November 30, 2006
Online grant applications: Now they’re required
The government is going electronic. A new federal portal called www.Grants.gov allows users to electronically find, and apply for, more than 900 grant programs for the 26 federal grant-making agencies. In fact, federal sponsors have begun to require proposals to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov; these proposals are then forwarded to the respective agencies.
It behooves researchers, therefore, to learn how the new system works. The UW’s Office of Research (OR) and the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP, formerly Grant and Contract Services) have developed a range of resources to help during the transition to Grants.gov. Principal investigators and research staff are urged to use these resources, learn about Grants.gov and allow extra time for submitting Grants.gov applications, especially before big application deadlines.
“Faculty are under huge time pressures, and I know how difficult it is to finish a complex application before the deadline,” said Mary Lidstrom, vice provost for research. “However, I strongly urge my colleagues to allow extra time if they’re applying through Grants.gov, especially at peak times, such as Feb. 5, the NIH deadline for R01 proposals. We don’t want one of our researchers to miss out because the system crashes at NIH. I think we’re well prepared here at the UW, but we can’t control all the different parameters at the funding agency end.”
To get a better understanding of campus readiness and identify opportunities for enhancing support, OR and OSP surveyed the UW’s research community, then designed support services and resources based on responses. Here are some suggestions for Grants.gov users:
- PureEdge application packages for eSubmission to Grants.gov
- OSP Documents (required for internal review, but not submitted to sponsor)
- Department, College & School specific forms
Please note that all non-Grants.gov application materials will continue to route according to the current business process. To help users learn this new upload feature, SAGE Training sessions have been scheduled through January: http://www.washington.edu/research/oris/sage/training.html.
Check Grants.gov at the UW for updates and resources
OSP has created a central website — Grants.gov at the UW – to serve as the central access point for Grants.gov resources and information, including
- Information about getting your desktop computer setup to prepare applications materials
Announcements and updates from sponsors.
Online tools for helping you prepare your Grants.gov application,
Schedule of upcoming training sessions
Access to a network of peer mentors who can assist users with Grants.gov applications to specific agencies.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and frequently made mistakes to help preparers avoid common pitfalls.
Allow extra time, especially before big application deadlines
Expect bottlenecks at funding agencies around peak application deadlines, such as Feb. 5, when R01 NIH applications are due. Final proposals need to be submitted to OSP at least five business days before the agency deadline.
“Grants.gov has restructured the application process, and it’s forcing everyone to work within tighter timeframes. In the past, we could let PIs slide a bit on the time allowed for OSP review, but we can’t do that anymore,” says Lidstrom. “For example, the way Grants.gov is currently structured, NIH might initially accept an application, and then later reject it after further review. If a PI submits an NIH application at the last minute, there’s a real risk that the application could be rejected after the deadline is past, when it’s too late to make any changes or corrections to the proposal package.”
Allow even more time if you aren’t using Windows
The current Grants.gov application software is designed for Windows, and users on other operating systems need to allow extra time to work around the limitations of the software. For more information about this, and other preparatory steps, please see OSP’s Getting Started with Grants.gov.
Use the online Guide to Electronic Grant Submission
The new Guide to Electronic Grant Submission provides clear and concise directions for applying through Grants.gov, with links to UW forms and policies needed at each step. Although written with health sciences researchers in mind, the guide should prove useful to faculty members from almost any academic background. Topics include “Searching for Grants,” “Tackling the SF-424 (R&R),” and “Completing PureEdge Forms.” Producing the guide has been a collaborative project, involving the School of Medicine’s Office of Research and Graduate Education, the UW Office of Research, the Research Funding Service, as well as other UW administrators and staff.
Take advantage of training resources
Register for one of the UW’s training sessions on electronic research administration and Grants.gov, or view online training materials. Grants.gov-related training
Use new SAGE feature to upload, route and review files
SAGE will soon have a new feature that allows users to upload, electronically route, and electronically review files related to grant applications. Launch of the new file upload feature has been phased over several months to allow for thorough testing of system performance and users’ experiences. Campus-wide deployment is scheduled for December 7th. Although additional file types will be allowed in the future, the new SAGE feature currently supports upload and routing of the following file types:
