NIH/AHRQ to Update/Post FOAs
with New SF424 (R&R) and PHS 398 Electronic Forms
Notice Number: NOT-OD-06-078
Key Dates
Release Date: June 22, 2006
Update: The following updates relating to this announcement have been issued:
- September 15, 2006 - Notice (NOT-OD-06-103) NIH/AHRQ Now Using Version 2 of SF424 (R&R) and Agency-Specific Electronic Forms For SBIR/STTR, Conferences/Scientific Meetings, and Other Specific Funding Opportunities.
- July 27, 2006 (NOT-OD-06-087) - See SF424(R&R) Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile Form Issue – Workaround for Adding More Than Eight Senior/Key Persons.
- July 13, 2006 (NOT-OD-06-085) - See NIH/AHRQ Reminder to Use Updated SF424 (R&R) and Agency-Specific Electronic Forms in Reposted FOAs.
Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (
http://www.nih.gov)
Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ), http://www.ahrq.gov/)
Grants.gov and NIH/AHRQ recently have made changes to the
standard SF424 (R&R) and agency-specific PHS 398 electronic form components
used for the electronic submission of grant applications. The forms changes
provide greater consistency between forms and align the forms with current
policy.
Among the changes are:
- Four new sections of the PHS 398 Research Plan have
been added: Inclusion Enrollment Report and Progress Report
Publication List are now separate attachments. These were previously
part of section 4. Preliminary Studies/Progress Report. They have
been separated out to avoid being counted in the page limit
validations. In addition, new distinct sections have been added for
Select Agent Research and Multiple PI Leadership Plan. Some of the
previous sections have been renumbered accordingly. The other change to
the Research Plan Component eliminates the separate section for Data and
Safety Monitoring. This is now incorporated as a subtopic within
section 8. Protection of Human Subjects.
- PHS 398 Checklist component has been modified to remove
the itemized list of policies, assurances, and certifications that
appeared on the form. Instead, applicants are instructed to consult
a specific website.
- State Code List has been updated to include US
possessions, territories, and Military Codes
- Address field for Province has been added
- Enumeration values containing abbreviations and full
descriptions have been standardized with a value format of abbreviation,
colon space, full description (e.g. AK: Alaska)
- Type of Applicant pick-list expanded (SF424 (R&R)
cover component field 7)
- Field length adjustments have been made to:
- Congressional District
- Employer Identification (EIN/TIN)
Note the agency-specific instruction has also been revised to request the
full 12-digit number be entered when one has already been established for
grant awards.
- Organization name
- Opportunity ID
- Competition ID
- Grants.gov form hover text has been updated
The forms changes will be included in all new Funding
Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that NIH/AHRQ posts. Over the next few months,
NIH/AHRQ also will update existing FOAs that use the older forms and are open
for multiple receipt dates.
Until all FOAs can be modified to use the new forms, we will
need to maintain and support two form packages and their associated application
instructions.
Our forms update plan and its affect on applicants is as
follows:
- For new FOAs (Release/Posted Date after June 15), the
process is straight forward. The application package attached to the FOA
will already contain the new forms and application guide. Make sure the
application guide available for download with the forms is used. No other
special action is needed.
- For older FOAs (Release/Posted Date before June 15),
the process becomes more complicated.
- FOAs that have a single receipt date (typically NIH/AHRQ
RFAs and PARs) will be evaluated and, in most cases, will be allowed to
close naturally with no change to the associated form package. No special
action needs to be taken.
- For older FOAs with multiple receipt dates, you will
need to pay close attention to the form set used to create the
application package to be submitted. NIH is targeting July 5-15 to update
older FOAs for the R03, R15, R21, R21/R33, R33 and R34 grant programs and
September 9-15 to update older FOAs for the R43/R44 and R13/U13 grant
programs with the new form packages. Once the new form packages are in
place for a particular FOA, the old form packages will no longer be
accepted by Grants.gov. Any application “in the works” will need to be
moved to the new form package (i.e., download new forms and cut-and-paste
content from one form to the other). If your business office provides to
Principal Investigators versions of the form packages that are
pre-populated with your organizations information, you will want to make
sure your form package templates are updated. We
have timed the updates to occur well in advance of the next standard
receipt date of each grant program to provide enough lead time to take
any necessary actions.
- To assist you in identifying the form version used to
create an application package, NIH/AHRQ will populate the Competition ID
of new forms packages with the label “Version-2-Forms”. The Competition ID
appears at the top of the page when you open an application package with
the PureEdge viewer. Similarly, the appropriate application guides will be
labeled Version 1 and Version 2 on the cover page and within the footers.
- There will be a short period of time when both the old
and new form packages will be available for download. Whenever there is a
choice, the package labeled “Version-2-Forms” in the Competition ID field
should be used. To help in the transition, NIH will develop a splash
screen that will alert users to select the Version 2 package. However, the
splash screen only will be visible when using the NIH Guide and the
download button from within the NIH Guide FOA to find and download
opportunities.
The NIH Guide for Grants and
Contracts, the NIH Electronic Submission of
Grant Applications website and the eSubmission listservs
will be used as the primary communication channels for these activities. This
notice serves as a “heads-up” of our future implementation plans. Additional
notices will be sent when these updates take place. When changes are made to
the FOAs, anyone that subscribed to receive notification of changes when they
downloaded an application package also will receive an automated email from
Grants.gov.
The following resources
continue to be available for assistance in the electronic submission of grant
applications to NIH/AHRQ through Grants.gov:
General Information:
http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/
http://www.ahrq.gov/path/egrants.htm
Grants.gov Customer Support
Phone: 800-518-4726
Hours: M-F 7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. ET
Email: support@grants.gov
eRA Commons Help Desk
Web: http://ithelpdesk.nih.gov/eRA/
Phone: 301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552 (Toll Free)
TTY: 301-451-5939
Hours: M-F 7:00 a.m.– 8:00 p.m
Inquiries
Inquiries regarding this
Notice should be directed to:
Grants Info
Office of Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health
Phone: 301-435-0714
TTY: 301-451-0088
Email: grantsinfo@nih.gov
