Electronic Grant Submission: FASTLANE and GRANTS.GOV BRAD STITH, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT DENVER TALK POSTED TO: www.cudenver.edu/~bstith 1
WHY ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION? during the 1980s. the NSF budget nearly tripled to $3 billion and the number of fully reviewed proposals increased by 40%, while personnel resources remained level. NSF's solution was to (develop FASTLANE) Grants.gov was born as part of the President s 2002 Fiscal Year Management Agenda to improve government services to the public: a common web site, simplifying grants management and eliminating redundancies. (also: cheaper?) 2
Two electronic protocols: 1. Grants.gov NIH and other governmental agencies FASTLANE NSF, NSF, but switching over 2. FASTLANE to GRANTS.GOV OVERVIEW OF Steps to Prepare Proposal STEP 1 Register Register your organization at Grants.gov AND with the NSF for FASTLANE. This is a one-time only registration process. YOUR SPONSORED RESEARCH STEP 1 OFFICE (SRO) OR SIGNING OFFICIAL (SO) SHOULD HAVE REGISTERED - http://grants.gov/getstarted http://era.nih.gov/userreports/ipf_com_org_list.cfm#u) (http://era.nih.gov/userreports/ipf_com_org_list.cfm#u3
STEP 2: REGISTER YOURSELF (NEED DEGREE, SSN, AND CONTACT INFO) For FASTLANE, work through your Sponsored Programs office For GRANTS.GOV, grants going to NIH REQUIRES USE of era COMMONS 4
NIH era Commons Registration Open to all applicant institutions Go to Commons home page & click registration link (see next slide) Enter small amount of information Print out signature page & fax to NIH Approximately 2-32 3 days to process registration era Commons Help Desk can help with any problems Phone: 301-402 402-7469 Toll Free: 866-504 504-9552 TTY: 301-451 451-59395939 Business hours M-F M F 7a.m.-8 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Email commons@od.nih.gov http://era.nih.gov/electronicreceipt/ 5
NIH era Commons: http://commons.era.nih.gov 6
STEP STEP 3: WRITE YOUR GRANT IN WORD STEP STEP 4: CHANGE WORD FILES TO PDF YOU SHOULD IT WITH ADOBE ACROBAT (~$180)-(don t scan in hardcopy with OCR and then save as PDF) See available PDF tools and software: http://www.grants.gov/assets/pdfconversion.pdf free, shareware, or commercial PDF products: Planet PDF s http://www.planetpdf.com/find_software.asp Don t use the NSF utility, "Convert Files to PDF" in FastLane See Fastlane info on PDF: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/documents/pdf_create/pdfcreate _07.jsp?page=0. For Grants.gov PDF help: http://era.nih.gov/electronicreceipt/pdf_guidelines.htm 7
Adobe PDF preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed exactly as intended by anyone with free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. The free software. The free reader cannot make pdf files- you need Adobe Acrobat (Free reader: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html ) 8
Font Grants.gov (NIH) Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.) Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than t 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch. Page Margins Use standard paper size (8 ½" x 11). Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. Page Formatting Avoid using a two-column format since it can cause difficulties when reviewing the document electronically. Do not include any information in a header or footer of the attachments. A header will be system-generated that references the name of the PD/PI. Page numbers for the footer will be system- generated in the complete application, with all pages sequentially ly numbered. 9
STEP 5: for Grants.gov only- download 2 items: A. Download PureEdge Viewer program-this program combines INDIVIDUAL PDF files- PureEdge Viewer.. Constantly being updated!! System requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP (NOT MAC); 500 Mhz processor; 128 MB of RAM; 40 MB disk space; Web browser: Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher or Netscape Communicator 4.5-4.8, Netscape 6.1, 6.2, or 7 For non-windows users, a free Citrix server is available but LIMITED access & save your application often! Macintosh- compatible PureEdge viewer by November 2006. http://www.grants.gov/help/applicant_faqs.jsp#50 B. Download APPLICATION PACKAGE specific for your program these are general forms WITH CERTAIN DETAILS FILLED IN FOR YOUR specific program -E.G. NIH AREA R-15R 10
STEP 6: CHECK the appearance of your PDF files the appearance of your PDF files- paragraphs and pages may occasionally re-wrap due to different margin definitions and, on Macs, minor differences in font metrics. Symbols may change, figures disappear. You may be ½ page over the limit!! Fastlane: : PRINT YOUR PROPOSAL after uploading all pdf files to the NSF (this is before you officially submit) FOR GRANTS.GOV, print off entire proposal file and check it before submitting to Grants.gov 11
STEP 7: SUBMIT: FASTLANE: after uploading all files to NSF, CLICK ON ALLOW SRO TO SUBMIT BUTTON. Your SRO (grants office) will get an email from the NSF to do so. Do not do this on the deadline date but at least days before. FOR GRANTS.GOV: YOUR GRANTS OFFICE SUBMITS --.. Once all required documents are properly completed and the application has been saved, the Submit button will become active. RELAX, COMPLIMENT YOURSELF (AT LEAST UNTIL THE REVIEWS COME BACK) 12
Grants.gov: PureView program THIS SECTION ALREADY FILLED OUT FOR YOUR SPECIFIC PROGRAM 13
UPLOAD YOUR PDF FILES HERE 14
Grants.gov FOR THOSE WHO SUBMIT TO THE NIH: 1. The FOA for program specific guidelines (Funding Opportunity Announcement/Program Announcement) 2. NIH AND GRANTS.GOV: Revised SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide - released April 7, 2006 3. The new esubmission website is better able to help you find answers to all related questions quickly http://era.nih.gov/electronicreceipt/ 15
FOR THE NIH GRANTS.GOV APPLICATION: http://era.nih.gov/electronicreceipt/ CLICK ON EACH STEP TO FIND OUT MORE MORE INFO BELOW 16
Grants.gov and NIH Grants.gov registration, submission and Pure Edge behavior questions: Questions from faculty must look at: http://era.nih.gov/electronicreceipt/files/combined_jan_11_faqs.ht m#pureedge Also Visit: http://www.grants.gov/customersupport Grants.gov Customer Service E-mail: support@grants.gov Phone: 1-8001 800-518-4726 era Commons registration and post submission questions on Commons functionality Support Page: http://era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm era Commons Help Desk Web support: commons@od.nih.gov Phone: 1-8661 866-504-9552 OR 301-402 402-7469 Extended hours Forms transition and questions on NIH s overall plan for electronic receipt NIH Grants Information E-mail: grantsinfo@nih.gov Phone: 301-435 435-0714 17
Grants.gov PureView used to read and create the one huge (for me, about 5-65 6 megabytes) file from individual pdf files One big file is uploaded to grants.gov: : any changes must be made to this one file and then upload this one file MAJOR PROBLEM OVERWRITE NEW PUREEDGE GRANT FILE WITH OLD ONE KEEP CHANGING THE NAME OF THIS FILE EVERY TIME A CHANGE IS MADE (VERSION A, VERSION B, ETC) (in NSF FASTLANE, a better process, you upload one section at a time to NSF) 18
Grants.gov Summary: after Registration Find Opportunity and download application package Prepare application (Word PDF) Submit Online Check submission status Verify Submission Complete Download PureEdge Viewer from Grants.gov Download application package from Grants.gov or NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts Grants.gov performs basic checks era Commons checks application against guidelines If errors found, AOR must correct application and submit to Grants.gov Application grant image generated-- recommend that the PI review the image in the Commons New institutional assurance requirement eliminates need for PI to take action to verify application image -effective May 10, 2006. 19
Check your submission on era commons. 20
Cont d: era commons summary after submission 21
22
part 2: FASTLANE; WWW. NSF.GOV: THEN CLICK HERE FOR FASTLANE 23
AFTER CLICKING ON FASTLANE LINK, YOU SEE THIS FASTLANE HOME PAGE: CLICK HERE FOR NEW PROPOSAL NOTE ADVISORIES 24
NOW YOU ARE READY TO START FILLING OUT THE NSF PAPERWORK AND UPLOAD YOUR WORD/PDF FILES. AS NOTED, ON LAST WEB PAGE CLICK ON : PROPOSALS, AWARDS & STATUS. YOU LOG IN WITH YOUR LAST NAME, SSN AND THEN PASSWORD (WEB PAGE NOT SHOWN) 25
AFTER CLICKING ON PROPOSALS, AWARDS AND STATUS 26
After clicking on link to Instructions page. 27
AFTER LOGGING INTO FASTLANE.. NEXT STEP TO CHECK YOUR SUBMITTED PROPOSAL IF GET GRANT, WORK ON BUDGET (BECAUSE IT WILL BE CUT) 28
PROPOSAL PREPARATION WEB PAGE CHECK PREPARE PROPOSAL 29
AFTER CLICKING ON LAST PAGE S PREPARE PROPOSAL IF YOU HAVE ALREADY STARTED A PROPOSAL NOTE NEW PROPOSAL USE OLD PROPOSAL (FOR RESUBMISSIONS OR NEXT GRANT) IGNORE 30
NOTE TEMP NO. AUTOMATIC EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE COVER SHEET CAN BE UPLOADED AS A FILE. THE BUDGET CAN BE ENTERED ON-LINE OR BY UPLOADING THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET THAT IS PROVIDED IN FASTLANE. 31
NOW CLICK ON GO FOR PROJECT SUMMARY 32
FOR LARGE AMOUNTS OF TEXT, DON T TYPE IN TEXT HERE BUT UPLOAD THE WORD (OR PDF) FILE WITH TRANSFER FILE BELOW 33
AFTER CLICKING GO FOR LIST OF SUGGESTED REVIEWERS (OPTIONAL) 34
TO GET A COPY OF WHAT THE NSF SEES (MAY BE DIFFERENT THANWHAT YOU UPLOADED) WHEN DONE FIRST 35
How will my SRO know when I am done? Click on the Allow SRO access button FastLane will send an email to each SRO staff and the email will indicate that the SRO has been granted access to the proposal- the SRO THEN SUBMITS YOUR PROPOSAL. 36
37
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? FASTLANE ALSO GENERATES AN EMAIL NOTIFYING THE APPROPRIATE NSF PERSONNEL WHO THEN LOG IN THE PROPOSAL, PRINT IT OUT AND SEND IT TO THE CORRECT NSF PROGRAM (E.G., CELL BIOLOGY). 38
CHECK STATUS WITH FASTLANE ENTER FASTLANE, GO TO YOUR PROPOSAL FUNCTIONS WEB PAGE AND CLICK ON PROPOSAL STATUS YOU SHOULD SEE: PROPOSAL CLASSIFCATION FORM: SUBMITTED ALSO, PROGRAM INFORMATION TELLS YOU WHERE IT WAS SENT AND WHO TO CONTACT UNDER REVIEW INFO, YOU MIGHT SEE EXTERNAL PEER REVIEW BEGAN ON. FINALLY, PROPOSAL STATUS: STATUS AS OF TODAY DATED: 1/30/02 THIS PROPOSAL IS CURRENTLY BEING CONSIDERED BY THE ABOVE PROGRAM..REQUIRES UP TO 6 MONTHS IT CAN TAKE A LONG TIME FOR THIS INFORMATION TO APPEAR. 39
GOOD LUCK! (Never give up, never give in ) Galaxy quest 40
GET PROGRAM INFO & DEADLINES: NSF Grant Proposal Guide, (check for latest version). http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?gpg INFO ON FASTLANE: ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL SUBMISSION https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/guides/eb_proposal_submission.pdf http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES 41