# Presentation: 719079

## 

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

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

- Electronic Grant Applications: Implementation and Impacts

## Why transition?  It’s the law...

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

## Advantages of Electronic Receipt?

- Eliminates the burden of paper-based data handling (including scanning) – possible savings of >200 million pieces of paper/year
- Electronic validations improve data quality
- Grant images are clearer (than scanned copies) and in color
- Electronic data can be mined by knowledge management and other tools
- Resulting efficiencies may allow NIH to shorten the cycle from application receipt to award

**Notes:**
Example of shortened cycle from application receipt to award:
Submission dates for Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA; R15) extended by 1 month, resulting in shortened receipt to awardElectronic receipt is only one factor in determining NIH’s ability to shorten receipt to award time

## NIH’s Electronic Receipt Goal

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

- Announced in the NIH Guide, Aug. 19, 2005: _[http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-067.html](http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-067.html)__ _

## What is Grants.gov?                     

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

**Notes:**
Grants.gov is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the largest provider of Federal grants.

Grants.gov is one of 24 Federal cross-agency E-Government initiatives designed to improve access to services via the Internet.

NIH was the first grant making agency to post 100% of Funding Opportunities on Grants.gov Find.

Currently, Grants.gov has two distinct systems: Find and Apply. In October, Grants.gov will integrate all Find functionality into Apply. This will provide a single look and feel for Find and Apply and allows access to all functionality with a single sign-on.

## This is a huge transition!

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

## NIH Timeline

**2006**

**12**

**10**

**11**

- Resource (G), Career Development (K), S11, S21, S22 (Jun. 1, 2007)

**05**

**07**

**12**

**09**

**01**

**02**

**03**

**R03, R21/R33, R34****(June 1, 2006)**

**04**

**05**

**2007**

- R18/U18, R25, C06/UC6 (Oct. 1, 2006)

- Fellowship (F) (Aug. 5, 2007)

- Training (T&D), U45, D71/U2R (Sep. 10, 2007)

- Projects/Centers (P), M01, R10/U10, S06, U01, U19, U54, U56, R24/U24 (Oct. 1, 2007)

**01**

**02**

**03**

**04**

**06**

**08**

**06**

- S10 (Mar. 22, 2006)

- R15 (Feb. 25, 2006)

- R36 (Feb. 17, 2006)

- R13/U13* *(Dec. 15, 2005)

- SBIR/STTR (Dec. 1, 2005)

**10**

**07**

**09**

**08**

- X02 (April 18, 2006)

**R01****(Feb. 1, 2007)**

- Potential R01 Multi-PI Pilot
- (Oct. 1, 2006)

- DP1(Jan. 22, 2007)

- Recently Updated!

- We have begun!

**Mechanism Abbreviation Key:**
- C06/UC6   	Research Facilities Construction Grants
- DP1	NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program
- D71/U2R 	International Training Cooperative Agreement/
-                 	Phase 2 of FIC mechanism D71
- P	Research Program Projects and Centers
- R01         	Research Project Grant Program
- R03         	Small Grant Programs
- R10/U10   	Cooperative Clinical Research Grants
- R13/U13   	Support for Conferences & Scientific Meetings
- R15          	Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA)
- R18/U18   	Research Demonstration and Dissemination Projects

- R21/R33  	Exploratory/Development Research
- R24/U24  	Resource Related Research Projects
- R25         	Education Projects
- R34          	Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program
- R36          	Research Dissertation Grant Program
- SBIR       	Small Business Innovation Research
- STTR       	Small Business Technology Transfer
- S06,S10,S11	Biomedical Research
- S21,22	Health Disparities Endowment Grants
- U              	Cooperative Agreement Awards
- X02	Pre-application for Interdisciplinary Research Consortium

**Current as of February 6, 2006.** Visit the Web site for the latest version: _[http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/](http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/)_

**Notes:**
The aggressive timeline will allow NIH to meet it’s electronic receipt goals.

For the December 1, 2005 receipt date and thereafter, all SBIR and STTR (R41, R42, R43, R44), non-AIDS related applications will require electronic application submissions through Grants.gov using the SF 424 (R&R) dataset.
AIDS related SBIR/STTR applications will also require electronic application submissions through Grants.gov using the SF 424 (R&R) dataset beginning with the January 2, 2006 receipt date.

The timeline currently shows only a portion of the mechanisms that must be transitioned.

Per OMB, NIH must provide to Grants.gov a complete ramp up schedule for FY2006 by the end of October. NIH will post this schedule on it’s electronic receipt website in mid-November.

In most cases, Funding Opportunity Announcements will be open for two months. Some exceptions will occur early on in the transition.

## December Submissions

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

## NIH Lessons Learned from December Submissions

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

## NIH Timeline

**2006**

**12**

**10**

**11**

- Resource (G), Career Development (K), S11, S21, S22 (Jun. 1, 2007)

**05**

**07**

**12**

**09**

**01**

**02**

**03**

**R03, R21/R33, R34****(June 1, 2006)**

**04**

**05**

**2007**

- R18/U18, R25, C06/UC6 (Oct. 1, 2006)

- Fellowship (F) (Aug. 5, 2007)

- Training (T&D), U45, D71/U2R (Sep. 10, 2007)

- Projects/Centers (P), M01, R10/U10, S06, U01, U19, U54, U56, R24/U24 (Oct. 1, 2007)

**01**

**02**

**03**

**04**

**06**

**08**

**06**

- S10 (Mar. 22, 2006)

- R15 (Feb. 25, 2006)

- R36 (Feb. 17, 2006)

- R13/U13* *(Dec. 15, 2005)

- SBIR/STTR (Dec. 1, 2005)

**10**

**07**

**09**

**08**

- X02 (April 18, 2006)

**R01****(Feb. 1, 2007)**

- Potential R01 Multi-PI Pilot
- (Oct. 1, 2006)

- DP1(Jan. 22, 2007)

- Recently Updated!

- We have begun!

**Mechanism Abbreviation Key:**
- C06/UC6   	Research Facilities Construction Grants
- DP1	NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program
- D71/U2R 	International Training Cooperative Agreement/
-                 	Phase 2 of FIC mechanism D71
- P	Research Program Projects and Centers
- R01         	Research Project Grant Program
- R03         	Small Grant Programs
- R10/U10   	Cooperative Clinical Research Grants
- R13/U13   	Support for Conferences & Scientific Meetings
- R15          	Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA)
- R18/U18   	Research Demonstration and Dissemination Projects

- R21/R33  	Exploratory/Development Research
- R24/U24  	Resource Related Research Projects
- R25         	Education Projects
- R34          	Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program
- R36          	Research Dissertation Grant Program
- SBIR       	Small Business Innovation Research
- STTR       	Small Business Technology Transfer
- S06,S10,S11	Biomedical Research
- S21,22	Health Disparities Endowment Grants
- U              	Cooperative Agreement Awards
- X02	Pre-application for Interdisciplinary Research Consortium

**Current as of February 6, 2006.** Visit the Web site for the latest version: _[http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/](http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/)_

**Notes:**
The aggressive timeline will allow NIH to meet it’s electronic receipt goals.

For the December 1, 2005 receipt date and thereafter, all SBIR and STTR (R41, R42, R43, R44), non-AIDS related applications will require electronic application submissions through Grants.gov using the SF 424 (R&R) dataset.
AIDS related SBIR/STTR applications will also require electronic application submissions through Grants.gov using the SF 424 (R&R) dataset beginning with the January 2, 2006 receipt date.

The timeline currently shows only a portion of the mechanisms that must be transitioned.

Per OMB, NIH must provide to Grants.gov a complete ramp up schedule for FY2006 by the end of October. NIH will post this schedule on it’s electronic receipt website in mid-November.

In most cases, Funding Opportunity Announcements will be open for two months. Some exceptions will occur early on in the transition.

## Posting funding opportunity announcements on Grants.gov

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

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

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

**Notes:**
Not all Funding Opportunity Announcements will use the same subset of components.

## SF424 (R&R) Grant Application Package

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

**Notes:**
The term “PHS 398” is used for NIH’s agency specific components. The term was chosen since it is the OMB approved method of collecting the data. Also, by not branding the forms as “NIH” it allows for the use of the components by other agencies.

## Preparing for Submission – Registration

**Grants.gov **
- _Applicant institutions_ must complete one time only registration
- Good for electronic submission to all Federal agencies
- Detailed instructions at: _[http://grants.gov/GetStarted](http://grants.gov/GetStarted)__ _
- Grants.gov registration requires institutions to:
- Obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number
- Register in Central Contractor Registry (CCR)
- Registration not required to find funding opportunity or download application package, only to submit completed application
**eRA Commons**
- _Applicant institutions_ must complete one-time only registration
- _PI’s_ must work through their institutions to register
- PI’s currently registered only for IAR must work through their institutions for full Commons registration

- It is critical for institutions to begin this registration process **at least 4 weeks before** applications are due!

**Notes:**
It is important to note that only APPLICANT ORGANIZATIONS register with Grants.gov.

Early registration is highly recommended. If you wait until the last minute to register, the timeliness of your application is at risk.

## Electronic Receipt: How it works

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

**Notes:**
Once notification from Grants.gov is received stating the application has been retrieved, SOs and PIs are encouraged to check the eRA Commons for status.

## Electronic Receipt: How it works

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

## Electronic Receipt: How it works

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

**Grant image is available to reviewers**
**Applicant can follow progress of application via the eRA Commons**

## NIH Lessons Learned from December Submissions (cont.)

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

## eReferral of grant applications

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

## eReview of grant applications

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

## Where to go for Help

- General information on Electronic Submission and the SF424 (R&R):
- _[http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt](http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt)_
- Forms transition and questions on NIH’s overall plan for electronic receipt
- NIH GrantsInfo.gov
- E-mail: _[grantsinfo@nih.gov](mailto:grantsinfo@nih.gov)_
- Phone: 301-435-0714
- eRA Commons registration and post submission questions on Commons functionality
- Support Page: _[http://era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm](http://era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm)__ _
- Help Desk
- E-mail: _[commons@od.nih.gov](mailto:commons@od.nih.gov)__   _
- Phone: 1-866-504-9552 or 301-402-7469
- Grants.gov registration and submission questions
- Visit:  _[http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport](http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport)_
- Grants.gov Customer Service
- E-mail: _[support@grants.gov](mailto:support@grants.gov)_
- Phone: 1-800-518-4726