The information will form a basis for enhanced functionality to be included in version 2 of the Commons. A second subgroup will be devoted to the grant application process. The first effort of this applications subgroup will be to conduct a thorough analysis of non-competing awards. Proposed changes will be reviewed for endorsement by NIH staff, and the changed policy and procedures will be incorporated into future eRA system iterations. An ongoing investigation so far has revealed that the problems were not related to the database, but were power and equipment issues.
Maintenance is scheduled to be as least disruptive as possible.
We try to work around Council, Review, and Grants Management calendars as much as possible. OER will continue to monitor the situation. Two new offices have been established to help organize and monitor our efforts. The first, the Office of the Federal Commons, under Paul Markovitz, will coordinate NIH and Federal Commons activities. In addition, he will help provide a focus and vision for how the different business areas can re-engineer their operations to best utilize scanned applications.