Electronic Receipt of Grant Applications

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Electronic Receipt

Months of diligent work behind the scenes are going to culminate in a big day for the National Institutes of Health on Dec. 1, 2005, when all 2,500 Small Business Innovation Research/ Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) grant applications will be required to come in electronically via Grants.gov. This milestone will mark the beginning of a momentous change in the way NIH has traditionally received grant applications - one by one, all competing grant mechanisms will gradually transition from being received on paper to being received electronically. NIH has projected a timeline that is aggressive by any standard but, we believe, rooted in reality. The goal is for all NIH competing grant applications to be submitted electronically by May 2007.

Applicants are encouraged to prepare themselves now to participate in electronic submission through Grants.gov. A one-time registration is required both at:

Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted) and at
NIH eRA Commons (http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/preparing.htm)

See Electronic Receipt FAQ for more details.

Simultaneous with the transition to requiring electronic submission, NIH will be converting from the PHS 398 to a common data set - the SF424 Research and Research Related (R&R) application form. NIH will require applicants to submit NIH applications on the SF424 (R&R) forms via Grants.gov. SF424 consolidates grant application, related data and forms currently used by Federal grant-making agencies and enables applicants to use familiar forms regardless of the program or agency to which they are applying. The SF424 Research & Related (R&R) will become the government-wide data set for research grant applications, replacing the Public Health Service (PHS) 398 form at NIH.

Applicants can apply for the NIH grants via Grants.gov in one of two ways:

Directly by finding the NIH grant opportunity on Grants.gov's site, downloading and install the PureEdge viewer, downloading the application package and finally uploading the completed application.
Working with Service Providers - commercial companies or grantee institutions that have developed system-to-system interfaces with Grants.gov that can assist you with your submission for a fee (see list at bottom of page). Some will provide a standalone service while others will offer comprehensive grants management software to facilitate grant application submission.

Electronic Receipt

NIH's projected timeline for transitioning various mechanisms to the SF 424 (R&R) via Grants.gov to NIH is listed in the table below. (Also see NIH Guide Notice on Initial Plans)

NIH Transition Plan

Type of Grant		Target Submission Date
Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)	R41, R42, R43, R44	December 1, 2005
Support for Conferences & Scientific Meetings	R13	December 15, 2005
Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)	R15	January 2006
Small Grant Programs; Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Awards	R03; R21	June 1, 2006
Research Project Grant Program	R01	October 1, 2006
Transition remaining mechanisms*		May 2007

*Plan continues to be developed. The plans for those mechanisms not on the timeline will be posted in November 2005.

Service Providers Participating in December 1 Submission

Provider Name	Standalone	Full Grants Mgmt	Both
Clinical Tools http://www.healthproposal.net/
eRA Software Systems http://www.gams.org/
Formatta Corp http://www.formatta.com/about/partners/nih/
InfoEd International http://www.infoed.org/
Research & Management Systems (RAMS) http://www.ramscompany.com/grantseralanding.html

NIH will continue to accept electronic submissions of select grants on the PHS 398 through the Service Providers until the mechanisms are transitioned to the SF424 (R&R). For details on submitting grant applications to NIH for the R01, R03 and R21 mechanisms, visit NIH's eCGAP Submission website.

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