AECOM Office of Grant Supporthttp://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs

Belfer 913,917; x3642hathaway@aecom.yu.edu

janicki@aecom.yu.edu

OGS Grants.gov Infohttp://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs/Gg

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.gov

Application Format

Transformation

PI Desktop

DatabaseSystem-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.gov

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 TerminologyNIH/PHS 398 Grants.gov/SF 424

New NewCompeting Continuation RenewalRevision or Amendment ResubmissionCompeting Supplement RevisionPA and/or RFA FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement)

PI PD/PI (combined term)

SO (Signing Official) AOR (Authorized Organizational Rep)

Other Support Current & Pending Support

Literature Cited Bibliography & Refs Cited

Consortium Budget Subaward 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

1994-1997: Early pilot testing of electronic proposal

submissions to NIH, DOD, DOE by 10-20 major

grantee institutions

1999: NIH eRA Commons established to provide grants

administration support through the Internet

NIH eRA History

2003-2004: 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-05-067

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 AgenciesGrantee InstitutionsPrincipal InvestigatorsDepartment AdministratorsGrant ReviewersSoftware 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 approvedTues 22 May: PI completes full proposalTues 22 May: Proposal transmitted to Grants.govWeds 23 May: Errors detected by agencyThurs 24 May: Errors “corrected” by PI and staff Fri 25 May: Proposal resubmitted to Grants.govSat 26 May: Errors still detected by agencyTues 29 May: Errors corrected by PI and staffWeds 30 May: Server slowdown delays sendingThurs 31 May: Proposal resubmitted to Grants.govFri 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:http://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs/NIHCommonsRegistration.htm

Install the PureEdge viewerhttp://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs/gg/Downloads.htm

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 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html

Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/

Ex. RFA-RM-06-005PAR-06-093

Funding Opportunity Announcements

PA-06-309

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 http://www.grants.gov/Register

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 Email notifications.

Grants.gov sends notifications to the AOR only; eRA Commons sends notifications to the AOR/SO and the PI.

Email can be unreliable – applicants should proactively check the status of their applications in eRA Commons after submission.

Application Received byGrants.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.