![](media/image1.jpeg){width="4.125in" height="1.7486111111111111in"}

**USER GROUP**

**ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**MASTER LIST**

> January 31, 2008
>
> **[Table of Contents]{.underline}**

[Identifier Number]{.underline} [Type of Suggestion]{.underline}
[Page]{.underline}

09.05.01 E-mail notification 4

09.05.02 Create search buttons 7

09.05.03 Congressional Districts consistency 10

09.05.04 Deployment form strategy 13

09.05.05 Error explanation for applicant 17

09.05.06 Applicant registration checklist 19

09.05.07 Grantor screen shoot (SCR already in place) 21

09.05.08 Applicant registration alternatives for federal agencies 24

09.05.09 Notice of award 26

09.05.10 Applicant registration screen 28

09.05.11 Notice of award 30

09.05.12 Notice of award database 32

09.05.13 Grantor screen change 34

09.05.14 Grantor reports 36

09.05.15 Processes (fed and applicant notification, User Group) 38

09.05.16 Post-award---pre-populate and validate 40

09.05.17 Consistent due date 42

09.05.18 Apply posting non-comp. applications 44

09.05.19 Electronic notification setup 46

10.05.20 Grantor setup---regional authority 48

10.05.21 Forms display in application package 50

10.05.22 Submission tips and glossary of terms 52

11.05.23 Data Element Modifications 55

11.05.24 Forms in Development 57

12.05.25 Add a checkbox to the Registration Screen 59

12.05.26 Add grantee name and Grants.gov Tracking ID number 61

01.06.27 Develop a mechanism to handle collaborative proposals 63

01.06.28 Find/Apply Merge Enhancements 66

02.06.29 Improve instructions stated that SF-424A 68

02.06.30 Application viewing 70

02.06.31 View applicant names 73

02.06.32 Account Maintenance 75

02.06.33 Include agency registration on site 77

02.06.34 S2S system for multiple agencies & act as a service center 79

02.06.35 S2S system identify applicant in grant package 81

04.06.36 Fillable PDF files to its applicants 83

04.06.37 PureEdge Attachments 85

04.06.38 Change posting synopsis and posting 87

04.06.39 SF-424v2 89

05.06.40 Grantee timeout 91

05.06.41 Opportunity Category 94

06.06.42 Archive by date 96

06.06.43 Email PI 98

07.06.44 Email Modification 100

**[Table of Contents (Cont.)]{.underline}**

07.06.45 Deleting Applications 102

08.06.46 Improve funding opp. description field 105

08.06.47 Retain app tracking info 107

08.06.48 Search and sort criteria for apps 109

08.06.49 S2S enhancement 111

08.06.50 CCR query 114

08.06.51 Partial Applications 116

08.06.52 Correct the xml schema 424A 118

08.06.53 Tracking Numbers 120

10.06.54 Application template a required field 122

11.06.55 Synopsis and Full Announcement page headers 124

12.06.56 Fellowship Programs 126

12.06.57 Impact Aid Program 128

01.07.58 Find Modifications 130

01.07.59 Find and Apply via a Web Service 132

01.07.60 Data Fields 134

01.07.61 Removal Filenames and Mime Types for the Attachments 136

01.07.62 Closing Dates 138

04.07.63 Search Tool 140

04.07.64 Archive 142

04.07.65 Monitor Application 144

04.07.66 Search by User Name 146

11.07.67 Search Category 148

01.08.68 Firefox 150

01.08.69 Characters with Diacritical Marks 152

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline} 9/19/2005**

**[Name]{.underline} Brett Bobley**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

NEH

202-606-8401

bbobley@neh.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Currently, when an application arrives at Grants.Gov, you send us an
e-mail that simply says: "Your agency has received an application at
Grants.gov and is ready for retrieval." But it is so generic, that you
can't tell what opportunity it is related to. I'd like to suggest that
the e-mail include the: a) Opportunity number b) Competition ID c)
Opportunity Name d) Competition name e) Grants.gov tracking number f)
Closing date

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

The current notice is too generic to be helpful. First of all, it would
simply be helpful to be able to tell at a glance what it was for. Right
now, there is no way to correlate between the notification e-mail and
the applications available for download. If it included the fields
mentioned above, then I could do more sophisticated things, like parse
the opportunity name in the e-mail and forward it to another NEH staff
member as appropriate.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

I suspect that all agencies would find this an improvement. It is
earth-shattering? No. But it is a small (and, I would guess, simple)
change that would make the message much more informative.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

It would not. It would be for internal efficiency only.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received**-9/19/05 ID#-09-05-01

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/4/05 John-will have something put together
for next meeting. Mike said it was something that was very achievable.
11/1/05 (Final Action)-Mike said that this will be put in place in the
January built. There were no objections raised and John concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline} 9/19/2005**

**[Name]{.underline} Brett Bobley**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

NEH

202-606-8401

bbobley@neh.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

This suggestion isn't an enhancement, per se. But a suggestion. My
suggestion is that Grants.Gov officially document how agencies can
create search buttons on their websites that allow customers to download
a grants.gov application with a single click. That way, when an
applicant is reading about a grant opportunity on an agency site,
instead of having to go back to Grants.gov and search for it, he/she can
click a single button and be taken right to the download page.

Here's an example of such a page on the NEH website:

<http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/collaborativeinstructions.html>

(note: example will stop working November 1 after the deadline).

Here's the HTML code we used:

\<form action=\"http://apply.grants.gov/GetGrantFromFedgrants\"
target=\"new\" method=\"post\"\>

\<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"opportunity\"
value=\"NEH-GRANTS-111504-011\" /\>

\<input type=\"image\" SRC=\"../images/clickheredownload.gif\"
border=\"0\" /\>

\</form\>

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

We want Grants.gov to be as easy-to-use as possible. Hence, if an
applicant is already reading about an opportunity on an agency website
and they want to apply, why make them go to a different website and type
in search terms just to find the correct download package? This can be
confusing to an applicant -- particularly if there are several
opportunities with similar names. This "single button click" technique
allows the agency to send the applicant right to the download page for
the proper opportunity/competition.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Most federal agencies will find this technique helpful for use on their
websites. We just need to better document how it can be done with HTML.
Also, as Grants.Gov makes changes to their search engine, we need to
make sure they always document how the engine works to ensure agencies
can continue to use these one-click buttons.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

It would make it much easier for grantees to download the correct
application package.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/19/05 ID#-09-05-02

**Date/s of Discussion 10**/04/05-John-will have the Grants.gov Outreach
team work on this area and will revisit at next meeting. 11/1/05 (Final
Action)-Outreach stated this could be in place on the Technical Library
ASAP after the merge. There were no objections raised and John
concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline} 9/20/2005**

**[Name]{.underline} Brett Bobley**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

NEH

202-606-8401

bbobley@neh.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Currently, all the SF-424 forms (long, short, etc) allow the user to
enter anything they want in the Congressional District box. So if
someone lives in New York's 9^th^ district, they might put:

9

9^th^

NY-9

Ninth

NY-Ninth

NY 9

9^th^ District

Etc.

This inconsistency makes it extremely difficult to properly parse the
data and import it into a backend grants database.

My enhancement is to make the field numeric-only. That way, they can
simply type:

9

And we are all set. We don't need them to type in a state because we
already have a state field on the form. Note that my agency's online
grants system for several years has required just a numeric entry like
"9" and it works fine. If your state doesn't have districts, you can
enter a zero.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

One of the key's to grants.gov is consistency of data. By requiring
consistency of data it is straightforward to receive and import the
applications. All the other SF-424 fields seem to have the proper
datatype. But this one slipped through and seems to be wrong.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This should be an improvement to any agency using a system-to-system
interface. It will save a great deal of manual intervention. If we don't
make this change, agencies will have to manually fix the data string in
their backend systems.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

It should have no impact. It will be very easy for them to just type a
numeric district.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-03

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-John-will have Mary Rexford address
this area at next meeting. 11/1/05-Mary addressed this issue and gave
out a handout. She took questions and this matter is resolved and
closed.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 9/27/2005

**[Name]{.underline}** Mary Rexford/Peter Brunner

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Grants.gov

<Peter.Brunner@hhs.gov> 202-205-6303

Mary.Rexford@hhs.gov 202-205-1226

**1. Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Data and Form Deployment Strategy

(That considers the needs of the AS2S community)

Purpose: To define a deployment strategy of new data and forms allowing
adequate time for agency PE users and agency/applicant S2S users time to
modify procedures/systems.

Scope: Applies to deployment of:

1)  SF-424 version 2 data set and form

2)  Conversion of the form families to Global Library 2.0

    a.  Core SF-424

    b.  R&R 424

    c.  424 Mandatory

    d.  424 Individual

    e.  424 Short Organizational

3)  Deployment of new and revised Government-wide data sets and forms

4)  Deployment of new and revised Agency-specific data set and forms

Considerations:

Overall Impact of New/Revised data and forms Deployment on Users: each
option must consider the following needs of the communities.

1)  Agency PE Users -- impacted by Government-wide, their agency
    specific forms, and other agencies forms they may be using (Time
    frame:

-   Plan for inclusion of new/revised forms when publishing
    opportunities

-   Plan for reissuing of opportunities with open-ended closing dates

-   Plan for communicating to their applicant community (?)

2)  Agency S2S users -- impacted by Government-wide, their agency
    specific forms, and other agencies forms they may be using
    (Timeframe:

-   Revise their back-end grants management systems to map to the new
    data

3)  Applicant S2S Users -- impacted by all data and forms: all
    Government-wide and all agency specific forms (Timeframe:

-   Develop XML data streams that coincide with the revised PE forms

Approach 1: [Transition Period applied to all data and
forms]{.underline}. This approach is applicable to all data and forms,
(government-wide, agency-specific, new or revised). The approach is a
two-phase deployment of all data and forms, allowing a two-month
transition period between phases. The transition period provides time
for agency and applicant communities to respond to the impact of the
changes. The two phases are:

Phase 1: Deploy data and forms to Technical Library "Forms in
Development" section only, not to production.

Phase 2: Deploy data and forms to Production. Move data to "Forms in
Production" section of the Technical Library.

> [The impacts of this approach are]{.underline}:

-   For agency specific forms, agencies cannot immediately use forms but
    must wait for the end of the transition period. Agencies need to
    build an extra two months into development schedules for new and
    revised forms to allow for the transition.

-   Applicant S2S users had requested a longer transition period,
    however, rather than extend the period timeframe, Design materials
    are made available in the Technical Library, as soon as available.

-   Grants.gov PMO need develop one process for deploying forms through
    the Technical Library.

Approach 2: [Transition Period applied only to Government-wide
forms]{.underline}. A different deployment approach is applied to
government-wide versus agency-specific.

-   For government-wide forms, approach is the same as Option 1
    above\--a two-phase deployment of data and forms, with a two-month
    transition between phases.

-   For agency-specific forms, the data and forms are deployed as
    currently deployed, i.e., as soon as ready for production.

> [The impacts of this approach are]{.underline}:
>
> For agency specific forms:

a.  Agencies can use data and forms, as they are deployed to production
    immediately after development. This assumes agencies with a S2S
    interface have modified their systems during the form development
    period to map to the new data.

b.  As some agency-specific forms are used by other agencies, the
    schedule of changes must be communicated to all communities.

c.  Applicant S2S users need time to adapt their systems to the new
    data. Each AS2S user defines its own transition period depending on
    how long it takes them to update their system. In the interim, the
    AS2S user will:

-   Instruct their applicant community to use the Pure Edge form until
    S2S modifications are complete, or

-   Deploy the form as optional and permit submission of the new form as
    a PDF for an interim period

> c\. Grants.gov PMO will develop two processes for deploying forms.

**Approach 3: [No Transition Period for any forms. ]{.underline}**

## 

## Impact of Approach Chosen on Current Environment

Depending on approach chosen, will need to determine impact on
data/forms currently on-deck or in the pipeline.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and/or
Efficiency of Grants.gov**

The methodology selected will help define the forms deployment process
in a way in which both agencies and applicant organizations will be able
to predict and to schedule developmental work.

**3. Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies? If so, how?**

Agencies with System to System interfaces and back end grants management
systems will be able to better schedule workloads to incorporate new and
revised forms.

**4. Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community? If so, how?**

[Universities and vendors using the Applicant System to System interface
to link Grants.gov with their back end grants management systems will be
better able to schedule workloads and to integrate new and revised forms
into their systems.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/27/05 ID#-09-05-04

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-Must have comments back to Pete in 2
weeks and will discuss at next meeting.11/5/05 (Final Action)-Pete went
over all three options, handed out correspondence received from NSF and
copy of new forms in process to be located on technical library, and
then opened the floor for discussion. It was concluded that Option 2
would be the procedure that Grants.gov would operate under. However, it
was determined that there would be a 2-month floor and Pete would work
with the various groups (i.e. R/R and Mandatory) to determine if certain
forms would need additional time. This matter is resolved and closed.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

[**Date:**]{.underline}

September 14, 2005

**[Name]{.underline}**

Gary Stammer

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Social Security Administration

Office of Acquisition and Grants, GMT

1st Floor - Rear Entrance

7111 Security Boulevard

Baltimore, Maryland 21244

410-965-9501, gary.stammer@ssa.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Issue more precise error messages when an attempt to submit an
application fails.

a\. If a DUNS registration is not active, state this.

b\. If an AOR's credential is not valid, state this.

c\. If an AOR username is not registered in grants.gov, state this.

d\. If an AOR password is not registered in grants.gov, state this.

e\. If an AOR username is not approved by the E-Biz POC, state this.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[The enhancement would make it easier for the applicant to understand
what has to be done to solve their application submission problem. This
should make the applicant more independent, reducing the situations
requiring technical assistance. This frees up time for other activities
and helps reduce the cost to deliver the necessary technical assistance.
Another side effect is faster application submission.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Enhancing the troubleshooting feedback should reduce the instances
requiring problem resolution by grantors. Resulting accelerated
application submissions also helps grantors process applications sooner.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Faster error resolution will reduce the time consumed by applicants for
application submission. This allows the grantee community to do more
with their resources, and helps improve the image of the Federal
government in the minds of the applicants.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/14/05 ID#-09-05-05

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-John-we will look at this to see what
can be done to accomplish this. 11/1/05 (Final Action)-Mike will make
change to make emails more effective in the January built. There were no
objections raised and John concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

[**Date:**]{.underline}

September 14, 2005

**[Name]{.underline}**

Gary Stammer

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Social Security Administration

Office of Acquisition and Grants, GMT

1st Floor - Rear Entrance

7111 Security Boulevard

Baltimore, Maryland 21244

410-965-9501, gary.stammer@ssa.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Offer an applicant the ability to check the status of all four
registration steps from the "Getting Started" webpage, Apply and Submit
processes. Offer the applicant the chance to enter the DUNS for their
organization and then have the system display:

[Registration Step]{.underline} [Status]{.underline}

DUNS Registered in Central Yes/No/Expired

Contractor Registration database (offer link to www.ccr.gov)

Registered with Credential Provider Yes/No

(offer link to Credential Provider website)

Authorized Organization Representative Yes/No

(AOR) Registered in Grants.gov (offer a link to a status check where one
can

enter an AOR username & password to

display the status for that individual. Also,

offer a link to register in Grants.gov)

AOR approved by E-Biz Point of Contact Yes/No

(offer a link to a status check where one can

enter an AOR username & password to

display the status for that individual.)

(offer a link to the E-Biz login)

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[This enhancement will help the large number of confused applicants
better understand how to complete the registration process and will
reduce the number of instances when they cannot submit applications and
do not know why. The improved understanding of the applicants will
reduce the problem resolution burden placed on the Grants.gov support
staff.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Helping to successfully register applicants assists all Federal agencies
which require applicants to be registered before being able to do
business with Federal agencies. By helping applicants register
themselves more independently it reduces the time consumed by Federal
agencies resolving registration problems.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[The additional information provided by this enhancement will improve
upon the existing "Individual Report", thereby decreasing the existing
confusion in the grantee community. It will help applicants resolve
issues sooner whether they relate to CCR, the Credential Provider,
Registering in Grants.gov, or E-Biz authorization. This will reduce the
time consumed trying to submit applications, will increase the number of
applications received by submission close dates, and will improve the
image of the Federal government in the minds of the
applicants.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** **-** 09/04/05 ID#-09-05-06

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-John-we will look at this to see what
can be done working with Mike and will revisit at next meeting. 11/1/05
(Final Action) - Mike-Will address this in the January built. We do not
have the exact solution but will work on it. There were no objections
raised and John concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

[**Date**: 9/21/05]{.underline}

[**Name:** Barbara Dorf]{.underline}

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address :]{.underline}**

**[U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development]{.underline}**

[451 7^th^ Street, SW]{.underline}

[Washington, DC 20410]{.underline}

**[Email:]{.underline}** Barbara_Dorf@hud.gov

[**Phone Number**: 202-708-0614 x 4637]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

**On the Grantor Page- when you get a agency organization report result,
the page with the result does not show the applicant name or DUNS
number. All other pages when you pull up the agency profile the DUNS
number is provided, along with a person's name. At a minimum the report
result should indicate the organization DUNS number. Ideally, it would
show the organization name, their DUNS number and the person logging in
as the applicant.**

[**HUD would also like to see in this report when the AOR's for the
agency were authiorized/not authorized** .]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Currently, a agency using this report would have no means of proving
the organization report is related to any particular applicant
organization without doing a data base search of AOR's. Such a database
is something that an agency would not be maintaining and is costly for
Grants.gov to produce for agencies. Right now to make the connection,
HUD is printing out the CCR registration and applicant reports to show
the link for our records, when registration challenges occur from the
applicants. The change would make grants,.gov more user friendly for the
grantor agencies using this organization report.]{.underline}

[The request for the date the AOR was authorized/unauthorized for any
listed on the report would provide the needed audit trail to explain to
applicants when applicants that had been previously authorized by the
E-Business POC to submit, why they were not able to submit due to not
being an approved AOR. Currently an grantor agency can only state that
the report says that an applicant AOR is listed or not, and whether they
are approved. We can only tell an applicant who claims to have been
removed to talk with their E Biz POC to find ot what happened. With such
an enhancement we could tell them exactly the date they were on or off
taken off the AOR approved listing.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Any agency using this report would benefit from this change request to
include the DUNS number and applicant organization name.

Any agency using this report to answer questions when you do not know
the User ID, would benefit from the AOR status change request.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community.**

Yes- The applicant community would be able to get answers from the
grantor agency a lot faster regarding their current status as an AOR in
order to apply for funding and to know if the status was still valid and
if not when the change occurred. .

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/21/05 ID#-09-05-07

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05\--Vince-SCR already in place to
initiate this change.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Alternative choices for Federal Agencies to accept different levels of
registration.]{.underline}

[Current levels of registration are: a) E-POC approved
credentials---Applicant Organization must be in CCR, must have AOR
credentials that are approved by E-POC; b) Individual---no DUNS, CCR or
credentials required.]{.underline}

[Allow one or more alternatives such as the following:]{.underline}

[c) Registered credentials---Applicant Organizations in CCR; AOR has
credentials---but NOT required to be approved by E-POC.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[This allows greater flexibility of Grants.gov usage and allows the
Grantor agency to decide level of signature credentials required. It
extends and simplifies the usability of electronic
application.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This increases options for Federal agencies---especially those that do
not have such strict requirements on identification of the actual
submittor (authorized official representative)

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[This simiplifies application processes and information for applicants
applying to Federal Agencies with fewer restrictions.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[This change is postive and should be considered in the near future, but
is not urgent.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-08

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05---Out of scope the group.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Allow electronic signature credential for one user to be used for more
than one Applicant Organization.]{.underline}

[Allow different DUNS numbers to be used for the same User ID/Password
electronic signature credentials. Allow E-POC approval by each of these
DUNS numbers to be done separately.]{.underline}

[If E-POC approval is required for the signature credentials, then
install edit check that match of DUNS and User/IDPassword is only valid
if E-POC for DUNS on application has granted approval.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Supports business process of 3^rd^ party submittors and also business
process of submittor being able to be approved and functional for more
than one organization.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Allow Federal agencies to be more responsive to applicant needs.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Supports business process of 3^rd^ party submittors and also business
process of submittor being able to be approved and functional for more
than one organization.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[This change was previously request and may be under consideration. If
not, it needs to be resurfaced for discussion at some
point.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-09

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-John-this is a policy area and not in
per view of group. 11/1/05-Diana requested that this be withdrawn (will
work with Gary to resubmit).

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Displlay of Registration Processes for Applicant:]{.underline}

[(a) Simplify the website. The current new view of E-POC; AOR;
Organization and Grant Finder is confusing and uses too many acronyms
for navigation.]{.underline}

[(b) Redo the 3 checklists. The 3 separate checklists are confuse the
applicant, cause them to not realize that they may be all 3 and
therefore increase likelihood that they will skip a step until the last
minute not fully realizing they have not completed a step. Put the URL
back on the Organization Registration checklist about where the E-POC
goes to approve the AOR. By removing it this forces the use of the E-POC
checklist and is very difficult when trying to walk and applicant
through these steps by telephone.]{.underline}

[c) Get Started (first paragraph) Hyperlink on the checklist moves the
screen down and positions it so that the checklists on the left side the
of the screen show. This is confusing and at first appears to be an
un-linked hyperlink unless you happen to notice the check lists on the
left. Make this a true hyperlink---if the issue is that there are
multiple lists AND this must be supported, then make this a selection in
the link.]{.underline}

[d) Make site and URLs consistent with the emails sent from CCR or from
Credential Provider. The same information is not displayed on the email
and on the checklists and on the screens. This confuses the applicant
even more.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Improved Get Started site for usage and instructions to
grantee.]{.underline}

[Reduces help calls and confusion at last minute of submission,
especially near due dates.]{.underline}

[Better assistance to Grantor Agencies and Grants.gov Help Desk in
improved ability to support grantees.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Assists in improved instructions that can be provided to grantees.

[Helps reduce requests for late submission waivers due to unclear
requirements. This was a major area of difficulty for our agency in 2004
and 2005 and has caused many of our program executives to criticize the
difficulties experienced with Grants.gov usage.]{.underline}

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Improve instructions to grantee.]{.underline}

[Reduces confusion at last minute of submission, especially near due
dates.]{.underline}

[Reduces need for "help" calls.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[Urgent need. Must coordinate information and changes closely and soon
with awarding Federal agencies since they are already tailoring their
own websites and grantee instruction information and announcements for
2006 based on the existing website and this will cause them problems if
communication is not soon and timely.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-10

**Date/s of Discussion** 10/04/05-Mike there is one SCR for addressing
some of this but it a tricky area. We will have to more to add on this
at next meeting. 11/5/05-Mike-We are still in the process of working on
all the details to implement this enhancement. Will get back to the
group on this matter. 12/6/05\--Outreach is working on this enhancement.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Develop a means to send electronic award notice through Grants.gov to
applicant AND display application status update accordingly that
corresponds with applicant ability to check status and Federal Agency
decision on funding opportunity.]{.underline}

[Issues to resolve include:]{.underline}

[a) Content/Fields---P.L. 106-107 standard notice of award inclusions.
Plus any additional agency-specific (optional) fields that could be
included (e.g., specifically such fields as would be used in a
government-wide backend reporting data base to include enough
information to about the applicant/grantee to be of use in
identification of a grantee and grant project.]{.underline}

[b) Access to information and security---Award information is available
publicly, but decisions other than award may be sensitive and not
available publicly.]{.underline}

[c) Categories of decisions---There is a wide variety of options that
Federal agencies use to specify the decision results. If these are not
standardized by the P.L. 106-107 workgroups, then common elements and/or
agency-specific results may need to be supported.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Enhanced functionality and usability to Grants.gov
customers.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Additional webservice interfaces must be developed, tested and deployed.

[Decisions of common features or agency-specific features may need to be
worked through.]{.underline}

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Enhanced functionality to receive notice and be able to check more
about status.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[Discussions need to be scheduled and balanced with other discussions of
standard grants processing that may be broader than the User Group is
ready to support. Either P.L. 106-107 workgroups need to seek
resolution/recommendations or a sub-group may need to be
formed.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 9/20/05 ID#-09-05-11

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-Diana led discussion and it was agreed
to table since topic currently out of the group per view.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Explore the full requirements that would need to be supported for a
Federal-wide grants reporting database. This would be done only in
conjunction with the enhancement to be able to send electronic award
notice to applicant.]{.underline}

[Issues include the following:]{.underline}

[a) overlap with CFDA reporting for Federal agencies. If this is to
eventually replace the CFDA, then a number of decisions need to be made
regarding the source of the data and the completeness of the data.
(e.g., in many cases CFDA data is provided by accounting operations
rather than grants management systems---this business process would need
to be assessed regarding changes.)]{.underline}

[b) Will unsuccessful or deferred award notices as well as awarded grant
notices be included in the same database? Are there security or
sensitivity issues?]{.underline}

[c) Since not all grant awards are competitive or are able to be
processed electronically, this data set may remain incomplete for some
time if this relies solely on notice of award processing. Also fiscal
year cutoffs may be difficult to determine based on award notices only
(e.g., date driven, funding source driven, etc.)]{.underline}

[d) At this point OMB is only requiring competitive discretionary
funding opportunities to be posted on Grants.gov. Not all programs are
in the CFDA.]{.underline}

[e) Will expanded data be included? At a minimum would all current CFDA
data and capabilities be replicated?]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Not clear on enhancement that this would offer to Grants.gov**.** This
might even detract from current mission if requirements and expectations
are not clearly defined.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Requirements, interfaces, and expectations must be clearly defined.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[This may be an enhancement for public inquiries in general and may
allow grantees to better see across Federal agencies and
programs.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[This change request is noted since it has come under discussion in the
past. Clear requirements, goals and expectations must be defined before
proceeding with this change.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-12

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-Diana led discussion and it was agreed
to table since out of groups per view.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Improve the Grantor screen capabilities:]{.underline}

[a) When displaying the View Submitted Applications Screen default
initially to the Grants.gov Tracking ID for the initials sort
order.]{.underline}

[b) After opening and returning to this selection screen within the same
browser session, then retain the resort to the sort order that was last
used by the Grantor and do not make them resort the list all over. When
working down through a set of applications, the current function makes
this activity particularly long and tedious.]{.underline}

[c) In download of application allow acknowledgement of application
received without requiring the download to be performed, since sometimes
that is all that is needed and it is time consuming to fool the system
into believing a download has occurred. If there is a way to detect that
at least one download has occurred, then use or enhance that capability
so that acknowledgement cannot be set unless at least one download of
the application has occurred.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Improved services to Grantor.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Improved service and reduced time in processing and searching.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[No significant impact.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[Suggestions to consider.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 9/20/05 ID#-09-05-13

**Date/s of Discussion** 11/1/05-Mike-Will work on this area and get
back to the group. 12/6/05-Since Mike was out, John covered via an email
sent by a colleague of Mike's but it did not fully handle all elements
so it was agreed to bring it up at next meeting when Mike is present.
1/10/06-Mike stated this would be accomplished in the 06-02 build.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Develop a submenu for Grantor Reports and make this more publicly
available---e.g. not requiring a User ID and password:]{.underline}

[a) Include reports that are already available such as the Applicant
Report and the CCR Report.]{.underline}

[b) Add other reports over time such as:]{.underline}

[b-1) Grants.gov Enhancements/Change request report---Ability for
grantors to see status of various change requests and their relationship
(if assigned) to any up-coming release of Grants.gov. Allow user to
subscribe or unsubscribe to emails about enhancements and change
requests that are being addressed in up-coming releases. Also allow
subscription to similar emails of up-coming changes, collections and due
dates such as the ramp up schedule, pending SF-424 revisions, and new
webservice interfaces. Currently there is a dependency upon distribution
through a single point of contact at a Federal Agency and this causes
undo burden on that point of contact and delays in distribution of the
information.]{.underline}

[b-2) Post the User Group Enhancement Form either on this site or linked
from another point.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Initially many of the IT staff have been involved with and supporting
Grants.gov. Over time Grants.gov needs to become more "operational" and
responsive to the Federal operations staff and less reliant on Federal
IT staff to translate, search or seek results from their operations
staff.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This will allow better access of information to Federal operations staff
who are more involved in the daily processing aspects of Grants.gov.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[For grantees involved in supporting system interfaces with Grants.gov,
this will serve their needs as well.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[Suggestions that need consideration for improved
servicing.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-14

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-Diana discussed and the following was
agreed: 1. At this time leave the reports availability as is. 2. Katie
Root stated that in near future there will be a list serve for
individuals as requested by this enhancement 3. We will place
enhancement form on site and after one is sent to Vince, he will forward
to respective agency User Group member so that they can determine if it
should be submitted to the whole group to be considered. 1/10/-06-Vince
will have master of all submitted enhancements, a grantor enhancement
form and grantee enhancement form placed on the site.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

**[Processing suggestions that do not specifically relate to systems
change requests:]{.underline}**

[1) Time Stamp -- Recently (some time in early September) Grants.gov
changed their recorded time stamp to be the initial time the application
was submitted rather than the time the application finished processing.
Please send out an email notice stating this change and the date it was
implemented. The agencies are currently in the midst of a great deal of
correspondence, Congressional inquiry, etc. that centers on applicants
registering complaints of unfairly being excluded from competitions due
to late submission. In many cases these late submissions were due to the
time stamp reflecting the end of processing instead of the initial time
of submission. Having this notification and the date it took effect is
important to the Federal agencies now.]{.underline}

[2) Tabling Requests -- In the User Group and in review of the
enhancement requests please consider not only the options to approve and
disapprove, but also to be able to table for later consideration (with
recommended date of reconsideration) and table for later consideration
after particular results or requirements are further
determined.]{.underline}

[3) Applicant Change Requests -- Consider whether or not there should be
a mechanism for a "Suggestion Box" from applicants that can be another
means of submission of change requests.]{.underline}

[4) Applicant Email Notification -- Please send an email to all AORs
with registered user credentials notifying them of the change of the
PureEdge version that must be downloaded. This will help reduce
confusion and delays during next year's application processing
cycles---especiallly for applicants who may have already downloaded
applications that they will submit next year. Please also either use
that mechanism or create another subscribe/unsubscribe mechanism for
applicants to register to receive changes noticies from
Grants.gov.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Improved processes.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Improved processes.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Improved processes.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[These are requests for procedural changes or considerations and do not
necessarily result in systems request changes]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-15

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-Diana lead the discussion. The
following was decided 1. Regarding the Time Stamp\--Katie can look at
the possibility of having Outreach prepare notification notifying
agencies of the change regarding time stamp and when it took place. 2.
John agreed to that all "tabled" enhancement requests can later be
brought back up for discussion. 3. There were no disagreement regarding
a grantee suggestion form placed on the site and John agreed. 4. Katie
will have Outreach send out memo to all AORs regarding the PureEdge
upgrade necessary by the end of the year. 1/10/06-Katie stated that
Outreach has taken care of this and Vince stated that we will place an
enhancement form for grantees on the site.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 10/01/2005 (NOTE: Although submitted before 9/28, this change
request may need to be considered in a later User Group session since it
involves enhancements that may be well into the future.)]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[In a future release of GATES that will lead to readiness for Post-Award
processing consider implementing a) "pre-population" of an application
from a back-office Federal Agency database; b) "validation" of a
submitted application (or post-award report) with a back-office Federal
Agency database; c) consider some restricted access functions of
submission that would tie in with this pre-population and validation
capability; d) Consider reports available to the grantee (or public)
that allow viewing information about one or more "grouped" DUNS
numbers.]{.underline}

[Explanations for these 4 grouped requests are below:]{.underline}

[a) Pre-population -- This should start with "continuation applications"
and with "mandatory grant " applications. Therefore as the
non-competitive flag is developed, it may be advisable to consider if
there should be qualifications (e.g., non-competitive because applicant
must already have an available project---such as a continuation;
non-competitive because applicant population is restricted to an already
known set of applicants---such as mandatory grants and earmarks---it
would be possible to define these DUNS numbers in advance for both of
these groups; other non-competitive such as unsolicited). The
back-office data base could populate specifics about the particular
grantee and project such as Federal identifiers, start and end dates,
addresses, budgets, etc. The back-end database could populate specifics
about the program (e.g., particular program-specific information or
questions to be asked.)]{.underline}

[b) validation is similar to pre-population based on a specific program
and federal identifier. This enables a greater degree of validation that
is currently supported in many agency-specific sites for application and
reporting. It is critical for post-award reports---but advantages for
mandatory grants and continuations.]{.underline}

[c) Using the DUNS number and E-POC approved user credentials, site
access could be restricted for these features of pre-population or
validation of submissions that involve granee-specific information.
Note: program-specific pre-population would not require such
restriction.]{.underline}

[d) This feature of reporting by DUNS or group DUNS is appealing to
managers of mandatory grant programs, but other programs as well since
it allows the pull of information that they manage across many Federal
agencies and Federal grant programs. It makes Grants.gov an easier
"sell" to many states, universities and tribal
organizations.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Makes Grants.gov more competitive with agency-specific managed websites
that collect applications and post-award reports. Better serves it
applicant constituents with repeating submissions.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Improved service and significantly reduces burden of intake of invalid
data.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Reduces repetitiveness of submission process and ensures submissions
that are better validation. This is particularly effective with
repetitive applicants rather than new applications.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[This is a long-term view and discussions should be schedule as time
permits, although sharing the concept early is a good idea. This takes
time to absorb.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-16

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6-Agreed to table at this time.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Consistent Due Date in FIND and APPLY]{.underline}

[a) Time and Date stamp should display consistently in FIND, Summary
announcement and on the Grant Application package (and anywhere else the
due date is shown for a particular funding opportunity. Currently the
time shows in FIND but does not show on the application package, Even if
this is not done retroactively, it should be done for future
announcements posted with the application packages.]{.underline}

[b) "Received by" and "Postmarked by" should be displayed before the due
date. Currently in FIND they are displayed after the due date. If
possible, they should show on the same line and preceded the due
date.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Consistency and reduction of applicant and agency complaints about
inconsistency and increased confusion to applicant that leads to late
submissions and disqualification.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

[Grants.gov mentioned during the 9/6/05 User Group meeting that it would
be better if agencies all used a midnight closing date, but that would
require an added cost of having our Operations Centers stay open to
midnight and does not coincide with current business processes for
receipt of hard copy application. We are a long way from requiring
electronic application receipt (if ever),. We are legally bound
to]{.underline}

[Consistency will improve communication to Federal constituent
populations.]{.underline}

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Better informed and less confused.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[High priority to fix soon prior to 2006 calendar-year announcement
cycle, if possible. Must coordinate with Federal agency distribution of
information to applicants.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-17

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/06-Diana led discussion and for point A
(Time and Date stamp should display consistently in FIND, Summary
announcement and on the Grant Application package and anywhere else the
due date is shown for a particular funding opportunity) was agreed to
and Point B was withdrawn by Diana.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Change request to APPLY function for Grantor to be able to identify
"non-competitive" application (e.g., an application that posts ONLY in
FIND and not in APPLY such as continuation application or mandatory
grant program.)]{.underline}

[Provide a check-box or similar feature in the setup of a funding
opportunity for the Grantor under APPLY so that the grantor can
designate the application as "non-competitive". This would prevent
Grants.gov from including this application in the list of Programs that
are available for electronic application.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[This would be an improvement for Grants.gov to know which applications
should be publicly listed in the Program List and also which
applications should be excluded from automatic notification by email for
any applicant who requests email notification.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This allows Federal agencies to use this feature to exclude applicants
who are not eligible from accidentally applying.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[This creates less opportunity for an unqualified applicant to
accidentally apply.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[This is a fairly simple, positive enhancement, but is not urgent or
critical.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-18

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-John stated that this will be taken
care of in 01/06 build.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 9/28/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name: Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)]{.underline}

[Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)]{.underline}

[Phone: 202 690-5842]{.underline}

[Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Establish web-services interface with APPLY to set up funding
opportunity/application package.]{.underline}

[Similar to ability to setup FIND from an external Federal agency
system, set up the reference implementation, test and install the
ability to setup an application package associated with a funding
opportunity.]{.underline}

[This enhancement goes either hand-in had with the ability to identify a
Non-competitive application and then send a single interface to be able
to set up a funding opportunity in FIND and add enough fields to set up
one or more application package associated with that funding
opportunity.]{.underline}

[Alternative this could be set up as a separate web services interface
distinct from the setup of the funding opportunity in FIND so that one
or more application packages could be set up with or without an
associated funding opportunity in FIND.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[This improves the external interfaces of Grants.gov to its customer
Federal agencies.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This simplifies the setup and decreases the possibility of error for
Federal agencies who have an automated interface to FIND.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[No significant impact on grantee community except that decreases
likelihood of lost applications when applying to Federal agencies with
automated interfaces.]{.underline}

[5**. Comments regarding implementation:**]{.underline}

[Not urgent, but a solid forward-facing customer-based
enhancement.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received -** 09/20/05 ID#-09-05-19

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-Diana led discussion and Katie stated
that there is a priority and there is a SCR on this matter.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}**

October 3, 2005

**[Name]{.underline}**

[Lisa Lewis]{.underline}

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[DHS]{.underline}

[202-646-4572]{.underline}

[llewis@dhs.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Regionally managed programs require a capability to limit access to
applications submitted under the same opportunity. For example, Region 1
should only be able to access and retrieve applications submitted from
states in Region 1.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[This change will allow departments/agencies that have Regional grant
staff to more efficiently manage the posting and retrieval of
applications.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

[See #2]{.underline}

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[This change will allow grantees to continue to interact with the
regional contacts they have historically worked with on the submission
and receipt of grant applications, because regional grants management
specialists will have access to view and retrieve the applications
submitted from the states assigned to their regions.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 10/04/05 ID#-10-05-20

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/06-Bruce Lewis led this discussion in
Lisa\'s absence and it was agreed upon to enact and a SCR needs to be
submitted (SCR #5230 submitted on 12/8). 12/13-At ICB meeting, this is
not possible at this time and cannot be added.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 10/17/2005]{.underline}**

**[Name Diana King, HHS/ACF]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Famililes (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

In PureEdge forms: a) allow the agency to select the order in which the
forms within an application package will display (other than the cover
page that will display first.) E.g., let the order in which the agency
attaches the forms (after the cover page) determine the order in which
the forms are displayed in the PureEdge application package. b) Print
the forms in the order in which the agency attached them for display
purposes.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

No significant improvement to Grants.gov itself, except to make it more
logical in the setup of an application package by a Federal "grantor".

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This is an improvement for Federal grant reviewers and for Federal
Agency Application Processing Centers.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

This will improve usage for both applicants and for Federal agencies
when the forms are printed. There is a logical order to filling out
forms and to printing forms for review. Without maintaining that order,
it is confusing to both applicants and reviewers. This includes
reviewers and approvers within the applicant organization.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-**10/03/05 ID#-10-05-21

**Date/s of Discussion 12**/06/05-Diana led discussion. John suggested
we talk to Forms Factory to see if this is feasible and we will get back
to the group. Submitted SCR 5274 to accomplish this enhancement after
speaking to Forms Factory.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 10]{.underline}/21/05**

**[Name]{.underline} Barbara Dorf**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline} HUD, 451
7^th^ St., SW, Washington, DC 20401**

Phone: 202-7080614 x 4637

Barbara_Dorf@hud.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Make the submission tips and glossary of terms on the website able to
be printed. I could not see a print function when the file opens up.
Same for Qs and As. Ideally you could save it to a file and also print
it out so that items in it could be reused as needed. Especially at
training sessions or when the agencies were doing outreach.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[I think so. It is hard to go back and forth between and application set
up and the tips. I think that being able to print the information would
help the applicants walk through the materials as they were getting
their applications ready. The on-line help is good for a search but
awkward when trying to follow directions, understand and correct a
problem]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

I would think that other Federal agencies would find this helpful when
outreaching to their applicant community.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

I think the grantee community will find this helpful and a useful tool
for them

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received-** 10/21/05 ID#-10-05-22

**Date/s of Discussion** 12/6/05-No one was there from HUD but Katie
said she will look into this to see if it could be done. 1/10/05\--Katie
stated that Outreach will take care of this request.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date - 14 November 2005*

## *Name - Bill Derrow*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  BLS/USDOL; 2 Mass. Ave., NE, Ste. 4135; 202.691.7790;
  Derrow.Bill@bls.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  When it is necessary for agencies to post modifications, the screen to
  do this should include a data element where agencies enter the reason
  for the modification. Currently, when you open up a modification, there
  is nothing to indicate why the modification was necessary. Agencies may
  or may not include this information in the modification.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Effectiveness and efficiency will be enhanced by reducing confusion and
  eliminating the need for applicants to compare initial \"Grant\"
  postings to \"Modification\" postings to identify changes.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  All agencies posting modifications will need to identify the reason for
  the modifications they post.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will have a positive impact on the grantee community.
  It should save applicants/grantees time by eliminating the need to
  compare postings to identify change.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/14/05 ID#-11-05-23

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/6/05-Katie and John said that this will be taken care of in the next
  build.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date- November 15, 2005*

## *Name -- Mary Rexford*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Grants.gov PMO

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| As part of the process to deploy new forms, the form design documents |
| are posted to the "Forms in Development" section of the technical     |
| library upon completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR).          |
| Documents are posting at this point in time to provide the S2S users  |
| (both agency and applicant) early notice on new forms and time to     |
| plan for & modify their back end system.                              |
|                                                                       |
| The question for the user group is whether their agency's policies    |
| preclude forms in development from being posted in the tech library   |
| section where they are available to the public. Of specific concern   |
| are the HUD forms that are subject to HUD Reform regulations.         |
|                                                                       |
| Questions:                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| 1)  Does your agency have a concern with allowing access to forms in  |
|     development?                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| 2)  If so, does this apply to all forms or forms without OBM          |
|     approval? Should we distinguish among forms: a) with OMB          |
|     approval, b) OMB approval in progress, c) no approval and no      |
|     pending approval?                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| 3)  If this is an issue, how should this information be made          |
|     available to S2S users, e.g., Password protection?                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will give both the grantee and grantor access to our forms being
  developed in a quicker manner.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will allow agencies the ability to see what type of government-wide
  and agency specific forms are being developed.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will give the grantee community a "heads-up" as to new forms being
  developed.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/15/05 ID#-11-05-24

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/6/05-Clear consensus that that forms in development could be placed
  on site for the public to view.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 12/4/05

**[Name]{.underline}** Diana King

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Enhance the AOR Registration process. Add a checkbox to the Registration
Screen used when using "Register Your Username and Password with
Grants.gov" so that AOR can indicate that he/she is also the E-Biz POC.
If yes, then allow them to enter the "MPIN" number and authorize
themselves from the same screen. You can still generate an email message
to the E-Biz POC email but you don't need to make them go through the
extra step to wait for the email and then authorize themselves.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

This improves and simplifies registration for the small organization.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Positive for their grantees. Fewer questions.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

Simplifies process.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement\--** Received 12/2/05 ID#-12.25.05

**Date/s of Discussion** 1/10/06\--Diana lead discussion and was agreed
upon by the group. In John\'s absence Vince agreed with this
enhancement.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 12/2/05

**[Name]{.underline}** Diana King

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Add grantee name and Grants.gov Tracking ID number to message from
<Support@Grants.gov> with subject: "Grants.gov applications are ready
for retrieval"

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Presently it is very difficult for an agency to detect if there were
errors in the system-to-system download or in the submissions since
there is no identifying information in the email.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Provides agencies with better oversight and trouble-shooting
capabilities.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

Reduces changes for lost, or unprocessed applications.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** Received 12/2/05 ID#-12.26.05

**Date/s of Discussion** Same as enhancement 09.01.05 which has been
taken care of.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 01/10/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Kim Deutsch

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

# National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201

703-292-4497

kdeutsch@nsf.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Recommend that Grants.gov develop a mechanism to handle collaborative
proposals (applications.) A collaborative proposal is one in which
investigators from two or more organizations wish to collaborate on a
unified research project. These proposals involve simultaneous
submission of multiple proposals from different organizations, with each
organization requesting a separate award.

Collaborative proposals require simultaneous submission of proposals.
One organization takes the lead but all are required to submit their
original proposal to the agency. This means that each organization
prepares and submits the related proposal and there is a linkage between
these proposals. The lead organization's proposal must contain all of
the requisite sections as a single package to be provided to reviewers.
All collaborative proposals must clearly describe the roles to be played
by the other organizations, specify the managerial arrangements, and
explain the advantages of the multi-organizational effort within the
project description.

For these proposals, the project title must begin with the words
\"Collaborative Research:" The lead organization\'s submission will
include a proposal Cover Sheet, project summary, project description,
references cited, biographical sketches, budgets and budget
justification, current and pending support, and facilities, equipment
and other resources for their organization. Non-lead organization
submissions will include all of the above for their organization
**except** the project summary, project description, and references
cited which are the same for all collaborating organizations.

NSF uses the following process for the submission of the collaborative
proposal:

\(i\) Each non-lead organization assigns their proposal a proposal PIN.
This proposal PIN and the temporary proposal ID generated by FastLane
when the non-lead proposal is created must be provided to the lead
organization before the lead organization submits its proposal to NSF.

\(ii\) The lead organization must then enter each non-lead
organization(s) proposal PIN and temporary proposal ID into the FastLane
lead proposal by using the \"Link Collaborative Proposals\" option found
on the FastLane \"Form Preparation\" screen.

Given that such separately submitted collaborative proposals constitute
a "single" proposal submission, it is imperative that the proposals be
submitted within a reasonable timeframe to one another. Failure to
submit all components of the collaborative proposal on a timely basis
may impact the review of the proposal.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Over 10 percent of the proposals received by NSF are collaborative and
this number is increasing every year.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Other research agencies also receive collaborative proposals.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

Applicants will be able to use Grants.gov to submit these types of
proposals.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 1/10/06 ID#\--01.06.27

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06-Tabled at the request of submitting
agency (NSF) until next meeting. 5/2/06-Jean Feldman led the discussion
for NSF. Before placing before a final vote, it was determined that a
workgroup should be formed so other agencies that may need this same
type of agreement can get together to put forth one comprehensive
proposal. 7/11/06- This is a holdover from the last meeting where we
discussed how to handle collaborative agreements. We're going to start a
subgroup to work with NSF and NIH. We'll be meeting in the sometime in
August. NSF and NIH have worked together and now have a document of
guidelines. Vince will be sending out an email with the specifics to
start a workgroup for all interested agencies shortly. 9/12/06- Vince
stated that a sub-group recently met to discuss this enhancement. NSF
and NIH submitted a revised proposal that the group subsequently used to
create a draft requirements document. This group will meet again to
finalize these requirements and this will be a priority of the PMO.
(Vince handed out a copy of the draft requirements document and the
revised NSF/NIH new Collaborative proposal.) 11/7/06 Vince Sprouls**:**
Last Thursday, the sub-group for this met for the third time and came up
with a draft of requirements that is pretty much complete. The group
consists of NSF, HHS, Education, DOD and HUD. Once we have final
requirements document, I will share that with the group. Ms. Diana King
of HHS noted that the initial plan that was created specifically for the
research communities, but the mechanism we have developed will hopefully
be able to be used on a broader basis. 1/9/07\-- A draft requirement
document is being worked on by a subgroup and a draft copy of the
requirement has been submitted to the Grants.gov System Integrator (SI)
for their review. The group has met numerous times to get to the point
where we are today and have representatives from HHS, NIH, NSF, ED, HUD
and DoD. Grants.gov PMO will provide the technical assessment and next
steps back to the workgroup and the User Group. 7/10/07- Vince Sprouls:
Last week the PMO send a brief analysis of the draft plan to the heads
of the subgroup and should be giving a more detailed analysis performed
by the IV&V team with the next few weeks. 9/11/07\-- David Isaac of the
Grants.gov IV&V staff presented his analysis of the draft requirements
document submitted by the workgroup. He gained further insight of the
proposal through conversation with one of the main architects of the
proposal, Michael Goodman of NIH. David's assessment was there may be
simpler means to meet business process requirements. Also, we must be
cost sensitive, as we approach the feasible solution to manage these
proposals. He found the draft document to be very comprehensive and well
thought out and he will provide the Collaborative workgroup with a
formal analysis so they can come forth with final proposal. 11/6/07- On
October 18, the subgroup met and discussed the analysis that David Issac
of Grants.gov IV&V submitted to the group regarding the draft proposal.
Grants.gov will come back to the group with a refined analysis from the
meeting along with "use case" scenario and the group will meet again to
discuss this new analysis. 1/8/08\--SI is looking over the analysis and
NIH may take over the lead but this issue must be decided by GEB.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 1/30/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Diana King

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

a\) In the merged FIND and APPLY change the "FULL ANNOUNCEMENT" button
to default to the URL for the full announcement. Provide the option to
post additional documents, but if an agency chooses not to post the
announcement default the "FULL ANNOUNCEMENT" button at the top of the
summary announcement, then default to a link to the URL for the full
announcement.

b\) Relabel the "How to APPLY" button to be "Apply Electronically". The
applicants who are looking for actual application may not intuitively
look for it under "How to APPLY". That implies a description of the
application process but does not necessarily imply that there is an
application attached

c\) Email descriptor and Email address. The old version of Fedgrants.gov
launched an email when the email address was selected. The current
version does not. The email descriptor is confusing and should not be
required. It is not required in the XML schema but is now required on
the data entry screen for posting the summary opportunity.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

a\) The current button called FULL ANNOUNCEMENT misleads applicants to
click on that as a link instead of the URL that is placed later in the
announcement.

b\) This will reduce questions from confused applicants.

c\) This makes Grants.gov more responsive to applicants seeking to
direct a question to an agency.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

a\) This is a [serious]{.underline} issue for us. The current process
causes a business problem for us as a Federal Agency since our website
is the official posting site and we do not want to have two place to
keep an announcement up-to-date. We already post a PDF version on our
website and keeping those two documents "in synch" causes a risk to our
business and confusion to our applicants.

b&c) We believe other agencies will find these positive suggestions

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

a\) Clarifies the process and lessons confusion in applicants.

b&c) Make the process more responsive to applicant needs.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 1**/**30/06 ID#**\--**01.06.28.

**Date/s of Discussion**3/7/06\-- Discussion was lead by Jennifer Flach
of HHS. There were 3 distinct suggestion enhancements submitted: *A*. In
the merged Find and Apply, change the full announcement button to
default to the url for the full announcement as an option. *B*. Re-label
the "how to apply" button to "Apply Electronically" *C*. The email
descriptor and email address. After a discussion, the consensus was that
both A and C were good ideas and Vince concurred but B could potentially
cause confusion and would be re-considered at a later time

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date- 2/9/06*

## *Name -- Gary Stammer*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  SSA, Baltimore, MD 21244, 410-965-9501, gary.stammer@ssa.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Most applications are for a single Funding Opportunity so it would be
  helpful if the instructions stated that SF-424A, Section B should
  reflect only **Federal** dollars for each expense category in column 1
  of Section B. It would also be helpful to ask for any non-Federal
  contribution to be shown in Column 2 when the application is for only
  one Funding Opportunity. It is best to use the Budget Narrative for the
  explanation of non-Federal funds, rather than using Section B, unless
  we can agree to use Section B, column 2 for the non-Federal funds. The
  instructions now state that Section B column 5 should sum to Section A,
  column G, but does not point out the need to keep the Federal &
  non-Federal amounts separate. This causes applicants to combine Federal
  & non-Federal funds in Section B, column 1, requiring correspondence to
  separate Federal from non-Federal dollars in Section B, so awards can
  reflect Federal dollars across the expense categories.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Fewer re-submissions of revised applications will be required, freeing
  up resources for more appropriate purposes. Fewer application
  submissions means fewer help desk calls.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This change will reduce correspondence between the grant applicant and
  the awarding Federal Agency to distinguish non-Federal funds from
  Federal funds for the approved budget that needs to be reflected on any
  issued Notice of Award. The completion instructions should cater to the
  most common circumstance since most applications are for one Funding
  Opportunity.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  This change will reduce             
  correspondence between the          
  applicants and the awarding Federal 
  Agency to remove non-Federal funds  
  from Federal funds for the approved 
  budget that needs to be reflected   
  on any issued Notice of Award.      
  Currently, applicant resources are  
  consumed to revise budgets.         
  Improved instructions could reduce  
  the need for revised budgets. The   
  change will free up more applicant  
  time for non-administrative         
  activities.                         

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  2/9/06---ID#\--02.06.29

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  3/7/06\--Gary Stammer of SSA led the discussion. It was agreed to by
  the group that the suggested instructions would be helpful and Vince
  concurred. Gary would work with the PMO on the new instructions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 01-05-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

Requested by Michael Goodman \-- Email: mgoodman@mail.nih.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

The "View All Submitted Applications" screen is unwieldy after several
hundred applications have been received. There is currently no way to
filter the applications that are brought to the screen
*[before]{.underline}* the hitlist is brought up, and the interface
attempts to bring the *[entire]{.underline}* list of applications up all
at once. It therefore takes a long time to get into the screen and
sometimes leads to a time-out prior to the screen becoming fully
populated. This problem will become steadily worse over time.\
\
[Proposed solution to this is two-fold:]{.underline}\
\
1. First, *page* the hitlist for "View All Submitted Applications", so
that the user interface does not try to pull every single application in
at once. A good pagesize might be 50 applications, with an indicator at
the bottom of the list giving you your current position in the overall
list -- e.g., "Records 1-50 of 5000". This should not affect the sort
order capability \... even though the hitlist is paged, it should still
be possible to sort the list by all the various column headings (CFDA,
Oppty Num, Grants.gov tracking #, etc.), and have the hitlist pages
present the records in the desired sort order.\
\
2. Provide a capability to *[filter]{.underline}* the hitlist at any
time, by providing a query block that enables the user to specify
specific values for the applications to be displayed. A straightfoward
approach would be to allow any of the criteria for sorting to also be
filter criteria (e.g., CFDA, Oppty Num, Date, Status). Ideally the
filters should allow relational operators (e.g., "=", "\>", "\<",
"\<\>"). Entering filter criteria and then clicking an "execute query"
button should then pare the hitlist down so that only those records
which match the filter conditions are displayed (still paged of course,
consistent with feature #1 above). By default the filter criteria should
be all blank (indicating no restrictions on any of the criteria), which
would result in a display-all which is the current behavior, but should
be modifiable as the user wishes to compress/expand the display view.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

The View All Submitted Applications screen is extremely difficult to use
in its current state, when there is a very long hitlist. The paging
feature should improve performance for reaching the first hitlist page
since a page containing a hyperlink for every single application would
not have to be rendered \... just the first 50 (or whatever default
seems reasonable to Grants.gov). The addition of filter criteria adds
great utility to staff who are really only visiting the page to monitor
activity for a specific opportunity number, or for only the most recent
activity (say the last day or the last week). In many cases, we have
staff who are really only interested in viewing one specific validation,
where either the applicant or the grants.gov tracking number is already
known. Having the ability to filter to a specific application reduces
search time for staff, which in turn will translate to improved customer
service for applicants who have contacted the agency for help and/or
guidance.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

All Federal Agencies should benefit from this change. Even if NIH is the
only agency that currently must deal with having thousands of
submissions in the "View All" list, it is a problem that will likely
affect other agencies, eventually. And the ability to zero-in on a
specific application (or set of applications) using filters should
benefit any agency that is trying to provide swift customer response.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

It should be a terrific help. Even though the Grantee Community does not
access this particular screen, the agency staff who are assisting
grantees should be able to access information more quickly and reliably
and therefore provide faster customer response.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received\--** 2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.30

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06**\--**Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. It was agreed that this suggestion would be beneficial by
the group. It was noted by Lauren Jones of ED that this suggestion was
made by the Sub-User Group and Vince stated that there is a current SCR
pending regarding this type of enhancement.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 01-05-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

Requested by Mike Goodman \-- Email: mgoodman@mail.nih.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

The "View All Submitted Applications" screen does not display the
identity of the submitter, like the "Retrieve Submitted Applications"
screen does. It would be very helpful to have the submitter name column
displayed under "View All" as well, which would also allow the list to
be sorted (and possibly filtered) on this basis also.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Very often an applicant will call with a question about his/her
application, but may not recall the tracking number. Being able to sort
(and filter \... see other enhancement request that I have submitted)
based on the submitter name will enable agency staff to locate the
application(s) of interest more readily in such situations.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

All Federal Agencies should benefit from this change.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

It should be a terrific help. Even though the Grantee Community does not
access this particular screen, the agency staff who are assisting
grantees should be able to access information more quickly and reliably
and therefore provide faster customer response.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received \--**2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.31

**Date/s of Discussion 3/7/06-**Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. The "view all submitted applications" screen does not
display identity of the submitter, like the "retrieve submitted
Applications" screen does. This is similar to previous suggested
enhancements that have been coupled under a pending SCR. It was noted
during the discussion that this is a priority item and this was noted by
both Vince and Rod Edwards.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 01-05-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

Requested by Mike Goodman \-\-- Email: mgoodman@mail.nih.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Grantor account holders currently have no facility for editing their
account profile information after enrollment. This includes the ability
to change their own passwords which appears to be a very significant
security hole. It is proposed that the Grantor interface provide an
additional capability for *[all]{.underline}* users regardless of role,
to edit their account profile information, including: edit their account
profile information, including:\
\
1. Telephone Number\
2. Email Address\
3. PASSWORD

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Ensures that users have the ability to self-report any changes in
contact information. Also ensures that users have the ability to change
their passwords which makes the security of user accounts more robust.
At this point it would be practically impossible to implement a security
policy of cyclic password change, since noone other than the role
manager has the ability to change passwords.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Agency users will be able to tend to the security of their grantor
accounts, without relying upon the role manager to intervene on their
behalf. This will improve the security model since the role manager will
no longer be given the user's password (in order to change it), and
reduces burden on the role manager to process such requests.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

None. However, if not already available, a similar capability would be
useful for Applicant accounts as well.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received \--** 2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.32

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06\-- Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. The grantor account holders currently do not have the
ability to edit their account profile information after enrollment.
There was a clear consensus that this is an enhancement should be
pursued and Vince concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 02-27-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

Requested by Sheri Cummins, eRA eSubmission Communications lead

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

We would like Grants.gov to create a page of agency links on the
Grants.gov website where NIH and other agencies can provide links to
their main website and websites targeted specifically to electronic
submission information. Applicants are becoming familiar with the
Grants.gov site, but don't understand that grantor agencies may have
their own registration and other requirements for application
submission. Although agency-specific information is included within the
FOAs themselves, applicants that are simply reviewing the Grants.gov
site to learn how to prepare for electronic application submission will
not find the information.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Providing grantor agency links shows the reach of Grants.gov by listing
the Federal grant-making agencies that use the Grants.gov services. It
provides an additional resource for applicants that are using Grants.gov
as the single portal to investigate potential grant opportunities.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

In addition to giving applicants an easy reference for agency
information, agencies can benefit from looking at each other's
documentation to see what can be re-used or re-packaged. It would be
nice to leverage work already done at other agencies rather than
starting from scratch.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

As described above, it will help improve communication to the grantee
community and better ensure that applicants understand steps required by
both Grants.gov and the agencies for registration and submission. This
request was raised several times by applicants responding to our
feedback link on our website.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

We would also like the phrase "Please check with the grantor agency for
additional requirements." (or something of that flavor) placed
strategically on their website - especially on the Getting Started page
that talks about registration.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received \--**2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.33

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06\-- Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. HHS would like to place link on the Grants.gov to their NIH
registration process. During the discussion it agreed that Vince would
work with Jennifer on this issue and get back to the group at the next
meeting. 5/2/06- Vince stated that Jennifer Flach had forwarded the
exact link to the NIH grants management webpage and that this would
shortly be placed on a specific link on the Grants.gov site.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 02-05-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

As part of the HHS grants management consolidation effort, NIH is
processing grants for other HHS Operating Divisions (OpDivs) including
AHRQ, SAMSHA, CDC, and FDA, and slated to process grants for other
operating divisions of HHS. Under the current design of Grants.gov, the
agency is identified by the certificate of the physical site that is
downloading the applications. One certificate for each agency. The "get
list" service from Grants.gov does not accept a parameter indicating for
which agency the list is requested. OpDiv applications cannot be
downloaded by the NIH's S2S system. Solution: Change the Grants.gov
model so that a partner system can query Grants.gov for multiple
agencies and act as a service center. Allow association of one or more
agencies with a single certificate and add a parameter to the list query
to specify the agency

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Reduce the number of certificates to manage and coordinate\
Simplify interactions with agencies

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Supports IT consolidation efforts in agencies. Reduces overhead for
agencies/operating divisions acting as service centers for other
agencies/operating divisions.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

The agencies will be able to serve them more efficiently.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received \--**2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.34

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06**\--** Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. It was determined that Russ Wyland and Mark Sommer would
work with Jennifer on this issue and get back to the group at the next
meeting. 5/2/06\-- Vince stated that this enhancement would be placed on
our September AT build.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**Date 02-05-2006**

**Name: Jennifer Flach**

**Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address**

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 301-435-5092

flachj@od.nih.gov

Requested by NIH and applicant S2S developers

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

When an application is received from Grants.gov via the applicant system
to system (S2S), no indication is given to the agency where the
application came from; therefore, the agency cannot send a message back
to the appropriate service provider or Institution if it was submitted
via an applicant S2S system. Identify in the grant application package
(or any S2S message) the site/system where the message originated by
adding a field or a system-generated appendix to the overall application
package.

Some post-receipt transactions are confidential and need to be
encrypted. E-mail is not a secure enough. Therefore the sender of the
original submission must be clearly and un-ambiguously identified for
security reasons and for the agencies to be able to follow up using
system to system interactions.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Grants.gov is not providing a mechanism by which errors and other
results of agency-specific validations can be sent to the applicant
system. This would allow the agencies to take on this activity.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Allows agencies with S2S capabilities to send these validation results
directly to the submitter system. NIH intends to do this using a S2S
transaction via the eRA eXchange. A submitter identifier is needed to
make this possible. Also, this identifier is important for NIH to
provide other, post receipt, automated grant-related transactions via
the eRA eXchange. Currently, the submitting system is inferred based on
the DUNS number provided with the submission. However, this is not
always accurate so a true identifier is needed.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

There is heavy support for this change by service providers and
institutions who want to provide agency warnings and errors to their
customers via their systems. All institutions which use grant management
systems, homemade or commercial, will benefit from the ability to
receive system to system notifications and follow up transactions.

5**. Comments regarding implementation:**

This requires only a simple identifier for the system that sent the
message.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 2/27/06 ID#\--02.06.35

**Date/s of Discussion** 3/7/06**-** Jennifer Flach of HHS led the
discussion. It was determined that Russ Wyland and Mark Sommer would
work with Jennifer on this issue and get back to the group at the next
meeting.5/2/06\-- Vince stated that our SI team needed further
clarification on this matter that was provided by Jennifer and it would
be placed in a forth coming build.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 4/7/2006* 

## *Name -- Jason Hitchcock* 

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USDA/CSREES

  202-720-4343, jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Agencies need to be able to provide fillable PDF files to its
  applicants via its public facing web site, for those applicants that
  choose to submit hard copy applications. The pdfs the grants.gov
  provides to the agencies are not fillable, so individual agencies need
  to time and resources to take federal wide forms that we are not the
  owners of and attempt to generate a fillable form. This problem becomes
  even more challenging when attempting to deal with form changes etc.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I don't know that it will make grants.gov more efficient, but it will
  allow the applicant to be assured the consistency of the federal wide
  and agency specific form grants.gov builds in Pure Edge are the same as
  what agencies use and reference. Otherwise each agency has to design
  it's own forms which may vary slightly.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I believe other agencies that are not requiring electronic submission,
  will have this same need. If we all have to use the same forms this
  seems like it would be valuable to all agencies to have this part of
  the Forms Factory deliverables.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Again it will ensure applicant are providing the same information for
  hard copy submissions as well as electronic submission.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  4/07/06 ID#\--04.06.36

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  5/2/06\-- Since neither the submitter nor anyone from USDA was at the
  meeting, this was tabled until the next meeting. 7/11/06 \-- Jason
  Hitchcock of USDA started the discussion that there was a need to have
  fillable PDFs available of the government-wide forms and felt this is
  something that Grants.gov should produce and make available to the
  grantor community. After much discussion by the group, it was agreed
  that Grants.gov would create a collection of fillable PDFs created by
  the agencies that they would submit to Grants.gov and this repository
  would be housed on the Grantor side of the site. After all the agencies
  have submitted their fillable forms, Grants.gov will then produce the
  government-wide fillable PDFs of the forms they had not received. Vince
  will keep update the User Group on this issue at the next meeting.
  9/12/06- Vince stated that, to date, he has only received a copy of the
  424, IMLS Budget Form, and the 424 Short. These forms and any others
  that come in to him will be posted on the site. Vince will talk to the
  new contractor regarding this enhancement and will report back to the
  group in November. 11/7/06 Vince Sprouls**:** As of now, we have been
  able to get the Short SF-424 PDF and the Core SF-424. It appears it
  would be advantageous for us to have specific forms converted into PDFs
  at this time since in April we will be moving to Abobe. However, It may
  be helpful to go out one more time to the agencies to see if they have
  converted any additional forms to PDF and then post them to the site.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 4/19/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Diana King (representing Brad Hendrick of
HHS/OPHS)

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

PureEdge Attachments:

A\) Request that specific Grants.gov attachment forms be revised to
prevent applicant from attaching the entire application e.g. PureEdge
form (.xfd): Project Narrative Attachment; Budget Narrative Attachment;
Other Attachment;

B Request that specific Grants.gov attachment forms be revised to
prevent excessively long file names to be attached. This length should
be coordinated with maximum length supported by Microsoft Office
(probably 115 characters): Project Narrative Attachment; Budget
Narrative Attachment; Other Attachment;

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

A&B) Reduces errors experienced by Grantors in dealing with
applications. Also reduces processing errors and storage volume issues
within Grants.gov processing.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

A&B) Reduces errors experienced by Grantors in dealing with applications
and storage requirements.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

A&B) Reduces applicant errors when application cannot be successfully
processed.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 4/21/06 ID#\--04.06.37

**Date/s of Discussion** 5/2/06\-- Diana King from HHS led the
discussion on this enhancement. Before placing to a formal vote after
items were discussed, it was determined that Vince and Rod would look
into this matter to see the feasibility of both items and this will then
be brought up again at the next meeting. 7/11/06 \-- Diana King from HHS
led the discussion regarding attachment to PureEdge forms. There was
agreement that this would be a good enhancement for Grants.gov to pursue
and Rod Edwards stated that under PureEdge that we can restrict the type
but not the of the title name length. There were no objections by the
group to this enhancement and this change will pursued by the PMO.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 4/19/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Diana King (representing Marge Jacobsen of
HHS/SAMHSA)

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Phone: 202 690-5842

Email: Diana.King@acf.hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

A\) Change posting synopsis and posting application to be able to
maintain a list of program Points of Contact so that name, phone and
email info did not have to be retyped each time.  Names were selected
from an existing drop down list.  This would be helpful in both Find and
Apply. Allow designation of one for more contacts to receive the
notification of received applications. Can default to the one who
created the synopsis or application but allow this to be changed.

B\) Adjust the Email notification for Received Applications to include
additional fields. Include: Funding Opportunity Number; Grants.gov
Tracking ID; and if possible Name of Applicant Organization and
Identification of the Server (e.g., Production Grants.gov or
ATWebserver)

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

A\) Improves efficiency and saves time of data entry for Grantors

B\) Ensures notification is timely for receipt of applications.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

A\) Improves data entry and saves time for other Federal Agencies.

B\) We believe other agencies will find this a positive suggestion.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

A\) This will reduce typing errors and provide consistency for the
grantee community.

B\) Reduces time and error in application being processed.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 4/21/06 ID#\--04.06.38

**Date/s of Discussion** 5/2/06\-- Diana King of HHS led the discussion
on this enhancement. For the first suggested enhancement, it was
determined that Rod would look into it to determine if this is possible
and we will again discuss this at the next meeting. The second
enhancement has been brought up in the past and is covered in SCR 5166
that will be in our July AT build. 7/11/06\-- Diana King from HHS led
the discussion regarding this issue. For part A, POC defaults to a
person who is logged in and they would like to see this list expanded to
include individuals that would have no rights within Grants.gov. For
this part of the enhancement, Diane agreed as did the group that a
workaround where the agency maintains a list of all users outside of
Grants.gov would work just as well. Part B of this enhancement (email
notification for received applications) was completed during the 7/7/06
build.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date-04/24/2006* 

## *Name --Linda B. Davis*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  US DOL/MSHA/Denver, CO, 303-231-5954/ Davis.Linda.B@dol.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The SF-424v2 form is programmed to add program income to the total
  budget. While this is an optional way for grantees to dispose of
  program income earned during the grant period, it is not the only way
  allowable. The standards found in 29 CFR, parts 95 and 97 (US DOL)
  require federal awarding agencies to deduct any program income from the
  federal award unless written approval for alternate methods to dispose
  of program income is given. Some recipients request that the program
  income they generate be used to meet the matching fund requirement. I
  suggest you re-do the SF-424 v.2 form and delete the automatic
  calculation to add the program income to the total budget.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It would be more accurate information based on the agency's
  needs/approvals and it would be correct, rather than asking the
  applicant/recipient to just "don't pay any attention to that" which is
  what was suggested for me to do when discussing the problem with
  potential applicants/recipients.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will not be assumed that all program income is added to the project
  budget. Other agencies must also deduct the program income from the
  federal award unless optional methods for the disposition of the
  program income is approved.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The form will truly be a form that will suit the needs of any applicant
  rather than assuming that all applicants will be adding their program
  income to their project budget. As the form is now, it assumes that all
  program income is to be added to the project budget. It will be less
  confusing which may require the grantee to have to call the awarding
  agency for guidance on how to "override" the problem (if possible).

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  4/24/06 ID#\--04.06.39

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 5/2/06\--Bill Derrow of DOL led the discussion on this matter. The    |
| SF-424-v2 form is programmed to add program income to the total       |
| budget. For DOL, this is an optional way for grantees to dispose of   |
| program income earned during the grant period and it is not the only  |
| way allowable. They would like to delete the automatic calculation to |
| add program income to the total budget. There seemed to be agreement  |
| that this may be a good change but before a formal vote was taken,    |
| Vince just wanted to make sure that this type of change would be in   |
| the purview of the group since it was a government-wide form. This    |
| will be brought-up again at the next meeting. 7/11/06\--              |
|                                                                       |
| Vince looked into this matter and that Grants.gov was within its      |
| scope to pursue this enhancement. Bill Derrow of the DOL led the      |
| discussion of forcing applicants to make a choice as to whether to    |
| add program income to the total budget and that we delete the         |
| automatic calculation as it presently performs. The group agreed with |
| this change and the PMO agreed with this change. Also, the PMO agreed |
| to work closely with Bill as they progress with this change.          |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline} 05-01-2006**

**[Name]{.underline} Sebrina Robinson**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Phone: 202-712-0595

srobinson@usaid.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

In the event that a Grantee will be timed out during the application
process, request that Grants.gov include an automatic message that
appears when the Grantee is within 15 minutes of being timed out, within
10 minutes, and again when they are within 5 minutes of being timed out.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

**This will reduce the number of complaints coming from Grantees when
they are forced out of the system without advance notice.**

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

This will reduce the number of complaints received by agencies from
Grantees who were unable to complete their applications.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

This will allow the Grantee better prepare for posting Applications on
Grants.gov and limit the amount of frustration experienced when they are
simply shut out of the system.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 05/02/06 ID---05.02.40

**Date/s of Discussion** 7/11/06**\--** The discussion was led by
Sebrina Robinson of USAID. Both Mark Sommer and Rod Edwards as well as
the group agreed that this issue of "timeout" was out of the control of
Grants.gov and had to do with the internet provider of the applicant.
Therefore, this enhancement is outside the purview of the group.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date- 05/19/2006*

## *Name --Ellen Colligan*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  US Department of Energy/1000 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC
  20585/202-287-1776/ellen.colligan@hq.doe.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Add additional Opportunity Categories to the Grant Opportunity        |
| Properties Screen. The data entered on this screen is what that OMB   |
| uses to measure Agency Goal achievement. With the goal increasing to  |
| 100% in FY 2007, more choices must be added to the Opportunity        |
| Categories.                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| The only current choices for Opportunity Category on this screen are: |
| Discretionary, Mandatory, Continuation or Earmark.                    |
|                                                                       |
| The goal is based solely on Discretionary Opportunities.              |
|                                                                       |
| We suggest 2 new categories:                                          |
|                                                                       |
| X -- Cancelled Announcements for which no application package will be |
| posted                                                                |
|                                                                       |
| O -- Other. If this choice is chosen, Agencies would be required to   |
| enter an explanation.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| For cancellations, we do not think the synopsis should just be        |
| deleted and disappear from Grants.gov.                                |
|                                                                       |
| For the Other category - we had several instances this year which did |
| not fit into any of the currently listed categories.                  |
|                                                                       |
| For example, we have one office which issued a Notice of Program      |
| Interest (NOPI). They do not want or need application packages as a   |
| response - they just want emails expressing interest.                 |
|                                                                       |
| If this notice results in a Discretionary synopsis, it would be       |
| issued with a new number thus there will never be a matching          |
| Application package.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| If this change is not made there are 3 possible results:              |
|                                                                       |
| 1)  Agencies will stop posting all synopses at Grants.gov. We do not  |
|     feel that we should discourage our assistance offices from        |
|     publicizing actions. Grants.gov is the Government-wide site to    |
|     post these types of notices.                                      |
|                                                                       |
| 2)  Agencies will just pick another one of the existing Opportunity   |
|     Categories regardless of whether it is correct.                   |
|                                                                       |
| 3)  No one will make the 100% goal                                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This change will allow for correct reporting of progress in
  implementing Grants.gov without artificially limiting the publicizing
  of assistance opportunities.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This is a change which is necessary for all Agencies to allow them to
  meet their FY 2007 goals.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This screen is not visible to Grantees so this should have no impact on
  the Grantee community.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  05/19/06 ID---05.06.41

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  7/11/06\-- The discussion was led by Ellen Colligan of DOE. She
  explained that an additional opportunity category was needed to the
  Grant Opportunity Properties Screen since next year the goal will
  increase to 100% and there may be instances where an agency
  legitimately needs to post a synopsis without a package. Vince stated
  that the PMO is already working on this issue. There was a clear
  consensus and no opposition to this enhancement. Terry stated this is
  an area the PMO has to work on carefully along with OMB. Vince will
  give an update to the group on the next meeting regarding this
  enhancement. 9/12/06\-- Vince stated that the PMO believes this
  enhancement would be a great benefit and they are looking to get this
  implemented. However, with the transition, it has been difficult. He
  will report his findings regarding the status at the next meeting.
  Ellen Colligan of DOE: Ellen went over her enhancement regarding the
  need for an additional opportunity category called "Other." Vince
  stated that the PMO had already placed a SCR in regarding this type of
  change from within the PMO. There was no objection to this enhancement
  and Vince concurred for the PMO.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  **Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 6/06/06]{.underline}**

**[Name Beth Gardner (]{.underline}<CTG8@cdc.gov>[) ]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[DHHS, CDC]{.underline}

[2920 Brandywine Rd, MS E-14]{.underline}

[Atlanta, GA 30341]{.underline}

[Phone: 770-488-2441]{.underline}

[Email: ctg8@cdc.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Under the Grantors section of GG after login in when you go to
Published Opportunities, the announcements that are currently closed (by
date) should be archived into a different section. By leaving the
published announcements on this current page. We are having to sort
through years of announcements (which could be 100+ for CDC) and it
becomes a large file by not archiving the past years.]{.underline}

[I recommend an archive section for those FOAs that are currently
closed. The OPDIV could sort by organization, year, similar to how the
grantees sort for a current FOA. This would then keep the current page
down to a minimum. An archive has been done for the public sight, why
not the Grantors Publication sight?]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[For those of us that publish, it will be less confusing for the OPDIV
as we search for current FOAs. Less errors and less confusion when
pulling up current FOAs for modifications.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

It will help all Federal Agencies that publish an announcement on
Grants.gov. It will keep us organized by Fiscal year.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[The grantee community in this issue would be other Federal Agencies
(under Grantor). See above.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 06/06/06 ID---05.06.42

**Date/s of Discussion 7/1/06\--** Diana King of HHS led the discussion
of this enhancement. She would like an archive section for those FOAs
that are currently closed. However, after a thorough discussion, there
seemed to be a many options as how to proceed with this enhancement. Rod
will work with Vince on all the potential options to deploy this
function and get back to the User Group at the next meeting. 9/12/06-
Diana King of HHS led the discussion and the enhancement was agreed upon
by all present and concurred by the PMO. When it is developed, the PMO
will work closely with Diana.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date 6/06/06]{.underline}**

**[Name Beth Gardner (]{.underline}<CTG8@cdc.gov>[) ]{.underline}**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[DHHS, CDC]{.underline}

[2920 Brandywine Rd, MS E-14]{.underline}

[Atlanta, GA 30341]{.underline}

[Phone: 770-488-2441]{.underline}

[Email: ctg8@cdc.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[When the application is submitted and a response is emailed back to the
AOR or E-biz person, could we consider emailing the PI listed on the
application also. The PI seems to be out of the loop on the
notifications yet they are the ones that can get the corrections made
and also receive piece of mind that the application was successful. The
PI email is currently captured on the 424 family of forms and could be a
read only or generic response.]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Better communication with the applicants. The errors that are occurring
may be fixed in a timely fashion (as we all have deadlines attached to
each FOA) and help in getting the best possible application for the
OPDIVs.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

If other OPDIVs are using the 424 family, they will then be able to
notify the PI who wrote the FOA and get faster results with corrections
or issues with submission.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[Less confusion from the PIs part. They are the ones that write the
application and hand it off to the business office to submit to
Grants.gov. In many cases, the two offices don't communicate on a daily
basis and an email to both parties would notify each of them that
Grants.gov and the agency has received the application. At the point of
receipt, an email would re-assure the PI that they have made it through
the electronic application process with Grants.gov. Improve
communication with our grantees!!!]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 06/06/06 ID---05.06.43

**Date/s of Discussion** 7/11/06\-- Diana King of HHS led the discussion
on this enhancement. We consider emailing the PI listed on the
application as well as the AOR. After a thorough discussion, it was
suggested that this first be brought to the FDP and R&R workgroup before
we consider this enhancement, and thus, it will be placed on hold.
9/12/06- Vince stated that the R&R workgroup was in favor of this
initiative and that we recently received an Applicant Enhancement form
requesting this type of enhancement. The group agreed that this
enhancement should be adopted and the PMO agreed.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- June 22, 2006* 

## *Name -- Kim Deutsch*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  National Science Foundation, 703-292-4497, kdeutsch@nsf.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| When the agencies modify the closing date of a funding opportunity,   |
| an automated email is sent to all registered applicants notifying     |
| them of the modification and instructing them to submit a "new"       |
| application. Since agencies may modify the closing date where this    |
| guidance is not applicable, this automatic notification either causes |
| the applicants to become concerned and contact the agency for an      |
| explanation or submit another (duplicate) application.                |
|                                                                       |
| Some examples of an agency modifying the closing date and where this  |
| guidance is not applicable are:                                       |
|                                                                       |
| -   An opportunity having multiple closing dates for the fiscal year  |
|     and the agency opening the package for the next window.           |
|                                                                       |
| -   An agency extending the date for applicants who are having        |
|     problems submitting through Grants.gov.                           |
|                                                                       |
| Two possible solutions to this email notification are:                |
|                                                                       |
| 1)  Include a text box for the agency to include further explanation  |
|     that would be included in the email to the applicants.            |
|                                                                       |
| 2)  Give the agency the option to map the closing dates to those in   |
|     Grants.gov FIND. Applicants could then refer to the text in FIND  |
|     for agency's guidance or explanation.                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  No impact.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Other Federal Agencies will not be overwhelmed by calls from confused
  applicants.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Applicants will have clear guidance on what action they need to take.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| > 7/7/06---ID#\--07.06.44                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/12/06\-- Kim Deutsch of NSF led the discussion of this enhancement.
  Of the two possible options presented in the enhancement, number 1
  (include a text box for the agency to include further explanation that
  would be included in the email to the applicants) was the group's
  preferred choice and the PMO concurred.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date:]{.underline}** July 28, 2006

**[Name:]{.underline}** Jillian Miller & Cliff Whitham

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

[National Endowment for the Arts]{.underline}

[JM: 202/682-5504 CW: 202/682-5784]{.underline}

<millerj@arts.endow.gov> [whithamc@arts.endow.gov]{.underline}

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

[Enable applicants to view application submission and status information
beyond the current 180 day period.]{.underline}

[Currently, submission and status information for an application is
displayed for 180 days after submission then erased when the application
itself is purged. However, in many cases an agency may take more than
180 days to act on an application. Maintaining this info on the site
beyond 180 days would have a number of benefits for both applicants and
agencies (see below). IMPORTANT: We are NOT proposing that Grants.gov
retain the actual application for more than the current 180 days, only
information *about* the application (i.e., submission
metadata).]{.underline}

[Retaining tracking data about the application (again, not the
application itself) would not take much disk space therefore this
enhancement should be easy to implement. We think the data should be
retained and displayed for at least 2-3 years after submission but the
grantee community might be surveyed to see if there is interest in an
even longer timeframe (e.g., 5-10 years).]{.underline}

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

[Applicants could view a multi-year history of all of their applications
to the federal government simply by going to Grants.gov. This added
benefit would further contribute to their perception of the system's
utility and value. This enhancement would also position Grants.gov to
expand its mandate by enabling it to track events throughout the
lifecycle of an application. For example, in the future a record might
show not only when an application was submitted but when it was awarded
and when the final report is due.]{.underline}

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

The proposed enhancement would have a number of benefits for federal
agencies. Many agencies have grant competitions that take longer than
180 days to conclude. Currently, some Grants.gov applicants start
contacting agencies about their application as soon as they can no
longer view its status online. The proposed enhancement would reduce the
number of these calls for competition results before they can be
announced. It would also facilitate responding to inquiries about
applications submitted long ago (it happens) because it would be easy
for the applicant to identify both the Grants.gov tracking number and
the agency-assigned application number for the application in question
online before they contact the agency.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

[This enhancement would provide a very handy way for applicants to
track/remember what applications they've sent in. Plus they would be
able to easily look up both the Grants.gov tracking number and
agency-assigned application number for an application in the event they
need to follow-up with the receiving agency more than 180 days after
submission.]{.underline}

[In the long-term, a user should be able to log onto Grants.gov to see a
list of all applications their organization has submitted over the past
5 (or more) years. For each application, he/she should see at least the
following: date submitted, opportunity name, agency name, tracking
number, agency-assigned #, status (e.g., received by agency, pending
retrieval by agency, awarded, rejected, etc.). He/she should also be
able to sort or query the results by agency, opportunity, year
submitted, etc. For small grant-seeking organizations in particular,
this would be a very useful tool.]{.underline}

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 7/28/06 -- ID# 07.06.45

**Date/s of Discussion** 9/12/06\-- Jillian Miller of NEA led the
discussion on this enhancement. She stated that she envisions that after
180 days the high level data would be available more precisely for the
applicants to access and view. This was agreed upon by the group and the
PMO concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- August 1, 2006* 

## *Name -- Greg Coss*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Department of Commerce/14^th^ and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington DC
  20230 Room 6412/202-482-3134/gcoss1@doc.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  On the find side of Grants.gov, there is an area called \"funding
  opportunity description.\" I would propose that changes be made in this
  area which allow for spacing between paragraphs, paragraph indentation,
  bold type font, and the inclusion of any type of chart. I recently
  posted an opportunity notice for the Department of Commerce, and when
  you go to publish the FFO, any indentations, spacing, and tables that
  were created in the FFO and cut and pasted into the funding opportunity
  description field were not taken. Instead, the description is bunched
  together, not allowing for emphasis on certain sections or clarity on
  when there is a new paragraph. Also, the table I created disappeared,
  with only the data of the table scrolled across the screen, with no
  rows and columns to organize it.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The details of the funding opportunity will be much clearer to
  applicants.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  All agencies will benefit from an easy to read, precise funding
  opportunity description

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Easier to read funding descriptions will encourage more qualified
  applicants to submit applications.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  08/01/06---ID# \-- 08.06.46

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/12/06\-- Greg Gross was not present at the meeting nor was anyone
  from DOC who was familiar with the proposal. The group agreed that
  Vince should present this proposal to the new SI contractor, get
  further information, and determine what action the group should then
  pursue.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 07/26/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Lauren Jones

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

# U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW Washington, D.C. 20202

202-245-6139

lauren.jones@ed.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Education recommends that Grants.gov restore and retain the application
tracking number, date/time received, agency tracking number and status
information on the site for longer than 6 months. We suggest that
Grants.gov retain all of the information that currently displays on the
View All Submitted Applications page for at least one year after the
opportunity closes, or provide agencies a way to easily search by older
tracking numbers.

With the July release, Grants.gov removed applications and the
accompanying Grants.gov status information (date/time received,
Grants.gov tracking number, Grants.gov status, etc). While Education was
aware that the actual pure edge package was to be removed, it was this
agency's understanding that it would still have access to view the
Grants.gov Tracking number, date/time received, status and Agency
tracking number (if provided by the agency) on the Grants.gov site.
While we can see the status information for most applications in the
Agency back end system, we cannot see applications that were rejected by
Grants.gov. We need to be able to access Grants.gov submission
information until the competition is completed.

Removing the status and tracking number does not allow the agency to
easily research program questions. In cases where the competition is not
completed within that 6-month period, agencies may need to research a
particular tracking number after the end of the 6-month period. When the
status and tracking information is still on the site and searchable,
those questions can be answered in a few minutes. Now that the tracking
number and basic information about the submission has been removed,
these types of questions involve PMO staff time, queries from developers
and take a day or more.

Education recommends that the application status information be kept and
accessible for at least 1 year, so that agencies can easily access and
research questions that arise before competitions are completed.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

It will save PMO and developer time by allowing agencies to review
submission and status information using the website, instead of having
to put in a request for a special query on any given tracking number.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Other Federal Agencies may need access to see all application status
information beyond 6-months and to be able to see status information on
applications that Grants.gov Rejected to be able to respond to applicant
inquiries and other matters.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

This will allow agencies to respond to applicant questions
independently, faster and with accurate information.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 8/04/06---ID#\--08.06.47

**Date/s of Discussion** 9/12/06\-- Lauren Jones of Education led the
discussion. She recommends that Grants.gov restore and retain the
application tracking number, date/time received, agency tracking number,
and status information on the site for longer than 6 months. She
suggests that Grants.gov retain all of the information that currently
displays on the "View All Submitted Applications" page for at least one
year after the opportunity closes, or provide agencies a means to easily
search using older tracking numbers. This was agreed upon by the group
and the PMO concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}** 07/26/06

**[Name]{.underline}** Lauren Jones

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

# U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW Washington, D.C. 20202

202-245-6139

lauren.jones@ed.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Recommend that Grants.gov provide more sophisticated search and sort
criteria for the View All Submitted Applications Screen. In the July
Release, Grants.gov segmented the screen, so that applications can be
viewed in increments of 50. While the agencies can still sort on the
column headers, for agencies with a high volume of grants, they can have
many links. (Right now, Education has over 4,000 applications, which is
over 86 links.) To be able to find a particular tracking number, this
can require trial and error clicking around the site to find the correct
page with the application

At a minimum, in addition to being able to see the whole list and sort
by column header, it would be helpful to be able to search for
applications by CFDA, opportunity number, competition ID, Grants.gov #,
and Agency Tracking Number and then sort the search results by column
header.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

It will allow Grantors to be able to more effectively manage their
applications and respond to inquiries from program areas within
agencies.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Other Federal Agencies will benefit from the enhanced searching and
sorting capabilities.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

This will allow agencies to respond to both program staff calls and
applicant questions faster and with accurate information.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 08/04/06---ID#\--08.06.48

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Date/s of Discussion** 9/12**/**06**\--**Lauren Jones of Education
  led the discussion on this matter. She recommends that Grants.gov
  provides a more sophisticated search and sort criteria for the "View
  All Submitted Applications" screen. (In the July release, Grants.gov
  segmented the screen so applications can be viewed in increments of
  50.) This was agreed upon by the group and the PMO concurred.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- August 11, 2006* 

## *Name -- Greg Young and Sebrina Robinson*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***Greg Young***, Department of State Grants.gov Administrator        |
|                                                                       |
| Department of State - A/OPE                                           |
|                                                                       |
| Room 603, 1701 N. Ft. Myer Dr., Arlington, VA                         |
|                                                                       |
| 703-516-1988\                                                         |
| younggm@state.gov                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| ***Sebrina Robinson***, USAID Grants.gov Administrator                |
|                                                                       |
| USAID/M/OAA/CAS                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. 7.08-105A, Washington, DC 20523-7803     |
|                                                                       |
| 202-712-0595                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| srobinson@usaid.gov                                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ***NOTE:*** This is a non-trivial (and probably not short-term)       |
| enhancement, aimed at better end-to-end automation of agency grant    |
| management processes.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| Grants.gov should be enhanced to provide better end-to-end automation |
| of the grants management process via a consistent system-to-system    |
| interface. Currently, the S2S interfaces address two areas:           |
|                                                                       |
| -   Posting the synopsis (via XML document embedded in an email)      |
|                                                                       |
| -   Downloading the incoming applications (via SOAP web services)     |
|                                                                       |
| However, the grantor agency users still need to log into the          |
| Grants.gov web-based application to publish the funding opportunity,  |
| so that applicants can apply online through Grants.gov. There is no   |
| Grants.gov S2S interface to allow this action to be done directly     |
| from the grantor agency's Grant Management System. This leaves a      |
| functional hole, where human users are entering information (e.g.,    |
| selection of form templates) that may be inconsistent, through human  |
| error, between Grants.gov and the agency Grant Management System.     |
|                                                                       |
| The ramifications of this automation gap are two-fold:                |
|                                                                       |
| -   Applicants may submit applications that validate in Grants.gov,   |
|     but crash when they are processed by an inconsistently configured |
|     agency Grant Management System.                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   The agency Grant Management System must add significant error     |
|     processing so that such errors can always be detected, users      |
|     notified, and errors resolved.                                    |
|                                                                       |
| A better approach would be to provide end-to-end automation           |
| interfaces, so that the grantor personnel could not accidentally put  |
| inconsistent funding opportunity application definitions in two       |
| systems. Preferably, these interfaces would be technologically        |
| consistent with the other APPLY (web service) interfaces. These       |
| interfaces should include the ability for program owners to:          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Select the appropriate agency application template for a funding  |
|     opportunity.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| -   Identify/upload all documentation required to support the         |
|     application process (RFA, instructions, FAQ, amendments, etc.)    |
|                                                                       |
| The definition of the grantor agency application templates is of      |
| lesser concern, since this is performed centrally by the Grants.gov   |
| administrators at USAID and DoS, with infrequent changes. Thus it is  |
| less likely to result in problems as our world-wide program owners    |
| are using our new Grants Management System and Grants.gov in their    |
| day-to-day work.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| On a related subject, it would be highly desirable for the interfaces |
| for the FIND synopsis posting to be transitioned to the same web      |
| service technology. That technology would be more secure than the     |
| current email approach, and would provide synchronous success/failure |
| responses, so that users could fix errors right away.                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Better end-to-end automation and consistency between FIND and APPLY
  (both package posting and application submission) will reduce the
  number of opportunities for errors in funding opportunity postings and
  application package posting. This mostly affects the effectiveness and
  efficiency of the Grantor's Grant Management System, since that is
  where consistency errors would be detected and need to be corrected.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement would benefit any federal agency that has implemented
  a Grant Management System to automate its end-to-end grant workflow,
  from the definition (and posting) of grant opportunities to publication
  of application packages to receipt and evaluation of applications and
  on. The fewer points where agency personnel are using different systems
  to define what the application looks like, the less chance that
  incoming applications won't match the data fields in the agency grant
  management system.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It reduce the number of errors on the Grantor end, making the
  application processing more efficient and less likely to be delayed by
  human error correction. The correction process, however, may impact
  applicants if they have to resubmit applications (i.e., if the
  definition of the program forms was correct on the Grant Management
  System but incorrectly selected on the Grants.gov side).

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  8/08/06---ID#\--08.06.49

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/12/06\-- Sebrina Robinson of USAID led this discussion. There is
  already an approved enhancement that is identical to this enhancement
  and a Systems Change Request (SCR) is in place regarding this change.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date- August 10, 2006*

## *Name -- Gary Stammer, SSA Grants Management Officer*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  SSA Baltimore, MD 410-965-9501 gary.stammer@ssa.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| To help prevent applicants from failing to meet application           |
| submission close dates it would be helpful to be explain within       |
| Grants.gov that one may query the status of an organization's Central |
| Contractor Registration database registration to see the expiration   |
| date. Also, please provide a link from the explanation to             |
| [www.ccr.gov](http://www.ccr.gov/) to carry out the query. The        |
| explanation could be as follows:                                      |
|                                                                       |
| It is possible to query the status of an organization's CCR           |
| registration to be sure it will not expire before an application      |
| submission Close Date. To query a CCR registration:                   |
|                                                                       |
| 1\. Go to the CCR Homepage at                                         |
| [[http://www.ccr.gov]{.underline}](http://www.ccr.gov/)               |
|                                                                       |
| 2\. Click on \"Search CCR\".                                          |
|                                                                       |
| > 3\. Enter the DUNS number, company name or CAGE Code. Click the     |
| > appropriate Search button.                                          |
| >                                                                     |
| > 4\. The expiration date of the registration is posted in bold type  |
| > at the top of the screen under \"Current Registration Status\".     |
|                                                                       |
| Currently, Grants.gov may show an Authorized AOR, but when an         |
| application is submitted the applicant is notified their              |
| organization's CCR registration has expired. This may occur too close |
| to the close date to resolve the issue before the close date has      |
| passed.                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will reduce instances requiring Grants.gov Help Desk
  and Grantor assistance to identify and resolve CCR registration related
  problems. Also, this change will help applicants be more self
  sufficient at achieving successful application submissions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The ability to query the status of an organization's CCR registration
  from within Grants.gov will help grantors assist applicants and even
  allow identifying potential CCR registration problems before they
  occur, thereby making it possible to resolve the matter and achieve
  more successful application submissions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This change will make applicants more self sufficient and increase the
  number of successful application submissions. This will make the use of
  grants.gov a more positive experience for applicants.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  8/10/06---ID#\--08.06.50

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/12/06\--Gary Stammer of SSA led the discussion of this enhancement.
  He believes this type of enhancement will improve the application
  submission process by allowing a direct link into the CCR data base.
  This was agreed upon by the group and the PMO concurred.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 8/14/2006* 

## *Name -- Jason Hitchcock* 

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USDA/CSREES

  202-720-4343, jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Agencies need the ability to collect individual or partial components
  of a complete application. For example, if an agency needs an applicant
  to resubmit a component of an application, such as a budget or a
  revised cover sheet, the agency needs to collect that component and
  only that component without having to get a complete package of forms.
  In the competitive grants process submissions of modified applications
  prior to review is commonplace. Currently applicants must resubmit a
  full package as their modification and an agency has no means to
  identify the modified components or know if things have been changed
  that should not have been changed in the original submission. As a
  result, applicants are being instructed to submit modified components
  in hard copy, which negates the ability to reuse data already entered
  and submitted and the grants.gov solution.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will satisfy the ability for agencies to receive
  modifications as needed to ensure the integrity of the competitive
  process. This will also prevent agencies from having to collect these
  modifications outside the grants.gov system as they do now, thus
  leveraging the investments made in the system to date. This enhancement
  should also allow for the reuse of information.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

###  3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I believe other agencies will have this same need and it will allow
  other agencies to collect pre-award information through grants.gov as
  intended and within scope of the initiative. Currently each agency has
  to use their system, or paper process to collect this modified
  information.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I think it will ensure applicants are being provided with a streamlined
  system that will allow them to reuse information they have already
  entered, and reduce the need for disparate agency specific instructions
  in how modification to per-award submissions are handled. This also
  reduces the need for the applicant to submit information that is not
  needed or may need to be completely reentered.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  8/14/06---ID#\--08.06.51

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 9/12/06\--Jason Hitchcock led the discussion on the enhancement.      |
| There was much discussion regarding this enhancement since it will    |
| have impact on the S2S community. It was determined that to properly  |
| deal with this area, Vince will need to get more information from the |
| new SI contractor and find what they envision regarding this          |
| proposal. Subsequently, a sub-group will be formed to work on this    |
| issue.                                                                |
|                                                                       |
| 11/07/06 Vince Sprouls: This was tabled since Jason Hitchcock of USDA |
| was not in attendance and some in the group did not feel it would be  |
| efficient to go forward with this proposal, and starting a workgroup  |
| on this issue was placed on hold. We will bring it back to the next   |
| User Group meeting so Jason can present his enhancement to the group. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date:]{.underline} 8/14/2006**

**[Name:]{.underline} Brad Hendrick**

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

HHS/OPHS

1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 700, Rockville, MD 20852

240-453-2838

Brad.hendrick@hhs.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Correct the xml schema to allow the proper identification of data rows
and columns on the 424a. Right now, each row and column data field uses
the same tag name and does not specify the specific row/column it comes
from. This affects the ability to extract data and populate it into our
databases correctly when these tags contain the same value names. It is
very difficult to code for this issue when multiple columns/rows use the
same tag names and it would be easier and more appropriate for the xml
schema for the 424a to be corrected to account for tag attributes that
clearly identify row/column data fields.\
\
The following XML tags on the 424a do not identify which form row or
column the data is mapped from: SF424A:SummaryLineItem and
SF424A:CategorySet\
\
We would like to request that both of these XML tags include an
attribute which identifies the row number (1-4) which is identified on
the form (see an example of the current data provided at the end of this
form).

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Will correctly identify data elements from the budget sections of the
424a using unique column and row tag attribute identifiers.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Little Impact. Correction of grants.gov interface implementations to
utilize xml schema that implements new tag attributes to correctly
identify and extract 424a data for population into system databases.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

None. PureEdge front end form will not change. Only the xml schema used
by federal agencies to identify and extract data will change.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received** 8/14/06---ID#\--08.06.52

**Date/s of Discussion** 9/12/06**\--**Brad Hendrick of HHS led the
discussion on this enhancement change. After a thorough discussion, it
was agreed upon by the group and the PMO concurred.

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 8/21/06* 

## *Name - Khriss Howard*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| U.S. Dept of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC       |
|                                                                       |
| 202-401-1904                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| khriss.howard@ed.gov                                                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In the Grants.gov [test]{.underline} environment, Education           |
| Department (ED) testers encountered an issue with the tracking number |
| sequence when pulling Grants.gov applications through the ED S2S      |
| interface. Specifically, the ED interface would not process           |
| applications because the Grants.gov tracking number already existed   |
| in the ED test environment. This was due to the fact that ED          |
| refreshes its test database every three months with production data,  |
| and the Grants.gov test system recently began assigning tracking      |
| numbers that had already been used in production.                     |
|                                                                       |
| The technical teams from ED and Grants.gov worked together on this    |
| problem and suggested that Grants.gov modify the test environment to  |
| have its tracking numbers begin at 50 million.  ED understands that   |
| the capacity is 99 million tracking numbers so starting with 50       |
| million should not adversely affect testers from any agency. Making   |
| this change will ensure that agencies that maintain the tracking      |
| number in their back end systems and refresh their test database with |
| production data will be able to test without errors resulting from    |
| duplicate Grants.gov tracking numbers.                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  While the enhancement will not affect the production environment, it
  will make testing with Grants.gov more efficient and avoid potential
  problems with the tracking numbers. Making this change will allow ED to
  continue testing as it has been testing since the inception of its
  Grants.gov interface and ensure that a true end-to-end tests can be
  completed. A decision not to use this approach or some other solution
  will result in wasted time and energy for both ED and Grants.gov
  technical staff in researching and resolving issues when there is a
  duplication of tracking numbers.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement to the testing environment will affect other federal
  agencies if they use the tracking number as a key when pulling
  applications through an interface. It's possible that other agencies
  could eventually experience the same problem that Education encountered
  and will need the tracking number sequence to be separate from
  production.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will have no effect on the grantee community as it
  affects the test environment only.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  8/21/06---ID#\--08.06.53 11/7/09 Khriss Howard of Education**:** Terry
  Diehl went over the enhancement regarding the tracking numbers in the
  AT environment. The group concurred regarding this change to be made
  regarding AT and Vince concurred.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov>.

## *Date- October 5, 2006* 

## *Name -* 

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USDA/1400 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C./(202)
  720-XXXX/XXX@usda.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USDA proposes making an enhancement to the Grants.gov system that makes
  the application template a required field once a program is designated
  as a discretionary or competitive grant in the synopsis.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grants.gov has set a goal in FY 2007 that 100% of discretionary and   |
| competitive grant programs offer the option to apply electronically   |
| through the Website to grantees. The current method of compliance is  |
| to change the grantor's behavior to make the system work. Without the |
| proposed system enhancement, Grants.gov and OMB must communicate the  |
| requirement through fiscal year milestones to Agency representatives  |
| who, in turn, communicate the requirement to their Agency executives  |
| who, in turn, create policy that must be communicated to the          |
| sub-Agency grant administrators who, in turn, must voluntarily comply |
| and create matching application packages for their grant programs. In |
| the case of USDA, this requires relaying a message through many       |
| points on the organizational structure and over thousands of miles    |
| between geographical locations.                                       |
|                                                                       |
| USDA proposes that Grants.gov enhance the system to support agency    |
| policies. The process is made more efficient by restricting a         |
| person's ability to ignore the policy. USDA's policy is that a grant  |
| program designated as discretionary or competitive must have a        |
| matching application package associated with the program's synopsis   |
| on Grants.gov. The proposed system enhancement makes this policy 100% |
| effective.                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| The system enhancement would also greatly increase the effectiveness  |
| and efficiency of internal management controls by eliminating the     |
| possibility of human error. Currently, communications can be          |
| misunderstood or policy can be ignored resulting in grant programs    |
| being published without matching application packages.                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  In FY 2006, some Agencies were granted special exemption from having
  matching application packages with certain grant programs on a
  case-by-case basis. The grants were advertised on Grants.gov, but they
  were not counted against the Agency with regard to the 75%
  participation target for matching application packages. We understand
  that there are grant opportunities that are published by agencies that
  are not discretionary or cooperative agreements. These opportunities
  will not be affected by the proposed enhancement. The enhancement will
  eliminate the need for agencies to dedicate staff to monitor
  opportunities to ensure that each opportunity that requires an
  application has one.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will have very limited visibility to the grantee
  community. Nothing will change about the way the applicant is able to
  search for and apply to grants on Grants.gov. The enhancement will
  impact the grantee by ensuring that he/she has the option to apply
  electronically for 100% of discretionary and competitive federal
  grants.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  10/23/06\-- ID#\--10.06.54

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| -   11/7/2006- **Will Kenny of USDA:** Will presented this            |
|     enhancement to the group. There were some objections to this      |
|     enhancement voiced by a few agencies while others felt it may be  |
|     a good idea. Vince would bring this to the he new SI for their    |
|     input and see what their solution may be for this enhancement and |
|     bring back to the next meeting. 1/9/07\--After discussion         |
|     regarding this enhancement, it became clear that NIH and other    |
|     agencies were very interested in deploying this type of           |
|     enhancement but did not want to make it required. However, it was |
|     decided that the most efficient way to proceed was to start a     |
|     subgroup that would be led by NIH and/or USDA. Vince will be      |
|     sending out notification shortly seeking members from the group   |
|     to join this workgroup to develop requirements to put forth       |
|     3/13/07**-** These two enhancements were combined and we convened |
|     a sub-group that met and has come up with a web-service proposal. |
|     The subgroup was led by Frank Newman of NIH and he went over the  |
|     draft proposal. In the draft proposal, the web-service proposal   |
|     would handle both the synopsis and the package. Also, the posting |
|     of the package would not be mandatory. It was determined that the |
|     subgroup should meet at least one more time to refine the draft   |
|     requirements document and that the PMO should also provide an     |
|     assessment back to the workgroup.7/11/07- Last week the PMO send  |
|     an analysis completed by the IV&V staff to the head of the        |
|     subgroup and will work with subgroup following their response.    |
|     11/07\--On September 17, working with Frank Newman the lead of    |
|     this subgroup, he stated that it would be acceptable to start     |
|     with implementing phases 100 and 101 of proposal. We are aiming   |
|     to get these two elements placed in the first built that may be   |
|     released in January 2008. 1/08/08---This is still on our radar    |
|     screen and looking to get in built after transition.              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outcome                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Date of Vote and Final Result                                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 09 November 2006* 

## *Name -- David P. Davis*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  National Archives and Records Administration (National Historical
  Publications and Records Commission) / 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
  Washington, DC 20408 / 202-357-5022 / <david.davis@nara.gov>

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Full Announcement button visible on the Synopsis and Full         |
| Announcement page headers could be enhanced to allow grantors to:     |
|                                                                       |
| -Post attachments containing the full announcement and collateral     |
| documents (currently the only option)                                 |
|                                                                       |
| -Post a URL to the full announcement elsewhere on the Internet,       |
| directly linking from the Full Announcement button without            |
| intermediate steps                                                    |
|                                                                       |
| -Disable or remove the button from display when not in use            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The proposed URL option will allow agencies to manage content in a    |
| single location (ie, the target of the Full Announcement link),       |
| rather than having to modify both their own web version of the        |
| announcement and the downloadable version on Grants.gov. This will    |
| prevent duplication of effort and use of Grants.gov system resources  |
| for those agencies who choose this option.                            |
|                                                                       |
| Anecdotal evidence suggests that some grant-seekers are confused by   |
| the unused Full Announcement button, or assume that the feature is    |
| broken. The Disable option will reduce the number of applicant help   |
| calls or emails to Grants.gov and/or the grantor.                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Any federal agency choosing either of the new options will potentially
  save time managing content or providing applicant assistance.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Grantees will find a streamlined interface with fewer steps for
  reaching full announcements and are less likely to become confused
  about grant announcements that do not include attached documents.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/9/2006 ID# 11.06.55

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1/9/07\--This was discussed but was brought up there is already an SCR
  pending regarding this enhancement from a prior submitted enhancement
  request that was approved.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- December 8, 2006* 

## *Name - Khriss Howard*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| U.S. Dept of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC       |
|                                                                       |
| 202-401-1904                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| khriss.howard@ed.gov                                                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Education Department (ED) has several fellowship programs that    |
| cannot presently use Grants.gov for the receipt of grant              |
| applications. There are three factors that prevent these programs     |
| from moving to Grants.gov: 1) the unique business processes involving |
| fellowship applications; 2) the need to collect specific data         |
| elements not currently available in Grants.gov; and 3) the            |
| confidential materials collected, including references.               |
|                                                                       |
| The business process, as defined by program regulations, requires     |
| institutions to collect fellowship applications from fellows, review  |
| and group them together, and then submit selected/approved            |
| applications as one institutional application. This process           |
| (submission of multiple fellowship applications within a larger       |
| institutional application) is somewhat similar to the proposed        |
| collaborative application process being discussed for a future        |
| enhancement. In addition, program regulations for these fellowship    |
| programs require the collection of certain data elements not          |
| currently captured on the standard forms available on Grants.gov.     |
| Therefore, creation of forms would be necessary. Third, each          |
| fellowship application must contain multiple confidential references  |
| (i.e., not seen by the fellows but submitted on their behalf). The    |
| present Grants.gov functionality does not allow for the collection of |
| confidential reference forms. In terms of volume, the largest         |
| fellowship program typically receives approximately 60 institutional  |
| applications containing over 500 fellowship applications from         |
| students each year. Some institutional applications can contain over  |
| 50 student fellowship applications.                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  We believe a good part of the requirements for the fellowship programs
  will be supported once the collaborative application enhancement is
  built. Preliminary discussions on supporting fellowship type
  applications were discussed at a very high level in the collaborative
  application interagency meetings. Therefore, the functionality
  developed for collaborative applications could be expanded to support
  fellowship applications. In addition, the agency specific systems,
  including ED's e-Grants system that currently are in place to accept
  these applications electronically could be eliminated.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  While this business process is unique, we know that there are other
  federal agencies such as NSF that process fellowship applications and
  collect references for individual applicants. It's possible that there
  are other agencies that have similar programs that could benefit from
  an enhancement that would support this type of business process.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will allow the fellowship applicant community to
  continue to submit applications electronically as they have for the
  last 4-5 years at ED.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/15/06 ID# 12.06.56

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| -   1/9/07 Tabled at Ed's request until the next meeting. 3/13/06\--  |
|     The discussion was led by Khriss Howard of Education: After       |
|     discussion, it was determined that since many other agencies also |
|     administer fellowship programs, the most efficient way to handle  |
|     this proposal would be to start a sub-group that could refine and |
|     draft-up requirements. Khriss Howard will lead the workgroup and  |
|     Vince will announce via email to the User Group when the group    |
|     forms. 7/11/06\--The PMO will be sending out an announcement by   |
|     the end of July announcing the subgroup of interested parties     |
|     that will be led by Education to start working on this type of    |
|     program requirements. 9/11/07\-- Vince stated to the group that   |
|     he had sent out to the User Group a solicitation as to what other |
|     agencies would like to join Education in developing this          |
|     mechanism and read out which agencies responded (NSF, NEH, ACF,   |
|     AHRQ, CDC, HRSA, IHS, NIH, FDA, USDA, NEH, DOJ and EPA). It looks |
|     like the first meeting of this workgroup will take place in the   |
|     beginning of October. There was much discussion that the various  |
|     agencies that dealt with Fellowships had various needs and that   |
|     this would be a difficult undertaking for the workgroup On        |
|     October 9, the subgroup met and it was led by Khriss Howard of    |
|     Education. 11/9/07\--The group did an initial analysis of the     |
|     various ways agencies currently deal with fellowships. The next   |
|     meeting will be on December 4. 1/8/08---Met on 12/4/07 and will   |
|     meet again in 02/08.                                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outcome                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- December 8, 2006* 

## *Name - Khriss Howard*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| U.S. Dept of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC       |
|                                                                       |
| 202-401-1904                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| khriss.howard@ed.gov                                                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Education Department (ED) has a discretionary grant competition   |
| for the Impact Aid Program. Special functionality was developed in    |
| ED's e-Grants system to support the program's unique business         |
| process.                                                              |
|                                                                       |
| The Impact Aid 8007(b) program has a limited audience. Applicants     |
| that receive funding under Impact Aid's Section 8002 or 8003 formula  |
| grants in the same fiscal year and meet additional requirements       |
| described in the Impact Aid law are eligible to apply. Therefore,     |
| there is a limited set of eligible applicants resulting in the        |
| program receiving less than 200 applications. In addition, the        |
| information collected is data intensive and there are 13 program      |
| specific forms associated with this grant programs. Currently these   |
| forms are pre-populated individually based on the grantee's Impact    |
| Aid number and information the applicant provided in their formula    |
| grant application. Presently, ED's e-Grants systems interface with    |
| the Impact Aid system and prepopulates these forms which results in   |
| few errors and omissions of required data. We would like to explore   |
| the possibility of building these forms and developing an interface   |
| from the Impact Aid system to Grants.gov so that the forms could be   |
| prepopulated for Impact Aid applicants.                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  As stated above, ED has developed the functionality to support this
  program in its current e-Grants system. If Grants.gov could develop the
  program specific forms and an interface could be developed between the
  Impact Aid system and G.gov so that the forms could be prepopulated,
  the functionality to support this unique processing requirement could
  be eliminated from the ED system.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This business process is unique to this program, but if an interface is
  developed, it could possibly be replicated for other agencies that may
  have a unique program like Impact Aid.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will allow the prepopulation of data, avoiding data
  errors, and allow the Impact Aid community to continue to submit
  applications to the Department electronically.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/15/06 ID# 12.06.57

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1/9/07\--Tabled at Ed's request until the next meeting.3/13/06\--
  Khriss Howard of Education led the discussion. It was determined that
  Anteon would look at this enhancement and get back to the User Group.
  Also, if other agencies have other type program, they should bring it
  to the attention of the PMO.7/11/07\-- Mary Tutman will work with
  Khriss Howard of Education directly on developing this feature to
  determine it feasibility and report back to the group as they proceed
  to determine if this will be of value to other agencies.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- January 3, 2007* 

## *Name -- Barbara Smith* 

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), 9^th^ Floor, 1800 M
  St. NW DC 20036

  202/653-4688 <bsmith@imls.gov>
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  As part of the process of re-publishing an altered/updated application
  package on Grants.gov, the publishing agency will be able to input a
  brief description of the changes that have been made to the package.
  After the re-publication is completed, all potential applicants that
  have signed up for e-mail notifications for that application will
  receive a message that contains the agency-provided brief description
  of the changes made. The process could be similar to that provided for
  revisions of synopses. Currently there is not a way to directly alert
  applicants about what changed in the package, which can create problems
  for the applicants and for the program staff at the agency who field
  the calls and e-mails about the changes.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will provide better communication about the nature of
  changes that have been made to a published application package. The
  changes could be simple (like updating instructions) or potentially
  have a major effect on applicants (i.e., adding or replacing a form).
  It makes the process more transparent for the applicant. On the grantor
  side, this may reduce the number of phone calls or e-mail messages from
  applicants inquiring about the change(s), as well as the time
  applicants may spend on figuring out the change for themselves.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

###  3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Any granting agency that has to re-publish a package is likely to
  receive fewer phone calls and e-mails about package's changes. While we
  all strive to publish packages correctly the first time, circumstances
  sometimes intercede. This eases the pain of those changes.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Applicants who have already downloaded a package and get the update
  notice can quickly and easily understand what changed and how they need
  to deal with it. This will save them time, frustration, and the need to
  contact the granting agency for more information.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  01/03/07 ID #01.07.58

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1/9/07\--Barbara Smith led the discussion of this enhancement. After it
  was discussed there were no objections and it was agreed upon with PMO
  concurrence.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- January 12, 2007* 

## *Name -- Frank P. Newman*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  HHS/NIH/OD/OER

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Federal agencies that participate in grants.gov need a way to add,    |
| edit and delete postings to both Find and Apply via a web service     |
| using the FOA Number as an identifier. The service would accept       |
| changes to any of the Find and Apply data items and would provide     |
| verification that the add, edit or delete was completed upon request. |
| These transactions would be executed while ensuring the security of   |
| the transmitted data.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| Grants.gov does currently provide an automated solution for accepting |
| FOA transmissions but it has some serious flaws. The flaws are as     |
| follows:                                                              |
|                                                                       |
| 1\) Find submissions are currently accepted as email messages with    |
| embedded XML data. These messages contain authentication information  |
| from the agencies (login ID and password) in clear text so it is      |
| possible they may be intercepted. It would then be very easy for      |
| someone with malicious intent to spoof an FOA to grants.gov and       |
| because grants.gov has no method of ensuring the validity of the      |
| sender and data, there is an easily exploitable method of posting     |
| incorrect or embarassing information.                                 |
|                                                                       |
| 2\) "Apply" data isn't accepted at all so anytime an agency posts an  |
| FOA, they have to manually login to the grants.gov website and enter  |
| data. This separation of data entry between "Find" and "Apply"        |
| introduces the possibility of conflicting data for a single FOA and   |
| greatly increases the amount of time and effort the agencies must     |
| expend to post an FOA.                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  FOA will be entered into grants.gov more quickly because agencies will
  be able to automate the export of their locally stored FOAs.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  If a well defined API was defined for grants.gov, other agencies could
  automate their postings to find and apply and reduce the duplication of
  effort since many already enter much of the same data to their own
  automated systems.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  There will be less potential for conflicting applicant information
  because manual data entry will no longer be required. Applicants can be
  sure that an FOA they are making application for is valid.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  01/12/07 ID# 01.07.59

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3/13/07-Combined with 10.06.54. These two enhancements were combined  |
| and we convened a sub-group that met and has come up with a           |
| web-service proposal. The subgroup was led by Frank Newman of NIH and |
| he went over the draft proposal. In the draft proposal, the           |
| web-service proposal would handle both the synopsis and the package.  |
| Also, the posting of the package would not be mandatory. It was       |
| determined that the subgroup should meet at least one more time to    |
| refine the draft requirements document and that the PMO should also   |
| provide an assessment back to the workgroup.9/11/07\-- David Isaac of |
| the Grants.gov IV&V staff presented his analysis but he felt the core |
| requirements are technically feasible and relatively easy to          |
| implement because they are APIs to existing functions:                |
|                                                                       |
| -   RQ100: Create/read/update/delete synopsis                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   RQ101: Define application package                                 |
|                                                                       |
| The other requirements are more complicated because they represent    |
| new functionality and we need to understand importance/value relative |
| to cost:                                                              |
|                                                                       |
| -   RQ102: Field-level rules for notifications                        |
|                                                                       |
| -   RQ103: Bypass invalid CFDA                                        |
|                                                                       |
| One requirement needs clarification given that an "opportunity" holds |
| common data elements:                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| -   RQ104: Consolidated synopsis/package schema                       |
|                                                                       |
| His suggested that we should break this into two parts, implements    |
| RQ100 and 101 as soon as possible and then subsequently implement the |
| other functions. Vince said that he would work with Frank Newman of   |
| NIH who led this workgroup who led the workgroup.                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- January 19, 2007* 

## *Name -- Jennifer Flach*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  HHS/NIH 301-435-5092

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Applicants and grant reviewers have requested a change in formatting of
  the forms so that the font of the data within fields is larger and
  different than the font for the field titles and instructions. This
  will help applicants and reviewers more easily distinguish between the
  content provided by the applicant from that included in the form. The
  research community has voiced many concerns about this.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will increase user acceptability and improve training by improving
  the readability of the filled in forms.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Other agencies serve the same grantee community that has been raising
  this concern so it should benefit them and their stakeholders as well.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  See 1. The impact is positive and being requested by this community.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  01/19/07 ID# 01.07.60

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| > 3/13/07-Megan Columbus of NIH led the discussion: Many agencies     |
| > concurred that they experienced this same problem and liked the     |
| > solution proposed in enhancement. Therefore, after a thorough       |
| > discussion, it was determined that Anteon would research this       |
| > enhancement and get back to the group at the next meeting. 7/10/07- |
| > Marwan Abu-Fadel of the SI team and David Issacc of the IV&V team   |
| > will look at the feasibility of this enhancement, and if not, will  |
| > see if there are other options and will report back to the User     |
| > Group. 9/11/07\-- David Isaac of the Grants.gov IV&V stated that    |
| > these are visual forms and he suggested that NIH (Megan Columbus)   |
| > bring forward to the PMO (Vince) specific forms where this is an    |
| > issue and he then can bring this forward to the SI forms team to    |
| > see what solution that can provide. Also, in the near future that   |
| > this is an issue that the SI forms team and the IV&V forms          |
| > clearance team needs to address in the development of new forms.    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- January 19, 2007* 

## *Name -- Jennifer Flach*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  HHS/NIH 301-435-5092

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Applicants and grant reviewers have requested the removal of the
  listing of filenames and mime types for the attachments. See example
  below. We believe this is from the XSL-FO style sheets that we inherit
  from Grants.gov. Is it possible to remove this formatting in the new
  2007 Grants.gov system? Many applicants and reviewers are finding this
  confusing and annoying.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  It will increase user acceptability and improve training by improving
  look of the processed forms.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Other agencies serve the same grantee community that has been raising
  this concern so it should benefit them and their stakeholders as well.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  See 1. The impact is positive and being requested by this community.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  01/19/07 ID# 01.07.61

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  3/13/07\--Megan Columbus of NIH led the discussion: After a thorough
  discussion, it was determined that Anteon would research this
  enhancement and get back to the group at the next meeting. 7/11/07\--
  Tom Purtell of the SI team will look at the feasibility of this option
  with the new system and will get back to the group at the next meeting.
  9/11/07\-- Per Harsha Rao of Grants.gov SI team stated that this is no
  longer an issue with the new 2007 system so this enhancement was
  closed.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Example:**

**ADDITIONAL SENIOR/KEY Filename**

**PERSON PROFILE(S)** 518-1-Appendix-2.pdf

**MimeType**

application/pdf

**Additional Biographical Filename**

**Sketch(es) (Senior/Key Person)**
1567-1-AdditionalNarrativeJustification.pdf

**MimeType**

application/pdf

**Additional Current and Filename**

**Pending Support(s)** 2756-1-Appendix-3.pdf

**MimeType**

application/pdf

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 2/22/07* 

## *Name --Kim Deutsch*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  National Science Foundation, 703-292-4497, kdeutsch@nsf.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| A\) If the closing date for a funding opportunity is today, allow     |
| agency users to modify the closing date to a future date. The agency  |
| user should also be given the options to either suppress the          |
| automatic emails or entering additional text to be included in the    |
| the email.                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| B\) If the closing date for a funding opportunity is today, allow     |
| agency users to add or modify the grace period.                       |
|                                                                       |
| C\) Display a warning message if the closing date for an opportunity  |
| falls on a federal holiday or a weekend so the agency user can select |
| a new date or add a grace period.                                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Agencies will be able to quickly act to situations that require       |
| flexibility with the closing date. These situations can range from    |
| natural disasters to problems with computer systems.                  |
|                                                                       |
| The federal holiday and weekend warning will help to associate the    |
| closing date with a time when customer service resources are          |
| available.                                                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  See #2 above. We think that other agencies also need this flexibility.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The community will quickly be notified when a change is made to the
  closing date. They will be submitting during a time when customer
  service resources are available.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  02/02/07 ID# 02.07.62

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  3/13/07\--Vince Sprouls: Since there was no one from NSF that felt
  comfortable presenting this enhancement, it was determined that it
  would be tabled until the next meeting. 7/11/07\-- Jamie Evan of NSF
  presented all three aspects of this enhancement. It was agreed to by
  the group and the PMO concurred..

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## **Date-** *04/06/2007*

## **Name --** *Shawn Bennett (Through Jason Hitchcock)*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Agency** - CSREES                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| **Location** -- Washington, DC                                        |
|                                                                       |
| **Telephone** - 202-401-1284                                          |
|                                                                       |
| **E-mail** - rbennett@csrees.usda.gov                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  I propose a search tool and reporting capability for grantors to locate
  applications more readily generate aggregate or summary information
  available on submitted applications. This tool would be essential to
  finding application in the large mass that are currently displayed.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Currently, submitted applications are displayed as one large mass. You
  can sort these applications by various means. However, you can't pull
  reports from this data. Because this is not possible the agency user
  would have to get information or reports from Grants.gov. Grants.gov is
  essentially set up to support the public and thus should be focusing
  more on helping them and resolving their issues. This enhancement would
  help Grants.gov be more effective and efficient to the public by not
  having to work with the agencies for something that can and should be
  handled by the agency. It would also allow the agency to support
  Grants.gov by answering simple non-technical questions like why was my
  application rejected or was my application rejected by Grants.gov.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  As an agency user I would find it useful to be able to pull information
  about a specific funding opportunity, status, etc. This data could be
  used to verify that your systems are processing applications correctly
  and could help with problem analysis. This should have a positive
  impact on any agency monitoring their own systems by giving them real
  data to use. If they don't monitor their systems it certainly wouldn't
  negatively impact any other agency. This would also help the other
  agencies by being able to more quickly pull data from the mass to
  answer simple non-technical questions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The indirect impact on the grantee community would agencies could offer
  more effective problem resolution to grantees and proved another source
  other than Grants.gov to answer questions. The grantee community would
  not need to be transferred around to get answers to simple
  non-technical questions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  04/06/07 ID# 02.07.63

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/11/07\-- Vince stated that this is identical to a previous approved
  enhancement that is under Systems Change Request (SCR) 5826 and it was
  agreed this enhancement could be closed

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- 04/06/2007*

## *Name - Shawn Bennett (Through Jason Hitchcock)*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Agency** - CSREES                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| **Location** -- Washington, DC                                        |
|                                                                       |
| **Telephone** - 202-401-1284                                          |
|                                                                       |
| **E-mail** - rbennett@csrees.usda.gov                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  A repeal/change in the 6 month/180 day archiving/purging of submitted
  applications. Change to a 12 months after the grace period
  ­[and]{.underline} status changed to "received by agency". CSREES has
  some funding opportunities that span over almost an entire fiscal year.
  By archiving in the current 6 month/180 day cycle from when agencies
  retrieve the applications are being cleared before we still have a
  potential need for that information.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Currently, submitted applications are archived before funding
  opportunities are closed. Because of this, the agency can no longer see
  the applications in the submitted applications listing. As a result,
  agency users have to get information or reports from Grants.gov.
  Grants.gov is essentially set up to support the public and thus should
  be focusing more on helping them and resolving their issues. This
  enhancement would help Grants.gov be more effective and efficient to
  the public by not having to work with the agencies for something that
  can and should be handled by the agency. It would also allow the agency
  to support Grants.gov by answering simple non-technical questions like
  why was my application rejected or was my application rejected by
  Grants.gov.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  As an agency user I would find it useful to be able to pull information
  about an entire funding opportunity, status, etc. By archiving before
  an opportunity is completed that is not possible. This data could be
  used to verify that your systems are processing applications correctly
  and could help with problem analysis. This should have a positive
  impact on any agency monitoring their own systems by giving them real
  data to use. If they don't monitor their systems it certainly wouldn't
  negatively impact any other agency. This would also help the other
  agencies by being able to more quickly pull data from the mass to
  answer simple non-technical questions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Grantees should have the ability to ask about applications that they
  may have submitted in a fiscal year. By archiving, they can't get this
  information from the agency. The most positive impact for the grantee
  community would be another source to answer questions about their
  applications. The grantee community would not need to be transferred
  around to get answers to simple non-technical questions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  04/06/07 ID# 02.07.64

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/11/07\-- William Kenney of USDA of the submitting agency asked that
  this enhancement be tabled for this meeting.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## **Date-** *04/06/2007*

## **Name --** *Shawn Bennett (Through Jason Hitchcock)*

## Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Agency** - CSREES                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| **Location** -- Washington, DC                                        |
|                                                                       |
| **Telephone** - 202-401-1284                                          |
|                                                                       |
| **E-mail** - rbennett@csrees.usda.gov                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Agencies need the ability to see the count of application by status
  associated with a Funding Opportunity on the Funding Opportunity
  Listing. The funding opportunity listing currently indicates how many
  applications were received for that opportunity regardless of status.
  The number shown indicates the number of applications that were
  validated and received by the agency. Once Grants.gov begins
  archiving/purging opportunities this number shows all the applications
  that were rejected with errors. It would be more useful if the number
  was shown by status so that when archiving/purging occurs so the agency
  can accurately do a final reconciliation.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Once applications are archived/purged the agency does can not access to
  them. Since the number changes by archiving the agency can't see why.
  Because this is not possible the agency user would have to get
  information or reports from Grants.gov on a regular basis to do
  reconciliation. Grants.gov is essentially set up to support the public
  and thus should be focusing more on helping them and resolving their
  issues. This enhancement would help Grants.gov be more effective and
  efficient to the public by not having to work with the agencies for
  something that can and should be handled by the agency.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  As an agency user I would find it useful to be able to use the number
  and status of a funding opportunity to help verify that my systems are
  working correctly. This data could also be used to formulate statistics
  on how many applications are not making it to the agency. These
  statistics could be used to better inform the public about common
  errors. This should have a positive impact on any agency monitoring
  their own systems by giving them real data to use. If they don't
  monitor their systems it certainly wouldn't negatively impact any other
  agency.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The most positive impact for the grantee community would be the
  agencies ability to better inform them of common mistakes and hopefully
  more successful submissions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  04/06/07 ID# 02.07.65

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/11/07\-- William Kenney of USDA was present for this enhancement. It
  was determined by the group that this enhancement is similar to
  previous submitted grantor search enhancements (in particular SCR 5826)
  and that this requirement should be added to that SCR requirement.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

When you complete this form, please email it on to
<Vincent.Sprouls@hhs.gov> .

## *Date- April 09, 2007* 

## *Name -- Sebrina Robinson*

## *Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address* 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USAID / 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. / 202-712-0595 /
  <srobinson@usaid.gov>.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  USAID requests that Grants.gov add a search feature that will allow the
  system administrators to search for agency users by user name or
  sub-agency level. (This was a feature of Fedgrants that was not
  included in the Grants.gov system.)

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Currently, there is no "agency user" search feature in Grants.gov. This
  means that system administrators at agencies with several users and
  multiple sub-agency levels, must search each level to locate a user.
  USAID has 80 mission locations around the world, with several users. As
  users transfer between locations, or cover multiple locations at one
  time, it is difficult to manage users and ensure that appropriate roles
  are assigned without having to search the entire system. This search
  feature will provide the system administrators with a more efficient
  way of locating users and assigning the appropriate roles to them.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This will benefit all agency system administrators, especially those
  with multiple users and sub-agency levels.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  This enhancement will not be visible to the Grantee community, and
  therefore will not impact their use of the Grants.gov system in any
  way.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  04/09/07 ID# 04.07.66

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  9/11/07\-- This enhancement was presented by Sebrina Robinson of USAID.
  They need to be able to find their agency employees in the various
  components within the agency since they have numerous components. It
  was determined through discussion that they mainly only need the
  ability to locate employees with the grantor function. There was no
  objection to this enhancement and the PMO concurred.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program Manager

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**[GRANTS.GOV APPLICANT ENHANCEMENT FORM]{.underline}**

## *Date: November 13, 2007* 

## *Name: Charlotte Ely, Life-Scientist*

Instructions---Any applicant is welcome to submit a suggested
enhancement via this form. Please make sure you make your suggested
enhancement is concise but explicit. When you complete this form, please
email it on to <Support@Grants.gov> .

## Organization/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 9                |
|                                                                       |
| 75 Hawthorne St.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| San Francisco, CA 94105                                               |
|                                                                       |
| 415-972-3227                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| <ely.charlotte@epa.gov>                                               |
|                                                                       |
| EPA region 9 is happy to work with Grants.gov to implement this       |
| enhancement. Please contact me if you have any questions.             |
|                                                                       |
| Thanks!                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

### 1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  EPA Region 9 would like to have "Global Climate Change" added as a
  search category on the Grants.gov website.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Grants.gov

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  By having "Global Climate Change" as a search category, Grants.gov will
  more effectively reach out to applicants interested in this topic;
  having "Global Climate Change" as a search category will also make
  categorizing grants more efficient: will this grant reduce GHG
  emissions? Then, it belongs in the Global Climate Change search
  category.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### 3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Applicant Organizations 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  By having "Global Climate Change" as a search category, you will limit
  the amount time people have to spend perusing Grants.gov looking for
  the multitudes of grants that will result in greenhouse gas reductions.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

### How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantor Community

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Global Climate Change is a "hot" topic, and many organizations and individuals are rightly directing their efforts
  to addressing this urgent problem. By having "Global Climate Change" as a search category, Grants.gov will not only
  realize the benefits mentioned above, but also take on a leadership role by making the connection between topics
  like energy efficiency, emissions reductions, alternative fuels, sustainable agriculture, smart growth (etc.!) and
  mitigating global climate change. Here at EPA Region 9, we frequently receive requests for information on grants
  related to global climate change, and it would be extremely useful to be able to direct those inquires to
  [http://www07.grants.gov/search/**globalclimatechange**.do](http://www07.grants.gov/search/globalclimatechange.do)

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#### FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY 

##### Date Proposed Enhancement Received

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/14/07 ID# 11.07.67

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date/s of Discussion

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Outcome

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

##### Date of Vote and Final Result

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by Deputy Program**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}**

**1/16/2008**

**[Name]{.underline}**

Beth Stewart

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

NEH

1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW; Washington, DC 20506

\(202\) 606-8289

bstewart@neh.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

The authentication of agency users has problems when users attempt to
log in using web browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer
(documentation provided for Firefox).

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Web browsers other than Internet Explorer have gained significant market
share in the past few years. By the end of December 2007, the Firefox
and Mozilla web browsers claimed almost 38% of market share. At NEH,
agency users are able to use either Internet Explorer or Firefox.
Government web sites must strive to function properly in browsers other
than Internet Explorer. Unfortunately there is a significant problem
that occurs when agency users attempt to log into Grants.gov using
Firefox; after logging in no agency information is available until the
user attempts to log out and log back in, as documented in an attached
document. It is a process that is confusing and wastes time.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

Any agencies that allow use of web browsers other than Internet Explorer
will be similarly affected by this problem.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

A similar problem for the grantee community is unknown, though the
entire web site should be vetted for functionality in non-IE browsers.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received**

01/16/08 ID# 01.08.68

**Date/s of Discussion**

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by PMO**

**GRANTS.GOV FEDERAL USER GROUP ENHANCEMENT FORM**

**[Date]{.underline}**

**1/18/2008**

**[Name]{.underline}**

Beth Stewart

**[Agency/Location/Telephone Number/E-mail Address]{.underline}**

NEH

1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW; Washington, DC 20506

\(202\) 606-8289

bstewart@neh.gov

**1. In a Concise Manner Fully Describe Proposed Enhancement**

Forms completed by applicants seem unable to capture characters with
diacritical marks or other stylized characters, e.g. ó, ö, or ". These
characters are transformed into question marks \"?\" on forms and in
data transmitted to agencies in the grantapplication.xml file. As
applicant names, project titles, and other key pieces of information are
obfuscated by the translation to \"?\", we propose investigation of
whether the characters may be retained or translated to other
characters, e.g. ó replaced with o.

**2. How Will this Enhancement Increase the Effectiveness and Efficiency
of Grants.gov**

Accurate transmission of applicant-provided data is a key function of
Grants.gov. Retaining characters as they are entered by applicants, or
translating them into meaningful alternatives, better serves this
purpose than the current process.

**3. How Will this Enhancement Impact Other Federal Agencies**

We anticipate that every agency using Grants.gov is affected by the
character changing problem described here. Determining the correct
letter or symbol when only a \"?\" is seen can be time-consuming,
requiring searching through other non-form application documents, yet
the work is sometimes necessary to identify the proper spelling of an
applicant\'s name or project title.

**4. How Will this Enhancement Impact the Grantee Community**

Grantees will be better served by agencies if the information they
provide on government forms is accurately transmitted.

FOR GRANTS.GOV USE ONLY

**Date Proposed Enhancement Received**

01/18/08 ID# 01.08.69

**Date/s of Discussion**

**Outcome**

**Date of Vote and Final Result**

**Date of Approval or Disapproval by PMO**