Electronic Submission Overview 011106

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NIH eRA Commons/Electronic Submission for the
Administrators and Investigators
9th Annual NIH SBIR/STTR Conference Las Vegas,
NV - February, 2007
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Electronic Submission
Transitioning to electronic submission
Prepare to Apply
Find Opportunity and download application package
Prepare application
THE PROCESS
Submit application to Grants.gov (AOR submits)
Check submission status in Commons
Check Assembled Application
Submission Complete
Finding help
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Multiple Systems Working Together

• Grants.gov the Federal governments single
  on-line portal to find and apply for Federal
  grant funding.
• Used by all 26 Federal grant-making agencies.
• eRA Commons the NIH electronic Research
  Administration system that allows
  applicants/grantees to electronically receive and
  transmit application and award information.
• Used by NIH and other HHS components.

Each system has its own registration
requirements and validation process.
Important!
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Choose Submission Method

• The applicant organizations business office will
  need to decide how their organization will submit
  grants electronically to Grants.gov.

Forms-based submission using PureEdge? software
Applicant Organization Applicant Organization
Rep./ Signing Official
System-to-system using XML data stream
Establish agreement with commercial service
provider to submit applications on behalf of the
organization
Service Provider
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Funding Opportunity Announcements

• NIH will continue to use RFAs and PAs, but all
  solicitations will be referred to as funding
  opportunity announcements (FOA) in Grants.gov
• FOAs will continue to be posted in the NIH Guide
  for Grants and Contracts (http//grants2.nih.gov/g
  rants/guide/)
• Button added to the NIH Guide announcements
  allowing applicants to access the Grants.gov
  application package directly from the NIH Guide
• FOAs will simultaneously be posted to Grants.gov
  along with the appropriate application package
• All grant applications must be submitted in
  response to an FOA. Investigator Initiated
  applications will now be submitted, via
  grants.gov, to parent announcements that are
  mechanism (e.g. R01, R21, R44, etc.) specific.

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Searching the NIH Guide
Button added to the NIH Guide announcements
allows applicants to access the Grants.gov
application package directly from the NIH Guide.
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Searching the NIH Guide
Download FOA instructions and applications
package from Grants.gov
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• The Grants.gov portion of our presentation

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Find, Apply Succeed!
Managed by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human ServicesFulfilling the Presidents
Management Agenda
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Agenda

• What is Grants.gov?
• What can we do at Grants.gov?
• How can we find grant opportunities?
• How can we apply for these opportunities?
• How do we get registered?
• Whats next?

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The Grants.gov Program

• Is a cross-agency initiative spanning 1000 grant
  programs from the 26 grant-making agencies, and
  over 400 billion in annual awards
• Is a simple, unified storefront for all
  customers of Federal grants to electronically
• Find Grant Opportunities
• Apply for Grants
• Is one of 24 Federal cross-agency E-Government
  initiatives designed to improve access to
  services via the Internet
• Part of Public Law 106-107, which sets to
  streamline grants and grants management within
  the federal government
• Is managed by the Department of Health and Human
  Services, the largest provider of Federal grants

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The single website for

• 26 Federal grant-making agencies
• Over 1million potential applicants and grantees
• State, Local, and Tribal governments
• Education and Research organizations
• Non-profit and For-profit organizations
• Public Housing Authorities
• essential and forward-looking Federal program
  objectives

• Homeland Security
• Health
• Education
• Housing
• Transportation

• Medical and Scientific Research
• Faith-based
• Energy/Environmental Conservation
• Arts Humanities

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Grants.gov provides robust functionality for the
grant community

• One-Time Registration
• Organizational representatives register once to
  apply to all 26-Grant-making agencies
• Organizations control who can be authorized to
  submit grant applications on the organizations
  behalf
• Find Grant Opportunities
• Search for available grant opportunities
• Register to receive notification of grant
  opportunities
• Apply for Grants
• Search for and download application packages
• Complete application packages offline
• Submit completed application packages
• Track the status of submitted applications

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The Find process
Easy access from every page
Locate and learn more about funding opportunities
in a standardized manner
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The Find process(continued)
Select search option according to interest
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Email Notifications

• You must provide an email address to receive
  notices.

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The Apply process
Grants.gov provides PureEdge Viewer, a small,
free software program to access, complete and
submit applications electronically and securely
Program Overview 11/13/2009 PAGE 17
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The Apply Process(continued)
Easy to follow pages and instructions to find
and download application packages to any desktop
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The Apply process(continued)
Register to receive notification of changes to
application package before downloading it
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Preparing to Apply via Grants.gov Overview

• A two-phase process for increased organizational
  security and efficiency for conducting business
  with the federal government.
• 1. Prepare your organization
• 2. Prepare yourself

Get your authorized users prepared to apply
today! Grants.gov registration/authentication
processes may take 7 days!
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Registration Checklist

• Successful Registration
• Completed the government-wide organization
  registrations (DUNS and CCR).
• AOR has username and password.
• AOR has successfully logged onto Grants.gov.
• AOR has been approved by the organizations E-biz
  POC.
• Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time
  process. Approved AORs have the ability to
  submit grant applications to all funding
  announcements on Grants.gov. Log on to
  http//www.grants.gov/GetStarted for specific
  details.
• Grants.gov Applicant Support Helpdesk
  1-800-518-4726Grants.gov Applicant Support
  Email support_at_grants.gov

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Whats next? Try Grants.gov out!

• Start the Registration Process!!!
• Find a Grant Opportunity/Sign-up for the Email
  Notification Service
• Download the application viewer
• Download the selected application package
• Complete the application package offline
• After completing the registration process, AOR
  can submit the completed application package to
  Grants.gov
• Youll receive a tracking number at the time of
  submission.
• Grants.gov notifies applicant when the
  application has been validated and downloaded by
  the agency

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Important points to remember!!

• Make sure the registration process has been
  completed before attempting to submit.
• Only an approved Authorized Organization
  Representative (AOR) may submit an application.
• You must download the PureEdge viewer software
  to complete the electronic forms.
• Always read the application instructions.

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Contact Information

• Grants.gov Customer Response Center
• Monday Friday, 7 AM 9 PM (EDT)
• 1-800-518-4726
• support_at_grants.gov

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• Back to the eRA Commons Registration.

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Registration Requirements

• Both Grants.gov (organizations only) and eRA
  Commons (organizations and PIs) registration is
  required for electronic submission.
• These are separate processes that can be done
  simultaneously.
• All registrations must be completed prior to
  application submission.
• Failure to complete the required registrations
  prior to application submission may result in
  delay of review assignment and funding
  consideration.

It is critical for institutions to begin these
registrations at least 2-4 weeks before
applications are due!
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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.

Carefully read and follow all NIH instructions!
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Preparing Text Attachments

• NIH only accepts attachments in PureEdge or PDF
  format.
• Do not submit attachments in other formats such
  as Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, etc.
• Do not put special characters in file names.
• Disable all security features in the PDF
  document.
• Do not send PDF documents with editable fields
  (fields that can be changed).

Second most common Error made by applicants
to-date.
Check out http//era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/
for additional information on avoiding common
errors.
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Advice from Experience

• Read and follow all application instructions!
• Failure to follow instructions has resulted in
  applicants having to submit corrected
  applications.
• 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 RR
  Senior/Key Person Profile component MUST contain
  the PIs assigned eRA Commons User ID for NIH to
  process the application submission.

Important!
Most common Error made by applicants to-date.

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PI eRA Commons User ID must be supplied here for
successful submission
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Post-Grants.gov Submissiongrant application is
now with eRA Commons
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Check Submission Status in Commons

• 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.
• A full list of notification messages can be found
  at http//era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/submit_ap
  p.htm4.
• Email can be unreliable applicants should
  proactively check the status of their
  applications in eRA Commons after submission.

eRA Commons will process the app. and send an
email within 1 business days after availability
in Grants.gov.
Grants.gov will process the app. and send an
email within 2 business days after submission.
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Viewing Application Errors/Warnings

• 1. Click the Status tab to view the PI Status.
• 2. Find application that shows eSubmission
  Error in Application Status.
• 3. Follow the link on the Application ID to see
  specific error/warning messages.

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Viewing Application Errors/Warnings
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Errors and Warnings

• IMPORTANT There must be a different account for
  the PI and the AOR/SO (one account may NOT have
  both Roles)
• Warnings can be fixed at the applicants
  discretion but do not require action for the
  application to move on.
• Errors must be addressed before the application
  can move on.
• After making all corrections, the entire
  changed/corrected application must be resubmitted
  through Grants.gov.
• Once all errors are corrected, a grant image is
  generated and made available for review by the PI
  and AOR/SO.
• The AOR/SO must Reject the application within 2
  days if the application is to be modified and
  resubmitted.

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Verify the Application - NOT!

• As of May 2006, NIH no longer requires an
  electronic signature on the SF424 from either the
  PI or the AOR/SO.
• Upon receipt at eRA, applications that have no
  errors will move forward to the Referral step of
  the process after 2 business days.
• Email notification sent to the PI and AOR/SO
• A PI who wishes to make corrections to an
  application with warnings must ask the AOR/SO to
  reject the application within the 2 business
  day period.
• The modifications are made and the AOR/SO will
  submit the changed/corrected application.

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AOR/SO Status Result
The AOR/SO can reject an application from the hit
list.
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PI Status Result
The PI has the opportunity to view the
application and/or the transmittal sheet.
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Where to find more information
Electronic Submission Website at http//era.nih.g
ov/ElectronicReceipt/
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Finding Help

• General information on Electronic Submission and
  the SF424 (RR)
• http//era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt
• Grants.gov registration, submission and Pure Edge
  behavior questions
• Visit http//www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport
• Grants.gov Customer Service
• E-mail support_at_grants.gov
• Phone [phone]
• eRA Commons registration and post submission
  questions on Commons functionality
• Support Page http//era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm
  
• eRA Commons Help Desk
• Web support http//ithelpdesk.nih.gov/eRA/
• E-mail commons_at_od.nih.gov
• Phone [phone] OR 301-402-7469
• Forms transition and questions on NIHs overall
  plan for electronic receipt
• NIH Grants Information
• E-mail grantsinfo_at_nih.gov
• Phone [phone]

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Questions?___________________Thank you!