eGC1 Sponsor Deadline Now Includes Time of Day and Time Zone
In order to better monitor and meet proposal submission deadlines, eGC1 preparers will now be asked to provide the specific time of day and time zone for which the applications are due. These fields will display alongside the existing sponsor due date field, and will be required entry.
Added Space between Box and Number in PI Addresses on Grant Runner Forms
A minor update was made to add a space between the word “Box” and the box number in the PI address on the SF424 and Key Persons Expanded forms in Grant Runner. This change will now present the address in the appropriate format.
Grant Runner Now Supports More Special Characters
In an early February 2015 release, Grants.Gov updated their systems to allow many of the special characters that were problematic with submissions in the past to go through successfully. With this release we are updating SAGE Grant Runner to take advantage of this change as well. Grant Runner will no longer generate a validation error when users enter special characters such tildes, curly quotes, umlauts and other accent marks. This update will result in fewer submission errors and a more accurate read of the intended content.
Fixes
Removed Lines in eGC1 PDF Format
A recent upgrade of our PDF software caused inadvertent lines to show around tables of information in the eGC1 PDF due to a new default released with the software. We have applied an update that will revert the eGC1 PDF back to its former look and feel.
In the Access section, the preparer and other owners (contacts and PI) are listed. One person may hold more than one of these roles. Owners have edit access.
With edit access, you can give other individuals read-only or read/write access to the application. Review Assign Access for how-to steps.
When you connect a SAGE budget to an eGC1, then the Budget Preparer is listed in addition to the eGC1 Preparer, and the two items have a shared access page.
If you create an Advance Budget Request for the eGC1 (with or without a connected budget), the Advance Preparer(s) and any others assigned access to the Advance will also be listed in the Access section of the eGC1’s page.
Anyone with read/write access can delete an eGC1 in Composing status.
You can delete an eGC1 in Withdrawn or Returned status, if
You have read/write access AND
The eGC1 was completed or re-completed more than six months ago.
If the eGC1’s status is Routing or In OSP with Ready to Submit marked No, you will need to withdraw it before you can delete it. You cannot withdraw an eGC1 at In OSP status and marked Yes for Ready to Submit. Instead, contact OSP and request they return the eGC1.
To delete the eGC1:
Click the delete icon (trash can) on the top navigation bar.
Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the eGC1.
The System to Administer Grants Electronically (SAGE) is an internal UW web-based compliance and approval routing system for sponsored grant applications and Non-Award Agreements (NAA). Review details on when an eGC1 is required.
In the University of Washington’s grant lifecycle, you would use SAGE during the Application phase, and to manage subawards.
The eGC1 (electronic Grant and Contract form) is a required online UW form. It summarizes information about your grant application and routes it electronically for review and approval before submission to the sponsor.
There are 4 stages to an eGC1 application:
The PI and/or Research Administrator on the research team prepare the eGC1.
The application routes to campus reviewers to review and approve.
The application is Ready to Submit and reaches a status of In OSP at least 3 business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline. This allows sufficient time for OSP to review and approve application.
OSP approves the application and submits it to the sponsor.
The following articles in this guide explain how to access SAGE with the appropriate ASTRA (Access to Systems, Tools, Resources and Applications) roles, and how to complete your eGC1 and route it for approval.
Once you have routed your eGC1 to its reviewers, the links that display on the screen will reflect the status of your application.
You will see the “ready to submit” question and answer for reference.
View Entire eGC1 (PDF)
Click this link to preview or print the entire eGC1. The printout will have a date and time stamp which provides the Last Modified date and time. If you withdraw and re-route the application, you must reprint the final eGC1 in order for these dates to match.
Print Final Routing Sheet
Click this link to preview or print the Routing Sheet. If you will be submitting paper documents to campus reviewers and OSP, attach a copy of the final Routing Sheet to a copy of the application and provide it to each of the units that will review. The Routing Sheet content is based on the content on the eGC1: department and dean for the PI, personnel, organization code receiving funding, and some compliance questions. The Routing Sheet has two purposes:
Provide a link between the paper documents and the online record.
Provide a list of the units needing to approve this application. Use the check boxes to indicate which copy is for which unit.
View Final Approval Graph
Click this link to view the final Approval Workflow. If you modify the eGC1 data in any manner, the Approval Graph may change. The data in the eGC1 – department and dean for the PI, personnel, organization code receiving funding, and some compliance questions – as well as the rules for each organization involved with this project determine which units are on the Approval Graph.
Under the standard approval process, the Principal Investigator is the first approver notified for the application. In circumstances when the PI is in the field and unavailable to approve via the internet, the first reviewer for the Cost Center Receiving Funding can approve on behalf of the PI. Usually, this is a Department Reviewer. This means that an ad hoc approver cannot approve for the PI.
A person (other than the PI) with read/write access to the eGC1 would check the PI Escalation box on the Certify & Route page to request that another reviewer approve on behalf of the PI.
Checking the box will escalate the approval for the PI to the first reviewer for the Cost Center Receiving Funding. The system will send email notifications to both the PI and the first-level reviewers. Depending on the department’s local policy, you may need to add the chairperson to the chart using the Add Approver function. You may need to submit a written request to the Chair (check with your administrator).
When the Cost Center Receiving Funding unit reviewer, or the PI’s selected unit reviewer, approves the Application online, their approval will also mark the PI box as approved. Therefore, when “Jayne the Reviewer” approves for “Dept X”, the PI box on the approval flow will show that “Jayne the Reviewer” also approved for the PI. This approval by the department constitutes an endorsement of all aspects of the application. It should not be used as a routine convenience.
Note: Any Application PI or Multiple PIs added to the approval flow cannot approve for the eGC1 PI.
Escalation Not Allowed
Depending on the sponsor, this feature may not be available. For example, it is not available for NIH applications.
In that case the following version of the section would appear.
The PI and all key personnel must read the GIM 10 Financial Conflict of Interest Policy. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to confirm that all personnel meet the Significant Financial Interest policy.
Note: Any research personnel indicated as investigators in the personnel table on the PI, Personnel & Organizations page must complete a Significant Financial Interest Disclosure using the Financial Interest Disclosure System (FIDS).
Disbarment Statement
It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI) to assure that his or her research applications and awards follow all applicable guidelines and laws.
The statement reads:
By submitting this application, the PI certifies that the PI and other Key Personnel (anyone involved in the design, conduct or reporting of the research ) have not been debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions be any federal department or agency.
In this section, indicate if OSP needs to handle any paper documents, and who will submit the application to the sponsor.
Will paper documents be submitted to OSP in support of this application?
Answer Yes if you will be sending any paper documents (sponsor or internal for UW) to OSP for this application.
Requirements for providing sponsor documents to OSP and campus units may be different. Please be sure to check with the campus units involved.
Will sponsor documents be submitted electronically to the sponsor?
Please identify how your application will reach the sponsor. Follow your sponsor’s instructions for how you should submit your application.
Response
Description
Yes, by OSP via Grants.gov
Select this for applications using the federal Grants.gov portal.
If you have created a Grant Runner eGC1, the system will automatically select this, and you cannot change it. For more information about submitting to Grants.gov, see OSP’s page: Grants.gov at UW.
Yes, by OSP via online sponsor system
Select this when using a sponsor system that requires OSP to do the actual submission process. For example: NSF Research.gov, eRA Commons, HRSA Electronic Handbook, and RAMS ProposalCentral.
Yes, by the PI/research group
Select this when the PI will complete the submission process electronically from the sponsor’s system. For example, sponsor web sites that require you to upload and send the application (without saving it).
Whenever possible, OSP prefers to submit electronic applications; please contact your OSP Administrator to coordinate this.
No
Select this when you will not be submitting the sponsor application electronically in any fashion. Usually this means that you will send the signed paper documents to the sponsor.
Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Applicants: If you are submitting a proposal to the (RRF), you should answer No to both questions. Please refer to the Instructions for Preparing an RRF Proposal for more details.
The process of adding an attachment to standard eGC1 pages or Grant Runner forms is the same.
Grant Runner File Names: There are a few differences in how you name a file for attachments on Grant Runner forms. In addition, all Grant Runner attachment names must be unique across all forms. If you do add the same file a second time, SAGE will append a number to the file name to ensure it is unique. So, “myfile.pdf” when added again will become “myfile1.pdf” to meet the uniqueness rule.
Notes:
The file name must be no more than 50 characters in length, including spaces, and end with .pdf in lowercase.
Use one space (not two or more) between words or characters and do not begin the filename with a space or include a space immediately before the .pdf extension.
Avoid the use of ampersand (&) since it requires special formatting.
The NIH allows file names that contain certain characters. See the following table, which contains each character allowed and an example using the file name xyz.pdf with the inserted character in bold.
Characters
Example File Name
Alpha-numeric characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9
Xy23Z.pdf
Underscore
x_yz.pdf
Hyphen
x–y–z.pdf
Space
x y z.pdf
Period
x.yz.pdf
Parenthesis
x(yz).pdf
Curly Braces
{xy}z.pdf
Square Brackets
x[y]z.pdf
Tilde
~xy~z.pdf
Exclamation Point
xyz!.pdf
Comma
xy,z.pdf
Semi-colon
x;yz.pdf
Apostrophe
x‘yz.pdf
At Sign
xy@z.pdf
Number Sign
x#yz.pdf
Dollar Sign
$xyz.pdf
Percent Sign
xy%z.pdf
Plus Sign
x+yz.pdf
Equal Sign
xy=z.pdf
Note: For full details on NIH attachments, review their Format Attachments page.
Click on the Add Attachment link to start the process. The Upload Attachment dialog will display.
Description
Provide a short description of your document file that is helpful to reviewers. You may want to use the word “draft” or “final”. Example: Science Final, Draft Proposal.
Grants.gov application descriptions should include the eGC1# and PI last name; you can append additional information to the end of the file name. This will help reduce errors and streamline the Grants.gov submission process for the OSP Administrators.
File
Select Browse to search for your document, or the equivalent step for your web browser (for example, Choose File).
To complete the process, select Upload to attach the document to the eGC1. Clicking the Cancel link will exit the process.
If there is a problem with the file name for a Grant Runner attachment, a dialog box will display indicating the naming rules.
If you upload a file with the same name as an existing Grant Runner attachment, the system will append a number to the file name to ensure it is unique. So, “myfile.pdf” when added again will become “myfile1.pdf” to meet the uniqueness rule.
Attachment Information
Once you upload your attachment, the following information displays, as shown in the following image.
Field
Field Description
Description
Displays the value entered. Click on the description to view the attachment.
File Name
Displays the name of the file as it was saved on the computer or local server.
Version
The system will automatically assign the version number of each file as it is attached or updated. The version number is the number one (1) when you initially attach a file.
Attached On
Displays the date and time that the attachment was added to the eGC1.
Delete a Document
You can only delete an attachment for a standard eGC1 if the eGC1 is in “‘Composing” or “Withdrawn” status and no approval actions have occurred. That is, when no one has approved, marked as watched, added a comment, or returned the eGC1. If the conditions allow, the system displays a Delete link to the right of the file information. Selecting Delete removes the attachment from this eGC1.
Note: On a Grant Runner eGC1, you are allowed to delete files from a Grant Runner form when the eGC1 is in “Composing,” “Withdrawn,” or “Returned” status if the file is not a required one.
Update an Existing Document
The Update link will only appear after a reviewer has approved, marked as watched, added a comment, or returned the eGC1 and the eGC1 has a status of “Withdrawn” or “Returned”. Selecting Update allows you to attach a newer version of a current document. You can display the prior versions of the updated file by clicking on the arrowhead to the left of the Description. Only the most recent version of an attached file is submitted.
If you have attached a file to the wrong place in an eGC1, you can update it with a document that indicates the file is incorrect and should be ignored.
Calculate and enter the amount of Direct Costs to which the F&A cost rates will be applied. This may be Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), Total Direct Costs, or zero (no F&A costs charged). Use the sponsor guidelines and GIM 13 to determine which method of calculation you should use. For Industry Sponsored Clinical Trials, apply the 25% indirect cost rate to the TOTAL direct costs. This includes items often listed in subcategories (for example: IRB review fees, IRB processing, pharmacy set-up, study start-up fees).
F&A cost rate
Enter the F&A cost rate that applies to your proposal (for example, 54.5%). Enter Multiple in this field when:
Your project includes multiple locations, each with its own rate
More than one F&A negotiated rate is in effect for the period in question
Do not enter Multiple in cases where the F&A rate changes over the life of the project, but remains stable for the period in question.
Total F&A costs
Calculate and enter the F&A costs for the first budget period and the total for all budget periods. Hint: SAGE Budget calculates F&A costs automatically for you.
