Grants.gov

Grants.Gov at Georgia Tech

Grants.gov was developed in response to Public Law 106-107. It was enacted on November 1999. The purposes of the Act are to (1) improve the effectiveness and performance of Federal financial assistance programs, (2) simplify Federal financial assistance application and reporting requirements, (3) improve the delivery of services to the public, and (4) facilitate greater coordination among those responsible for delivering services.

Reminders:

• Georgia Tech Research Corporation – GIT and Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation are already registered with Grants.Gov. No additional registration by a PI or departmental administrator is necessary.
• The Office of Sponsored Programs submits the final proposal application to Grants.Gov
• The application is a package of forms that have to be completed. It is NOT web based.
• Use Internet Explorer
• You need to enable cookie support and pop-ups
• Complete the SF 424 R & R form (or other cover page) first as it populates other forms
• The file does NOT automatically save. You have to click on SAVE to save the data entered.
• When editing attachments, be sure that you are working on the file from your desk top and not within the application

The New Adobe Forms & Grants.gov – The 12 step process…

• Step 1
  Download Adobe Viewer 8.1.1 or newer. This can be found on the Grants.gov website. It is required that you use Adobe Reader version 8.1.1 for Grants.gov (Adobe) applications. Adobe Reader 8.1.1 is available to download for free on the Grants.gov website. There is a corruption issue when utilizing
  other versions of Adobe Reader including 8.0 and 8.1.[Microsoft VISTA can be utilized with Adobe Reader version 8.1.1. Please note that any document attachment must be converted to a Word version 97-2003. Simply use the “save as” feature.]Note: You must use Adobe Reader to work on the application (NOT) Adobe Professional. You can install Adobe Reader in addition to having Adobe Professional software installed. Application packages SHOULD NOT be opened in Adobe Professional. To ensure the application package opens in Adobe Reader you will need to set your Adobe default to Adobe Reader. To set Adobe Reader
  as your default, right click on Adobe Professional icon on your computer click on “Properties” and then choose Adobe Reader as the default. You will still need Adobe Professional to create the .pdf attachment files.

  Please note: Some applications are still built via PureEdge. The lifecycle of these applications are ending in the upcoming months.

• Step 2
  Download the Application Package (each package is specific to the solicitation that you are applying for.)
• Step 3
  Save to Desktop
• Step 4
  Open Adobe Application
• Step 5
  We suggest that you use the following scheme for the application filing name. (LastNameofPI_As much of your title as possible. An example: Powell_Gas Heated Slow Reactor Studies)
• Step 6
  Yellow fields are mandatory fields. They must be completed. Agencies might have additional mandatory fields that are not yellow but will prohibit an application being accepted into the agency’s system. Be sure to follow their instructions!
• Step 7
  Click on the document you want to work on then click on OPEN. Complete the forms beginning with the SF 424 R & R (or other cover page as it will populate forms.) (Within a form, Click on CLOSE button and then once your back at the opening page of the application click SAVE button).
• Step 8
  Attach necessary Files (Within a form, Click on CLOSE button and then once your back at the opening page of the application click SAVE button).
• Step 9
  Take out the information in the parenthesis
• Step 10
  When a form is completed move it over to the completed documents by click on the arrow point to the completed box.
• Step 11
  After all mandatory forms and any necessary optional forms are completed and moved into the completion box. Forward the application to your contracting officer. (Some large files may not be able to be emailed through campus email. We are working on other solutions but burning a CD or DVD may be necessary.)
• Step 12
  Don’t forget your Routing Form! It still needs to be completed and given to your contracting officer prior to submission!

Remember: When sharing the document be careful about the version that you are using. (It is similar to sharing a Word document – only one person can be working on it at a time. It is not web based.)

Agency-Specific Guidance for Grants.gov

Each agency will have specific guidelines and differing requirements for an application. Be sure to follow the agency guidelines!

Contact your contracting officer for assistance!

National Science Foundation

View the NSF Grants.gov Guide (PDF)

It may take up to 10 hours or more for the proposal to be sent from Grants.gov to the FastLane system. If submitting a proposal with subawards or as a simultaneous collaborative submission, applicants cannot use Grants.gov but must use FastLane.

The most likely causes of rejection are:

• The attachments are not in PDF format. Attachments must be in PDF Format. (You can use FastLane to convert files)
• Two or more attachments have the same name.
• Applicant enters invalid funding opportunity, division code and program code.
• Duplicate Key persons on the R & R Senior/Key Person form

List of Programs Requiring Grants.gov submission

National Institutes of Health

You can either view the NIH Grants.gov Application Guide and Instructions from NIH’s site or you can view & print out the step-by-step handout for finding a Grants.gov application for NIH and then how to complete the form. See the sections below for additional guidance and helpful pre-populated forms to assist you with your submission.

NIH originally set Oct. 1, 2006 as the date after which paper applications would not be accepted. Hearing concerns from the applicant community regarding problems with Grants.gov, NIH agreed to provide an additional four months (one submission round) before requiring submission via Grants.gov. R01s are now due February 1, 2007. See the updated timeline for NIH submissions (PDF). Remember, all Project Directors and Principal Investigators must register in the eRA Commons. To register for a new account the following information must be emailed: Full name (First and Last), Terminal Degree & Date degree awarded.

Other guidance from NIH:

• After submission via Grants.gov, the Principal Investigator and the Contracting Officer are required to independently verify the proposal in the eRA Commons system within two business days if no action is taken the submission is accepted into the NIH system.
• If changes are necessary, an entirely new proposal must be submitted via Grants.gov.
• Submit your final proposal to the Office of Sponsored Programs FIVE business days in advance, to allow recovery time if your proposal is rejected for any reason.
• Updates on the status of the transition to electronic submission and the
  new form set are posted on the NIH eRA Electronic Submission of Grant Applications Web site.
• Until a grant mechanism “goes electronic,” applicants should submit applications for that mechanism on paper PHS 398 forms. NIH systems will not be ready to receive those applications electronically until the transition date.
• Once a grant mechanism “goes electronic” on the transition submission date, all applications (new, revised, competing) must utilize the SF424(R & R) form and be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. Paper applications will not be accepted after the transition date for a grant mechanism.

Helpful Notes and pre-populated forms for NIH Grants.gov:

Budget note: Do not open the form for the R&R Budget if submitting a Modular Budget. Opening this will cause certain fields to become highlighted, which will require these fields to be addressed otherwise you
will get error messages when submitting. A sample SF 424 R&R is provided containing institutional information as well as notes to assist you with the completion of this form. If you have questions about the forms, please contact Michelle Powell or Garrett Steed.

The top two reasons NIH proposals are rejected by Grants.gov

• Missing Commons User ID in the Credential Field: The application did not include the PI’s Commons User ID in the field called “Credential, e.g. agency login.” This field is not marked as required on the government-wide form but is required by NIH, as noted in the SF424 (R & R) Application Guide. The field is located in the first section called “Profile – Project Director/Principal Investigator” on the Senior/Key Person Profile(s) component of the SF424 (R & R) form.
• PDF issues: 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 include active links in any PDF document. Do not send PDF documents with editable fields (fields that can be changed).

Office of Naval Research (ONR)

Additional information regarding the application and submission process for ONR. ONR Grants.gov procedures (pdf)

USDA/CSREES

Utilization of Grants.gov for application to all CSREES programs will begin in FY 2007. For more information, see the CSREES eGrants Implementation Plan.

Department of Energy

During the past year, DoE has been using the SF 424 (R & R) for the majority of its grant programs that do not require cost sharing. Beginning April 2006, DoE plans to use the SF 424, including the new Total Federal + Non-Federal budget form for its cost sharing programs.

NASA

NASA will post 100% of the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2006 (ROSEES-2006) elements on Grants.gov Apply. Use of Grants.gov to submit proposals, however, will be optional. NASA is currently conducting integration testing of the Grants.gov system to system interface. More information is available at the NASA Research Opportunities site.

Department of Defense

The Department of Defense plans to require Grants.gov for some of its programs effective FY07.