Roles in eRA Commons

Overview of Roles in eRA Commons vs SAMHSA Roles ...............................2

The Signing Official (SO) and Business Official (BO) Roles ....................................................... 2

The Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Director (PD) Roles .............................................. 2

The Financial Status Reporter (FSR) Role ................................................................................. 3

The Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Role......................................................... 3

What can the eRA and SAMHSA roles do? ...................................................4

New Applications........................................................................................................................ 4

Continuation Applications .......................................................................................................... 4

Post-Award Amendment Changes ............................................................................................. 4

Resolving Terms......................................................................................................................... 5

Federal Financial Report (FFR or SF-425).................................................................................. 5

Notice of Award (NoA) ............................................................................................................... 5
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Overview of Roles in eRA Commons vs SAMHSA Roles

The Signing Official (SO) and Business Official (BO) Roles

Roles Key Points

eRA Commons SAMHSA Role Role

Business

Signing Official (BO) 

Official (SO) in Section 21 of

SF-424

 Only individuals with legal signing authority can register 

their organization in eRA Commons. This individual will 

have the Signing Official (SO) role in eRA. Individuals 

with SO role can create/edit/maintain the organization’s 

Institutional Profile (IPF) in eRA.

 The SAMHSA Business Official (BO) listed on the SF-424 

in section 21 Authorized Representative must have the 

SO role in eRA.

 One eRA account with the SO role is automatically 

created for the organization during registration.

However, the SO who registered the organization can 

create additional accounts with SO roles. The SO can 

create/delete/update eRA accounts with other roles (such 

as Principal Investigator (PI) and Financial Status 

Reporter (FSR) for their organization staff.

 Individuals with SO role will be able to access all active 

grants in the organization. If the SO changes 

organizations, they would need a new eRA account with 

role(s) specific to that organization.

The Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Director (PD) Roles

Roles Key Points

eRA Role SAMHSA

Role

Principal Project

Investigator (PI) Director (PD)

 The Signing Official (SO) must create at least one 

account in eRA Commons with the Principal Investigator 

(PI) role in order to submit an application, even if they are 

submitting through the Grants.gov Workspace. During 

submission, the applicant/grant recipient must enter the 

Commons ID for the account with the PI role in the 

Applicant Identifier field in section 4 of the SF-424 

form.

 The SAMHSA Project Director (PD) listed in section 8f of 

the SF-424 must have the PI role in eRA.

 Individuals with the PI role will only be able to access the 

active grants for which they are listed as PD in section 8f 

of the SF-424. The organization may have more than one 

PI account, but a PI account holder should have only one 

eRA Commons account throughout their career.

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October 2020 Page 3 of 5

Overview of Roles in eRA Commons vs SAMHSA Roles

 The Financial Status Reporter (FSR) Role

Role Key Points

Financial Status 

Reporter (FSR)

 The recipient official with the Financial Status Reporter 

(FSR) role is the individual who electronically signs 

section 13 of the Federal Financial Report (FFR or SF425) as the Authorized Official (AO). The official with the 

FSR role is responsible for the reporting the statement of 

expenditures for the award.

 The SO/BO can create eRA accounts with the FSR role.

The Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Role

Role Key Points

Grants.gov 

Authorized 

Organization 

Representative 

(AOR)

 Organizations submitting an application to SAMHSA for 

the first time must register an Authorized Organization 

Representative (AOR) in Grants.gov as they will be 

required to enter the Grants.gov AOR credentials in eRA 

Application Submission System and Interface for

Submission Tracking (ASSIST) to complete the 

submission process. Upon clicking the Submit button in 

ASSIST, the AOR credentials from Grants.gov must be 

entered.

 The eRA Commons Business Official (BO) role assigned 

to the person entered as the Authorized Representative 

in section 21 of the SF-424 form is not the same as the 

Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) role in 

Grants.gov.

The same individual who holds the eRA Commons 

Business Official (BO) role may also be registered as the 

AOR in Grants.gov. However, the same individual does 

not need to have both roles as long as the DUNS and 

SAM registration match with Grants.gov and eRA

Commons.

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October 2020 Page 4 of 5

What can the eRA and SAMHSA roles do?

New Applications

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. Initiate applications

b. Submit applications

c. Access submitted application and receive email notification on status

d. Receive emails on system or technical issues

e. View assembled (compiled) images of application

f. View summary statement

Continuation Applications

Continuation applications can only be initiated through eRA Commons and submitted through ASSIST.

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. View/initiate/edit/save continuation applications

b. Submit continuation applications

c. Receive Requests for Additional Materials (RAMs)

d. Initiate/view/upload/delete Responses to RAMs

e. Submit materials for RAM c

f. Receive email notifications on submissions

Post-Award Amendment Changes

Requests for post-award amendment changes can only be initiated through eRA Commons and submitted 

through ASSIST.

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. View/initiate/edit/save requests

b. Access Work In Progress (WIP) amendments

c. Submit Amendment applications 

d. Receive Requests for Additional Materials (RAMs)

e. Initiate/view/upload/delete responses to RAMs

f. Submit materials for RAM

g. Receive email notifications on submissions

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October 2020 Page 5 of 5

What can the eRA and SAMHSA roles do?

Resolving Terms

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. View status in Term Tracker

b. Submit materials in response to Terms

c. Receive email notifications, warning notices, and late reminders

Federal Financial Report (FFR or SF-425)

Only individual(s) with the FSR role can perform the FFR actions shown.

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. Assign Financial Status Reporter (FSR) role to organization official

b. Create new/view/edit via the FFR tab in eRA Commons

c. Submit the FFR in Commons

d. Receive email notifications on submissions

Notice of Award (NoA)

Actions SO (eRA Role)/

BO (SAMHSA Role)

PI (eRA Role)/

PD (SAMHSA Role)

a. Receive new and amended NoAs via email

b. Update the email addresses for the NoA.

Email addresses for the NoAs are those persons identified as the PD in 

section 8f of the SF-424, the BO in section 21 Authorized 

Representative of the SF-424, and the alternate NoA email address in 

eRA Grants Management module, if entered.

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