Point of Contact:
Peter Vietti
Office of Naval Research
Corporate Communications Office
Phone: 703.588.2176
Fax: 703-696-5940
E-mail: peter.vietti@.navy.mil

Arlington, Va. — The Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today that it has enacted a new policy aimed at streamlining the application and submission process for grants and cooperative agreements. ONR will now use Grants.Gov as the sole channel for submission of proposals which would result in the award of a grant or cooperative agreement.

The policy will be in effect for all Fiscal Year 2009 Broad Agency Announcements (BAA). Applicants can identify the specific BAAs involved by those beginning with ONRBAA09 and followed by a three-digit numerical control number.

ONR has used Grants.Gov as an online resource for the receipt of grant and cooperative agreement proposals for the last two years – the tool has proved more reliable and responsive than other forms of proposal submission used in recent years.

ONR funding opportunities will contain provisions to grant waivers to organizations which may be unable to comply with this requirement or for which the use of Grants.Gov would be an excessive burden. Prospective grantees from foreign countries may request a waiver if they are not registered in the Department of Defense Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system which is an integral part of the Grants.Gov process. Specific guidance on the waiver process is contained in individual ONR BAA funding opportunities.

“This action by ONR is a confirmation that Grants.Gov is beginning to mature,” said Chuck Paoletti, executive director for Acquisition Management at ONR. “It now serves as ONR’s single entry point for all grant applications and creates an environment which eliminates the inefficiencies of paper from ONR grant-making processes.” Conceived as part of the President’s 2002 Fiscal Year Management Agenda, Grants.Gov was established as a governmental resource named the E-Grants Initiative to improve government services to the public. Today, it is a central storehouse for information on more than 1,000 grant programs, providing access to approximately $400 billion in annual awards. The move to Grants.Gov should streamline the grant application process and facilitate the grantor/grantee relationship.

For questions on implementing the new BAA procedures using Grants.Gov, please contact Frank O’Day by phone at (703) 696-4510 or by e-mail at frank.oday@navy.mil. For a complete listing of current announcements and opportunities, visit ONR’s online Contracts & Grants – Broad Agency Announcements center.

—USN—
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The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is the home of innovation for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It manages science and technology research for the Department of the Navy. ONR sponsors basic and applied research in oceanography, advanced materials, sensors, robotics, biomedical science and technology, electronics, surveillance, mathematics, manufacturing technology, information science, advanced combat systems, and technologies for ships, submarines, aircraft, ground vehicles—and much more.

For information about ONR, visit http://www.onr.navy.mil