The U. S. Department of Education (ED) is transitioning to Grants.gov, a Web site that allows organizations and individuals to find and apply for grants electronically from all Federal grant-making agencies.
If you are planning to apply for a grant from ED, please note the following six points.
1. All potential applicants for ED grants should register early at Grants.gov. Through early registration, you will avoid facing unexpected delays that could result in the rejection of your application. Don't wait until the grant opportunity you're interested in is posted. Register now at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp.
2. The Department has changed its policy and procedural requirements for permitting applicants under certain circumstances to submit paper applications for those competitions that otherwise require the electronic submission of applications through Grants.gov or e-Application.
3. All ED funding opportunities are posted at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp. For fiscal year 2005, only selected ED grant competitions will require applicants to submit their applications electronically through Grants.gov instead of through ED's e-Application system. The ED Forecast of Funding Opportunities (http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html) indicates which ED grant competitions might decide to use Grants.gov this year; however, the application notice for each competition is the final authority for that competition and specifies whether electronic applications are mandatory or voluntary and whether applicants are to submit them through Grants.gov or ED's e-Application system.
If the official application notice indicates that applications for the competition can be submitted electronically through Grants.gov, the application package can be found at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp. Applications for competitions using e-Application can be obtained at http://e-grants.ed.gov/egWelcome.asp. For those competitions that do not involve electronic application, or if electronic application is optional, the official application notice will provide instructions for obtaining the paper application package.
4. In addition to the preceding information on this page, potential applicants for ED grant opportunities should read the Federal Register notice published by ED's Chief Financial Officer on February 10, 2005, regarding new policies and procedures for the electronic submission of grant applications through the Governmentwide grants application site, Grants.gov, and ED's grants application site, e-Application (Federal Register notice).
5. The February 10 Federal Register notice specified two conditions under which ED would permit an applicant to submit an application in paper format-by mail or hand delivery-for a competition that otherwise requires the filing of an electronic application. The applicant would be permitted to file a paper application (1) if the applicant does not have access to the Internet, or (2) if the applicant does not have the capacity to upload large documents to the e-Application or Grants.gov application systems.
In addition, the applicant must submit to ED a written statement that the applicant qualifies for an exception under one of the specified conditions; and the applicant must mail or fax its statement to the program office no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. If the applicant fails to submit a statement or does not submit it in a timely manner, we shall not accept the paper application and shall inform the applicant.
To understand the new policy fully, it is necessary for you to review carefully the full notice of February 10 and the application for the grant competition in which you are interested. The application for the specific grant competition will contain additional requirements you must know before applying.
6. For information on Grants.gov, call the Grants.gov Help Desk at 1-800-518-Grants. For information regarding the Department's e-Application System, call the GAPS Help Desk at 1-888-336-8930. Send general questions about the new policies and requirements announced in the notice to the following e-mail address: grantspolicy@ed.gov.
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