AECOM Office of Grant Support Belfer 913,917; x3642 OGS Grants.gov Info

Grants.gov Electronic Submission of Applications to Federal Grant-making Agencies April 5-6, 2006

WHAT is Grants.gov? WHY does Grants.gov exist? WHO is affected by Grants.gov? WHEN does Grants.gov happen? HOW does Grants.gov work?

WHAT is Grants.gov?

Grants.go v Application Format Transformation PI Desktop Database System-to-System (aka “S2S”) Person-to-System (Forms-based; uses PureEdge software) NSF DOD NIH Grants.gov will be the portal for all grant applications to 26 federal agencies Proposals are submitted through Person-to-System or System-to-System modes

Grants.go v Application Format Transformation AECOM PI Person-to-System (Forms-based; uses PureEdge software) NIH Grants.gov will be the portal for all grant applications to 26 federal agencies AECOM proposals will be prepared and submitted using PureEdge software

PHS 398

SF 424

New Terminology NIH/PHS 398Grants.gov/SF 424New Competing ContinuationRenewal Revision or AmendmentResubmission Competing SupplementRevision PA and/or RFAFOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement) PIPD/PI (combined term) SO (Signing Official) AOR (Authorized Organizational Rep) Other Support Current & Pending Support Literature Cited Bibliography & Refs Cited Consortium BudgetSubaward Budget

WHY does Grants.gov exist?

eRA History 1993: Al Gore releases National Performance Review plan “to reinvent government to work better and cost less”

NIH eRA History : Early pilot testing of electronic proposal submissions to NIH, DOD, DOE by major grantee institutions 1999: NIH eRA Commons established to provide grants administration support through the Internet

NIH eRA History : NIH conducts pilots in which 100 PIs from 30 institutions submitted electronic applications through commercial service providers. Nov 2003: NIH Commons begins eSNAP pilot to accept non-competing progress reports electronically Jan 2005: NIH opens door for electronic submissions via service providers for select grants

August 19, 2005 NOT-OD NIH announces plans to: 1)transition from the PHS398 application to the SF424 Research and Related (R&R) application 2)simultaneously transition to electronic submission via Grants.gov by the end of 2007

WHO is affected by Grants.gov?

Grantor Agencies Grantee Institutions Principal Investigators Department Administrators Grant Reviewers Software companies

WHEN does Grants.gov happen?

Redefining the concept of “deadlines”… Electronic applications are different. Errors detected by federal agencies after the initial submission will need to be corrected. The resubmitted corrected version of the proposal must be received by the agency PRIOR to the original published deadline for the grant program.

Hypothetical Grants.gov Submission for 1 June 2007 NIH Deadline Mon 21 May: Internal forms approved Tues 22 May: PI completes full proposal Tues 22 May: Proposal transmitted to Grants.gov Weds 23 May: Errors detected by agency Thurs 24 May: Errors “corrected” by PI and staff Fri 25 May: Proposal resubmitted to Grants.gov Sat 26 May: Errors still detected by agency Tues 29 May: Errors corrected by PI and staff Weds 30 May: Server slowdown delays sending Thurs 31 May: Proposal resubmitted to Grants.gov Fri 1 June: Error-free submission confirmed

HOW does Grants.gov work?

The Grants.gov Process Find a grant program Download and complete an application Submit application via AOR Correct errors and resubmit (if necessary)

The Essentials: Register as “PI” on NIH Commons Install the PureEdge viewer Install PDF generation software Download FOA narrative Download FOA application package Follow FOA instructions

The Essentials (continued) Prepare application Consult Grants.gov application guide Submit internal forms early Request AOR submission early Monitor application progress Reject error-free application image (optional)

Register as “PI” on NIH Commons AECOM faculty investigators who plan to serve as PIs may open an NIH eRA Commons account by completing an authorization form: Install the PureEdge viewer

Another option for Mac users?? BOOT CAMP Intel-based Macs only

Funding Opportunity Announcements FOAs include all NIH PAs and RFAs. Identify FOAs using… NIH Guide Grants.gov Ex.RFA-RM PAR

Funding Opportunity Announcements PA Grants.gov application download site Parent R21 (with AECOM info)

Preparing an Application Only the specific application package associated with an FOA can be used to apply. Some fields of the application are pre-filled from the announcement.. The forms must be filled out according to the accompanying application guide and any specific guidelines in the announcement.

All mandatory Grants.gov fields are high- lighted and denoted with an asterisk.

However, there are application fields not marked as mandatory on the federal-wide form but that are required by NIH. For example, the credential field of the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile component MUST contain the PI’s assigned eRA Commons User ID for NIH to process the application submission.

Preparing Text Attachments NIH only accepts attachments in PDF format. Do not put special characters in file names. Disable all security features in the PDF document. Do not send PDF documents with editable fields.

WARNING!! When savings changes to a PureEdge application file, check both name and location of new file. Saves following PDF attachment may be made to the PDF source folders. This can result in storage of proposal components in multiple files.

Consult the Grants.gov application guide 180 very helpful pages

Submit Internal Forms General procedures for internal approvals have not changed. Failure to submit GA6742 at least eight (8) working days prior to agency deadline may make successful electronic submission impossible.

Submit Internal Forms GA6742 must be accompanied by: 1)detailed budget, 2)modular budget narrative or budget justification, 3)SF424 cover (2 pages), 4)PHS 398 cover supplement* (2 pages), 5)PHS 398 Checklist* (2 pages), 6)any other relevant documentation. * part of PureEdge SF424 package

Note: PI signatures on grant applications are no longer necessary. However, NIH will soon require all institutions to maintain a written certification with unique PI signature and date in support of the submission of the specific application. AECOM’s internal grant approval form GA6742 will soon be updated to include a new assurance page requiring PI signature.

Submit application via Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) AORs submit grant applications on behalf of institutions seeking federal funding. Each academic department will have an administrator serving as an AOR. Departmental administrators must request AOR designation by completing the 3 step process outlined at

Submit application via AOR Principal investigators will transfer completed application files to his/her department’s AOR for proposal submission. Plan to submit as early as possible. If a department does not have a designated AOR, the PI will transfer the application to Grant Accounting for submission.

Submit application via AOR No proposal will be submitted to NIH via Grants.gov prior to final approval of internal form GA6742.

Monitor Application Progress Once the application has been submitted, Grants.gov and eRA Commons will send a series of status notifications. Grants.gov sends notifications to the AOR only; eRA Commons sends notifications to the AOR/SO and the PI. can be unreliable – applicants should proactively check the status of their applications in eRA Commons after submission.

Application Received by Grants.gov Tracking No. Time stamp

PI and SO must log into NIH Commons to check proposal status. Error and warnings will be displayed. Errors must be corrected and a new application submitted. Warnings do not require corrections.

Once all errors are corrected, a grant image is generated and made available for viewing by the PI and the Signing Official (SO). NIH is expected to announce the elimination of the current requirement for PI and SO verification/approval of the grant image. Instead, either PI or SO may reject the error-free proposal within 48 hours of its availability on NIH Commons. If a proposal is not rejected, it will continue forward to review.