What Community Project Funding and Congressionally Directed Spending are.
Both are names for the same idea: a member of Congress asks the Appropriations Committee to fund a specific project, for a specific recipient, in their district or state. CPF is the House term. CDS is the Senate term. Many people still call them earmarks. Requests go through member offices, never directly to the committee, and each chamber’s Appropriations Committee publishes its own guidance every year: which accounts can carry requests, what members must certify, and how requests are disclosed.
The process is now well established, with public disclosure at several points and oversight work by the Government Accountability Office (gao.gov) on how agencies carry out these projects. What is not stable is the detail: deadlines, account lists, limits and forms change by year, by chamber, by subcommittee and by office.
Is this project a candidate? A quick eligibility check.
Eligible recipients are generally public bodies, such as state and local governments, tribes, public utilities, port authorities and public universities, and, for many accounts, nonprofits. For-profit entities are generally not eligible. Beyond the recipient, the project has to fit an account the subcommittee accepts that year and be ready to use the money. Rules differ by subcommittee and account, so treat this as a first screen and check current guidance.
From project to agency award: the community project funding path, step by step.
The same nine stages apply in both chambers, with different offices, forms and committees. Switch between House CPF and Senate CDS, and tap a stage in the diagram or use the stage buttons to see what happens and what to check. Stages 3 and 7 are where requests most often stop.
The information member offices typically ask for.
Every office has its own form, but the questions overlap. Prepare these once, in a form you can adapt to each office’s wording and limits.
- 01Project name and description
- What will be built or delivered, where, and for whom, in plain words a staffer can repeat. Offices often set word limits.
- 02Sponsor and recipient
- The legal name and address of the entity that would receive the funds. Some offices ask for the sponsor’s SAM.gov registration because the agency will need it later.
- 03Amount and budget
- The amount requested, a budget breakdown and the total project cost, with other funding sources shown.
- 04Federal nexus
- Why this federal account and program should pay for it: how the project serves the program’s purpose.
- 05Community support
- Letters from local officials, organizations and residents. Offices weigh visible local backing.
- 06Matching funds, where applicable
- If the underlying program requires a local share, it generally still applies. Show where it comes from.
- 07Timeline and readiness
- When work can start and finish, and whether a first phase can use the money soon.
- 08Prior and parallel requests
- Earlier federal funding for the project, and the other offices you asked this year.
The most common avoidable problem is a request that reads differently in each office: a different amount, an older budget, a letter addressed to the wrong member. The second most common is missing an office’s internal deadline because it came weeks before the committee’s.
Staying organized across offices and projects.
A city with four projects, a House member and two senators already has a dozen requests to keep straight. A firm or association supporting several sponsors has many more. These working rules keep the portfolio straight.
- One record per project, many versions
Keep the facts, figures, letters and history in one place, and produce each office’s version from it. When a number changes, it changes everywhere.
- A calendar of office deadlines
Each office sets its own date, usually earlier than the committee’s. List every office for every project, with the contact and the form.
- Consistent numbers across offices
The same project at two different amounts invites questions. If an office asked for a smaller amount or a phase, record why.
- Confirm every handoff in public
Check each member’s posted list of requests, then the committee tables, then the explanatory statement. Note the amount at each step.
- An owner after enactment
Someone has to notice the agency’s outreach, answer it and keep the sponsor moving. That is where funded projects stall.
- Keep the history for next year
What each office asked, what it chose and why. Unfunded projects often come back, and the second request should be better.
Following the award after the bill is signed.
Enactment is not payment. The explanatory statement names the project and amount, then the administering agency takes over: it identifies the recipient, asks for an application or paperwork under the program’s rules, and signs an agreement before funds are obligated. Money is usually drawn down as work is done, and changes to scope generally need the agency’s approval. Awards can be followed on USAspending once agencies report them. Sponsors who treat enactment as the finish line are the ones still waiting a year later.
What community project funding software should do.
The work is repetitive in the right way for AI: the same facts, reshaped for each office, checked against each form, then tracked through public documents. The judgment, which projects to back and what to say to an office, stays with people.
Each office’s version drafted from the project record, in that office’s questions and limits, for a person to review and approve.
Missing letters, a budget that does not add up, an amount that differs from another office’s version, a recipient the account may not accept: flagged before submission.
Office deadlines, submission, the member’s posted list, the committee tables and the explanatory statement, read and matched to each project with the source cited.
After enactment, the agency’s requests, the agreement and the spending record, with tasks and owners so nothing waits on someone noticing.
In Capiro, Meri, the AI Chief of Staff inside the back office, does this work across every client’s projects. Nothing goes to an office without a person approving it, and every status carries its source.
Frequently asked questions
Can a for-profit company get Community Project Funding?
Generally no. For-profit entities are generally not eligible to receive these funds. When a project genuinely belongs to a public body, such as a city, a port authority or a public university, that body may be the right sponsor and recipient. Check the current guidance for the account, since rules differ by subcommittee.
Can the same project be requested from a House member and both senators?
Often, yes. Sponsors commonly ask their Representative and both senators, each through that office’s own form. Keep the facts and figures consistent across offices, or explain any difference, because the final tables can list more than one requesting member.
When are Community Project Funding requests due?
Timing follows the appropriations calendar and changes every year. The committees set deadlines for members, and each member office sets its own, usually earlier, deadline for sponsors. Watch member offices’ websites and the appropriations committees’ announcements early in the cycle.
How do we find out whether a project was funded?
Look for it in the tables that accompany the committee’s bill and report, then in the explanatory statement for the enacted bill, which is the version that counts. After that, expect the administering agency to make contact about its application and agreement.
What happens to requests if Congress passes a continuing resolution?
A short-term continuing resolution generally just delays the decision. If a year ends in a full-year continuing resolution instead of new appropriations bills, projects listed in the unenacted bills may not be funded, and sponsors may need to request again in the next cycle.
How does Capiro handle requests across several offices?
Each project is one record. Capiro assembles each office’s version from it, checks it against that office’s form and deadline, and tracks every request from submission to the enacted bill and the agency award. A person approves each request before it goes to an office.
Every project, every office, one record.
Capiro is the AI back office for lobbyists. Meri, the AI Chief of Staff inside the back office, assembles each office’s request from the project record, checks it, and follows it from submission to the agency award, with a person approving every step. AI should not replace the relationship. It should carry the work around it. More capacity for every client.
The category, explained: What is an AI back office for lobbyists?
