can be no more than 30 days (about 4 and a
half weeks) from the date you submit this form. It cannot be after the end date of the award.
Line 6 (a-g). Computation of Amount Requested:
(a) Total program outlays:
 If this is your first request – enter amount you are requesting.
 If this is your second or subsequent request – add previous requested amount(s) to current
request. The form is cumulative.
 “As of” – enter today’s date.
(b) Estimated net cash outlays needed for advance period: Leave blank.
(c) Total (a plus b): Auto-calculates.
(d) Non-federal share of amount on line c: Leave blank.
Page 2 of 5

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD

(e) Federal share of amount on line c (c minus d): Auto-calculates.
The form calculates the difference between line (c) and line (d). Note, the NEA share of outlays cannot
exceed the amount of the award.
(f) Payment previously requested: If this is your second, third, etc. request, enter the total NEA funds
previously requested for this award.
(g) Federal share now requested (e minus f): Auto-calculates.
Line (g) automatically calculates based upon the previous fields. This is the amount you are now
requesting.
PROGRESS REPORT:
A progress report is needed the first time the cumulative amount requested exceeds two thirds (2/3) of the
NEA award amount. Only one (1) progress report is required. The progress report must include:
(1) A description of all activities supported by the grant that have been undertaken since the grant period
start date, and
(2) Any grant supported activities planned for the remainder of the grant period (e.g., research, travel, or
other related activities).

A missing progress report is the most common reason for a request to be rejected, denied, or delayed .
If you submit a payment request with your final report, the “Final Descriptive and Financial Report - Literature
Fellowships” will serve as your progress report. In the progress report field, enter “See Final Descriptive
Report.”
Line 7. ASSURANCES:
Checking the Assurances box indicates your agreement to all the terms and conditions of the award.
STEP III: SAVE AND SUBMIT THE FORM
When your payment request is complete, click the SUBMIT PAYMENT REQUEST button.
If there are errors, a box appears below the buttons listing the errors. Make all necessary corrections and click
the SUBMIT PAYMENT REQUEST again.
If submitted correctly, a table similar to this one will appear on the Payments Tab.

You can track the status of your payment request through the Payments tab in REACH. You can generally
expect payment within two weeks after the payment status changes to “approved.”

Page 3 of 5

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD

PAYMENT STATUSES
PAYMENT
STATUS
Submitted

MEANING
Payment request form received in REACH. It is in the queue for review.

Yes

Under Review

Office of Grants Management staff are reviewing the request.

No

Needs Revisions

Problems were identified by NEA staff and payment status changed to
“needs revisions” for you to make necessary corrections. See the Decision
Comment fields for notes from reviewer.
Payment was rejected and the NEA is unable to process it See the
Decision Comment fields for notes from NEA staff for the reason(s) for the
rejection.
Payment request approved and sent to ESC for processing and release of
funds.

Yes

Rejected
Approved

EDITABLE?

APPENDIX A – ONLINE PAYMENT REQUEST FORM

Page 4 of 5

No
No

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD
PRIVACY ACT
The following notice is furnished in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a:
This information is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 20 U.S.C. 951 et seq.
and is used for the purpose of grant awards. Personal data including home address and home telephone number will not be released
and is exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption (b)(6). Failure to provide the requested information could result in rejection of
your application.
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT
The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at an average of one hour per response. This includes the
time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and
reviewing the collection of information. We welcome any suggestions that you might have on improving the guidelines and making
them as easy to use as possible. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: webmgr@arts.gov, Attention: Reporting Burden. Note: Applicants/awardees are
not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid U.S. Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) control number.

Page 5 of 5