NCI Orientation for Extramural Staff

1
Electronic Grant Applications Implementation and
Impacts

• NCI Orientation for Extramural Staff
• February 16, 2006
• Terry Dunne (OGA) and Chris Hatch (DEA)

2
Why transition? Its the law

• Public Law (PL) 106-107
• Federal Financial Assistance Management
  Improvement Act of 1999
• Improve the effectiveness and performance of
  Federal financial assistance programs
• Simplify Federal financial assistance application
  and reporting requirements
• Improve the delivery of services to the public
• Presidents Management Agenda (2002)
• Agencies to allow applicants for Federal Grants
  to apply for, and ultimately manage, grant funds
  online through a common web site, simplifying
  grants management and eliminating redundancies .
  . .

3
Advantages of Electronic Receipt?

• Eliminates the burden of paper-based data
  handling (including scanning) possible savings
  of gt200 million pieces of paper/year
• Electronic validations improve data quality
• Grant images are clearer (than scanned copies)
  and in color
• Electronic data can be mined by knowledge
  management and other tools
• Resulting efficiencies may allow NIH to shorten
  the cycle from application receipt to award

4
NIHs Electronic Receipt Goal

• By the end of September 2007, NIH plans to
• Require electronic submission through Grants.gov
  for all NIH grant applications
• Transition from the PHS 398 application form to
  SF424 family of forms data set
• SF424 Research and Research-Related SF424 (RR)
• SF424 Discretionary (of limited use for NIH)

Announced in the NIH Guide, Aug. 19, 2005
http//grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NO
T-OD-05-067.html
5
What is Grants.gov?

• The Federal governments single, online portal
  for any eligible person, business, institution,
  organization, and State, local, or Tribal
  government to electronically find and apply for
  grant opportunities
• A cross-agency initiative involving
• 1000 grant programs
• 26 grant-making agencies
• Over 400 billion in annual awards

6
This is a huge transition!

• The transition relies upon many pieces for its
  success
• Technical development of eRA and Grants.gov
  systems (plus ability to handle large inputs)
• Trans-agency resolution of policy and operational
  issues (because many agencies sharing)
• Lots of communications, training, and outreach
• Acceptance of change by NIH staff
• Acceptance of change by our research partners in
  the extramural community

7
NIH Timeline
Recently Updated!
SBIR/STTR (Dec. 1, 2005)
We have begun!
Resource (G), Career Development (K), S11, S21,
S22 (Jun. 1, 2007)
R13/U13 (Dec. 15, 2005)
R36 (Feb. 17, 2006)
Fellowship (F) (Aug. 5, 2007)
R15 (Feb. 25, 2006)
Training (TD), U45, D71/U2R (Sep. 10, 2007)
R18/U18, R25, C06/UC6 (Oct. 1, 2006)
S10 (Mar. 22, 2006)
DP1(Jan. 22, 2007)
Projects/Centers (P), M01, R10/U10, S06, U01,
U19, U54, U56, R24/U24 (Oct. 1, 2007)
X02 (April 18, 2006)
R01(Feb. 1, 2007)
Potential R01 Multi-PI Pilot (Oct. 1, 2006)
R03, R21/R33, R34(June 1, 2006)
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• Current as of February 6, 2006. Visit the Web
  site for the latest version http//era.nih.gov/El
  ectronicReceipt/

Mechanism Abbreviation Key C06/UC6 Research
Facilities Construction Grants DP1 NIH Directors
Pioneer Award Program D71/U2R International
Training Cooperative Agreement/
Phase 2 of FIC mechanism D71 P Research Program
Projects and Centers R01 Research
Project Grant Program R03 Small Grant
Programs R10/U10 Cooperative Clinical Research
Grants R13/U13 Support for Conferences
Scientific Meetings R15 Academic
Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) R18/U18
Research Demonstration and Dissemination Projects
R21/R33 Exploratory/Development
Research R24/U24 Resource Related Research
Projects R25 Education Projects R34
Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program R36
Research Dissertation Grant Program SBIR
Small Business Innovation Research STTR
Small Business Technology Transfer S06,S10,S11
Biomedical Research S21,22 Health Disparities
Endowment Grants U Cooperative
Agreement Awards X02 Pre-application for
Interdisciplinary Research Consortium
8
December Submissions

• Small business (SBIR/STTR)
• Over 1800 applications received
• Conference grants (R13)
• Over 150 applications received
• Very few applications submitted in paper
• NIH provided flexibility in submission dates to
  accommodate error corrections

9
NIH Lessons Learned from December Submissions

• Helpdesks overwhelmed
• NIH staff learning with the community
• Continued in-house training and discussion to
  bring them up to speed so they can help field
  questions
• Volume of changed/corrected applications very
  high
• Evaluating most common issues
• Missing Credential (Commons ID) for PD/PI in
  Senior/Key Person Component
• Missing DUNS in Commons Profile for Organization

10
NIH Timeline
Recently Updated!
SBIR/STTR (Dec. 1, 2005)
We have begun!
Resource (G), Career Development (K), S11, S21,
S22 (Jun. 1, 2007)
R13/U13 (Dec. 15, 2005)
R36 (Feb. 17, 2006)
Fellowship (F) (Aug. 5, 2007)
R15 (Feb. 25, 2006)
Training (TD), U45, D71/U2R (Sep. 10, 2007)
R18/U18, R25, C06/UC6 (Oct. 1, 2006)
S10 (Mar. 22, 2006)
DP1(Jan. 22, 2007)
Projects/Centers (P), M01, R10/U10, S06, U01,
U19, U54, U56, R24/U24 (Oct. 1, 2007)
X02 (April 18, 2006)
R01(Feb. 1, 2007)
Potential R01 Multi-PI Pilot (Oct. 1, 2006)
R03, R21/R33, R34(June 1, 2006)
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10
11
05
07
12
09
01
02
03
04
05
01
02
03
04
06
08
06
10
07
09
08
2006
2007

• Current as of February 6, 2006. Visit the Web
  site for the latest version http//era.nih.gov/El
  ectronicReceipt/

Mechanism Abbreviation Key C06/UC6 Research
Facilities Construction Grants DP1 NIH Directors
Pioneer Award Program D71/U2R International
Training Cooperative Agreement/
Phase 2 of FIC mechanism D71 P Research Program
Projects and Centers R01 Research
Project Grant Program R03 Small Grant
Programs R10/U10 Cooperative Clinical Research
Grants R13/U13 Support for Conferences
Scientific Meetings R15 Academic
Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) R18/U18
Research Demonstration and Dissemination Projects
R21/R33 Exploratory/Development
Research R24/U24 Resource Related Research
Projects R25 Education Projects R34
Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program R36
Research Dissertation Grant Program SBIR
Small Business Innovation Research STTR
Small Business Technology Transfer S06,S10,S11
Biomedical Research S21,22 Health Disparities
Endowment Grants U Cooperative
Agreement Awards X02 Pre-application for
Interdisciplinary Research Consortium
11
Posting funding opportunity announcements on
Grants.gov

• Funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) will
  continue to be posted in the NIH Guide for Grants
  and Contracts
• NIH will continue to use RFAs and PAs, but all
  grants solicitations will be referred to as FOAs
  in Grants.gov
• FOAs will simultaneously be posted to Grants.gov
  by Office of Extramural Research (OER) staff
  along with the appropriate application package

12
Using standard forms to apply through Grants.gov
is a very different model

• The application form and instructions will now be
  part of a package that NIH posts on Grants.gov
  along with each funding opportunity announcement
  (FOA)
• Applicants will download the application package
  for the specific funding opportunity announcement
  from within Grants.gov

13
SF424 (RR) Grant Application Package

• NIH requires additional data collection to
  accommodate the unique information required for
  review of its biomedical research portfolio.
• In addition to the standard components, the
  following agency specific components will be
  used by NIH as part of our application package
• PHS 398 Cover Letter File
• PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement
• PHS 398 Research Plan
• PHS 398 Modular Budget
• PHS 398 Checklist

14
Preparing for Submission Registration

• Grants.gov
• Applicant institutions must complete one time
  only registration
• Good for electronic submission to all Federal
  agencies
• Detailed instructions at http//grants.gov/GetSta
  rted
• Grants.gov registration requires institutions to
• Obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS)
  number
• Register in Central Contractor Registry (CCR)
• Registration not required to find funding
  opportunity or download application package, only
  to submit completed application
• eRA Commons
• Applicant institutions must complete one-time
  only registration
• PIs must work through their institutions to
  register
• PIs currently registered only for IAR must work
  through their institutions for full Commons
  registration

It is critical for institutions to begin this
registration process at least 4 weeks before
applications are due!
15
Electronic Receipt How it works

• Applying for Grants at Grants.gov
• After finding the grant opportunity on
  Grants.gov
• Step 1 Download the grant application package.
  (PureEdge Software required to view)
• Step 2 Complete the application
• Step 3 Submit the application to Grants.gov
  (processed through Authorized Organizational
  Representative AOR)
• Step 4 Track the status of the submitted
  application package you are notified it has been
  retrieved by NIH

16
Electronic Receipt How it works

• Applying for Grants (continued)
• Step 5 eRA software checks the application
  against NIH business rules
• Step 6 NIH notifies Principal Investigator (PI)
  and Signing Official (SO) via email to check the
  eRA Commons for results of NIH rule checking
• Step 7 If the application passes NIH rules,
  SF424 (RR)-based grant image appears
• PI and SO review application
• If acceptable, PI and SO verify application in
  Commons
• If not, the PI or SO rejects the application in
  Commons, makes changes and resubmits via
  Grants.gov

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Electronic Receipt How it works

• Apply for Grants (continued)
• Step 8 If application does not pass NIH rules,
  errors and warnings are listed
• PI and SO fix errors and resubmit to Grants.gov
• Step 9 After verification, data and grant image
  are saved and application begins getting
  processed by NIH staff

Grant image is available to reviewers Applicant
can follow progress of application via the eRA
Commons
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NIH Lessons Learned from December Submissions
(cont.)

• Re-evaluating validation requirements
• Revising instruction guides and funding
  opportunity announcements to incorporate helpful
  hints learned from initial submissions
• Looking for opportunities to improve the process
• Re-evaluation of verification requirements
• Will eliminate requirement for active Commons
  AOR/SO verification
• Discussions on-going with investigative folks
  (OIG DoJ) re PI verification requirement
• Reviewing ways to shorten time for eRA Commons
  registration
• Continued need for outreach and education to
  applicant community

19
eReferral of grant applications

• Means that CSR and NCI referral officers will no
  longer receive and refer paper copies of
  applications
• Means that NCI program staff will not be
  referred paper copies of applications to accept
  or reject or trade assignments
• Means that modifications of referral practices
  and the software/database (i.e., the NOW System)
  are necessary and are now being developed and
  implemented

20
eReview of grant applications

• Means that CSR and NCI scientific review
  administrators will no longer receive and review
  paper copies of applications (local printing may
  still occur)
• Means that peer reviewers may not receive paper
  copies of applications to read and critique in
  the short term, the costs of printing may be
  transferred to them
• Means that greater use of Internet-Assisted
  Review (IAR) will help to streamline peer
  review processes
• Means that applicants will be able to better
  review milestones for their applications.

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Where to go for Help

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