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NIH Electronic Applications and Grants.gov Fact Sheet

• NIH has announced that it will be converting to a completely electronic grant application process by October 2007. This process will be phased in as a function of the grant award mechanism.  Please see the transition plan at the following URL:
  
  http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/files/Electronic_receipt_timeline_Ext.pdf

• NIH will rely on Grants.gov as the gateway through which it will receive all electronic applications. However, it will also use the NIH eRA Commons for certain aspects of the process and for the submission of other documents (e.g., progress reports, just-in-time information, final technical reports, etc).

• Case is already registered with Grants.gov and with NIH eRA Commons. You do not need to register with Grants.gov.

• However, if you plan to submit an application to NIH, you will need to register with the NIH eRA Commons. Most Case faculty are already registered. However, if you are not already registered (or don’t know), you cannot register yourself, but must do so through an Administrative Official or a Signatory Official at Case. 
  
  To this end, an account can be established for you by your department administrator if they have been designated as an Administrative Official; or by the School of Medicine (SOM) Research Office, if you are a SOM faculty member; or by the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration (OSPA), if you are a faculty member in other Case schools or colleges.   

• You will need to download the PureEdge software to be able to submit a proposal through Grants.gov to any federal agency as a potential sponsor. Instructions can be found at:
  
  http://www.grants.gov/DownloadViewer

• Once you have downloaded the PureEdge Viewer, you should familiarize yourself with the new forms (SF424 R&R) that need to be completed when submitting an application to NIH through Grants.gov. These forms can be viewed at:
  
  http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm

• The steps for submitting an application to NIH via Grants.gov are as follows:
  
  

  	1.	Search for and identify a grant opportunity on Grants.gov.
  	2.	Download the grant application package.
  	3.	Complete the application. Be sure to save a local copy.
  	4.	The organization through the AOR submits the application to Grants.gov
  	5.	Track the status of your submitted application package at Grants.gov until you are notified via email by Grants.gov that NIH has received it.
  	6.	eRA software checks the application against NIH’s business rules.
  	7.	NIH notifies both the PI (Principal Investigator) and SO (Signing Official) by email to check the eRA Commons for results of the NIH validations check. Because email can be unreliable, PIs and SOs should periodically check eRA Commons for the status of their application.
  	8.	The PI and SO find out if the grant application passed or failed the rule check, and:
  		if it passed, review the application. If the application is accurate, the PI and SO must independently verify it in the eRA Commons. If it is not, they reject the application in the eRA Commons, make the necessary changes, and submit the entire corrected application via Grants.gov if it failed, a list of the errors and warnings appears in eRA Commons. Fix the errors and submit the entire corrected application through Grants.gov.
  	9.	After verification, the eRA Commons saves the data and grant image, and NIH begins processing the application.
  	10.	Applicants can track the progress of their application on the eRA Commons.

With respect to the steps above, please note the following:

• You can not submit the application to Grants.gov yourself.  This has to be done by an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR). AORs can be found in the SOM Research Office or OSPA.
  
  
• Do not wait until the last minute to submit an application through Grants.gov.  Since NIH will require you to correct business rule errors that it identifies and then view and verify the application on the eRA Commons website, you should submit your PureEdge file, with all of the forms completed, to the AOR at least ten days before the deadline.
  
  
• Given the size of the PureEdge file (for most grant applications), it is best to attach the file to the electronic University Review Form (eURF) rather then send it as a separate attachment to an e-mail message.  Once the AOR has received a completed eURF and the PureEdge file has no errors, he/she will submit it to Grants.gov.
  
  
• The AOR will receive several e-mail messages from Grants.Gov (e.g., containing the Grants.gov tracking number) that will be forwarded to the PI for his/her records.  The AOR will also be able to retrieve the Agency tracking number from the Grants.gov website once it has been issued by the Agency.
  
  
• Contact either - the SOM Research Office (medres@case.edu), if you are SOM faculty, OR the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration (resadm@case.edu), if you are faculty from the other schools or colleges - and have any questions about the forms or the process for submitting an application through Grants.gov. 
  
  
• Another great source of information about the NIH electronic application process, including forms, news, FAQs, etc. is:

  http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/
  

For PDF version of this page, click here.

Last updated October 4, 2006