Some Important Notes and Reminders for Submitting Proposals Using Grants.Gov

We want to thank the SoM research community for their cooperation in facilitating the change over from paper proposal submissions to the electronic Grants.gov proposal submission process. We want to provide some reminders and hopefully helpful tips for using the systems.  We urge you to share useful lessons learned with us which we will share with the SoM Research Community.

Let us know if you are planning to submit...

If you are planning on submitting a Grants.gov electronic proposal, please contact the grants administrator assigned to your division or department in advance. We want to ensure that you have all of the necessary information that you need to put together your application (i.e., Pure Edge Software, correct FOA (funding opportunity announcement), institutional information needed for on-line applications, formatting requirements for attachments, etc.).

40 hours prep time...

The NIH estimates that it will take approximately 40 hours to prepare an electronic application.  If you contact our office we can help you wade through the administrative requirements of the application so that you can spend your time on the more important components of your application.

Here is the link to the parent R01 funding opportunity announcement:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/parent_announcements.htm. 

And the link to the SF424 instructions:  http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/prepare_app.htm#1.

Useful e-submission tips for PIs:
http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/files/PI_Advice.pdf

Important Note:  The NIH Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) in the Center for Scientific Review, (this is the office which receives all grant submissions) is becoming increasingly strict.  Failure to follow specific guidelines provided in the PA or RFA, for example, could result in the rejection of the proposal submission.

5 business days  in advance of the Grants.gov due date....

All applications need to be in our office five business days prior to the sponsor's deadline.  All applications must be complete and ready to be submitted electronically when received by the Office of Grants and Contracts. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to process proposals which are incomplete and/or arrive less than 5 business days in advance of the deadline.  The Office of Grants and Contracts will not be responsible for any submission errors or other negative consequences for late proposals.  We will not process any proposals received in our office on the due date.  We will ask for acknowledgement from the Departmental Chair for each request for our office to process a late proposal.

Two paper copies and a goldenrod...

Even though the application is to be submitted electronically, our business practices remain the same; will need two paper copies (the original is the on-line application), and the goldenrod proposal routing form. We are working towards a paperless environment but anticipate that it will take an additional year or two before our electronic recordkeeping systems are robust enough to withstand audit.  We very much appreciate your cooperation in providing a copy for the OSP and OGC records.

Upload your proposal to the Z drive or lend us a thumb drive...

 The preferred mechanism to transmit your on-line application to our office is to save the application to the SoM Z Drive.  Each SoM department has one or two designated staff  who have access to the drive and can save your application to the drive. This would be a good time to find out who your designated person is with this access.  Our office will access your application directly from the Z drive, and we will submit your application to the sponsor from the Z drive.  We will also accept proposals using a thumb drive which we will return to you once your proposal has been submitted.  Please make sure that someone in your department has access to the Z drive at lease 10 business days prior to the planned submission.  Contact the Office of Grants and Contracts if you need to gain access to the system.

Grants.gov to eRA Commons...

Every application must be validated first in the Grants.gov system and then in the NIH eRA Commons system.  The validation involves computer checking and matching of numerous fields.  An error message will stop your application from being processed; a warning will allow the proposal to be forwarded on for peer review.  It is important to look at your proposal online as soon as possible to make sure that it is the application that you want to have reviewed.  Because our office has been reviewing and submitting electronic applications, we can help you avoid many of the common errors and warnings.  Below is a listing of the most common errors and warnings PIs receive. Please do not wait until the last minute to contact us if you need help.

For Multiple PI Proposals...

The NIH now allows multiple PI's on research grants; however, this option is available only on certain Funding Opportunities.  Do not assume you may use the multiple PI option on an unsolicited R01; multiple PI applications will only be accepted by the system in response to an FOA that allows it.

If you are planning to submit a multiple PI proposal , please :1) identify a "Contact PI" on the goldenrod.  The contact is the PI responsible for coordinating the submission.  Although a separate project will be established for each PI, the overall account structure will be based on the owning org of the Contact PI.  2) We will need a  goldenrod and 3) We will need a separate budget for each PI.  The budgets are for internal purposes and will be used to establish the accounts in the hopeful event an award is made.  More information on the SoM's policy may be found at:

https://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/opr/manuals/som/Administration-of-Multiple-Investigator-Awards-_Oct-2006_.pdf

PI Responsibilities...

PIs are responsible for logging on to the NIH eRA Commons website within 48 hours of proposal submission.  PIs are advised to "Proactively check your application status in the eRA Commons." The PI should view the proposal, check for error messages and contact this office immediately if a problem exists. 

PIs if you leave town after providing us with your proposal please provide your grant administrator with a contact person who can contact you in an emergency and/or has access to the files used to create your proposal.

PIs and Department Administrators and Staff need to be aware that the NIH office of Receipt and Referral is becoming increasingly strict and will not accommodate problems caused by not following procedures properly.

Proposals can be corrected and resubmitted up-to the submission deadline with no explanation: however if a correction is needed after the deadline has passed due to system identified errors/warnings the PI must write a letter to their Program Officer to be co-signed by the Authorized Business Official explaining why the proposal needs to be resubmitted (i.e. exceeding page limit, eRA commons user name missing for PI, transposed DUNS #, etc). Include information from any previous cover letter(s) since that information is not retained.  This letter needs to be uploaded into the corrected proposal.  View the sample letter here.

Special Notes for PI's 

Allow up to 1 weekday from the time NIH has retrieved the application from Grants.gov for the status to appear in:

The NIH Electronic Submission websites and the application guide are excellent sources for questions about errors and warnings:

Remember, errors are fatal:your application will not be accepted until all errors are resolved and the ARO submits a complete Corrected/Changed application through Grants.gov.

Warnings need to be reviewed and may require corrective action; proposals will appear and be forwarded on for peer review but may result in the proposal having to be withdrawn at a later date. 

Here is a list of the most common errors and warnings PI's receive.

PI's and department administrators are advised to check proposal status carefully and to notify your grants administrator immediately if you have questions or concerns.  We look forward to working with you. Please contact us for help.

GRANTS.GOV EXTRAS: