Prior approval
Written permission a recipient must obtain before doing something the award restricts — changing scope, replacing the principal investigator, moving money between budget categories beyond a threshold, or extending the end date. Doing it first and asking later is a finding.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Prior written approval
In detail
The list of actions requiring approval is partly government-wide and partly programme-specific, and the programme list is in the award document rather than in the notice. Budget reallocation thresholds are the most frequently breached, because a project that reallocates gradually can cross one without ever making a decision that felt significant.
Approval is given by the awarding office, in writing. A conversation with a programme officer is not approval, however encouraging it was.
Against the notice’s own terms
A notice tells you what a programme will fund and who may apply. Prior-approval requirements attach to an award already made, and they are in the award document. That is why nothing on a record lists them: a field showing approval requirements would be blank on almost every record, and a blank there reads as "no approvals required".
How GrantTrove stores it
- Every record links its notice through `source_url` and dates that link with `last_verified_at`, which is the document a reader has to go to for terms we do not hold.
- The record page states outright which classes of information are not extracted, rather than leaving a reader to infer it from empty space.
Common questions
Does an email from my programme officer count?
Only if it is the written approval the award requires from the awarding office. Ask explicitly.
What needs prior approval most often?
Scope change, key personnel change, budget reallocation over a threshold, and extending the end date.
Do you hold the thresholds?
No. They are award terms, and we hold opportunities.