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Application Instructions

How to Apply for Grants

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds research activities through several mechanisms, including grants and cooperative agreements. Funds are given to partners external to CDC to perform independent or collaborative research projects.

CDC funding announcements may be found at CDC Procurement and Grants Office website, Grants.gov and on the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.

Application Forms and Information

In FY2007, research applications will be accepted through Grants.gov, the one unified computer system for announcing and applying for Federal Grants. See Grants.gov for more information. Currently all CDC Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are being published on Grants.gov.

In addition to using Grants.gov for application submission, CDC will be transitioning to the "424R&R" application form for all research. This new requirement will be published on Grants.gov and the 424R&R will be accepted electronically. Although electronic submission is not mandatory, the PHS 398 grant application form will be phased-out and CDC strongly recommends that applications be submitted electronically, as the process becomes streamlined.

As part of the electronic application process following submission to Grants.gov grant applications will transfer to eRA Commons and then download into IMPAC II. The eRA Commons is the public access side of IMPAC II and allows CDC to receive applications electronically from the Grants.gov website and validate them against agency-specific business rules. It also provides a way for CDC and registered users to communicate electronically after submission. Assignment, review outcome and summary statement information is available through the eRA Commons website.

This new process using eRA Commons will be implemented for research applications received in FY07. As a result, researchers and their institutions are strongly encouraged to register in Grants.gov and eRA Commons.

CDC is closely following the NIH electronic submission process that began this year and the problems that have been identified with this process. CDC will work very hard to ensure that all applications remain confidential and that no public access or release of sensitive information occurs. The electronic submission process will also be monitored to ensure that applications are processed and that applicants are informed of their progress using eRA Commons.

Progress Reports

The PHS 2590 is the non-competing grant progress reports for research grants.

Award Closeout Procedures – Final Report Guidance (PDF)

Research grantees are required to submit the three Final Reports described below within 90 days of the project end date. This date is on the notice of grant award, and can also be obtained from recipient organization’s business office. Failure to submit timely and accurate final reports may affect future funding to the organization or awards for the same Principal Investigator (PI). If the final reports cannot be submitted within 90 days, please submit a written request and justification for an extension of the expiration date at least 10 days prior to the expiration date (per the PHS Grants Policy Statement). Otherwise, there is no guarantee that the extension request can be processed in time to avoid a letter of reprimand being sent. The request must be sent to the Grants Management Officer identified under Contacts, and the PI should follow-up to verify that the request has been received.

In order to facilitate the preparation of these Final Reports by the PI and Business Office, the CDC has prepared these instructions. However, these instructions do not replace or supersede any Department of Health and Human Services or CDC policies.

The required Final Reports are:

  1. Final Progress Report
  2. Final Financial Status Report
  3. Final Invention Statement

The Final Reports must be sent to the Grants Management Officer. An original, two (2) copies, and an electronic copy are requested. For information on where to send the Final Reports and who to contact for additional information, see below.

A. Final Progress Report:

The Final Progress Report represents the most important report a PI prepares for a grant and it should provide a synthesis of the overall results from the project. This final report communicates the results of the research, and CDC uses this report as a principal reporting tool to inform the Congress, Executive Branch, CDC Director, and other stakeholders on the success and impact of CDC extramural research programs. Thus, CDC relies on the PI to provide a cogent and well-organized report of findings that can be understood by a broad audience.

Although there is no standard Final Progress Report format, to assist a PI in developing this report, CDC has developed the following guidance.

Title Page. The title page should contain the PI’s name, the institution and laboratory or department name, city, state, zip code, project title, date, number of report (if any), co-investigators, project director, sponsors, and grant number

Table of Contents.

Abstract. An overview of the project that is limited to no more than two pages (one page is preferred), which states the health issue that was addressed, the importance of the problem, approach, key findings, and how the results can be utilized. This section may contain much of the same information as in the sections below, but it is intended to be a brief summary for informing others about the key findings and importance of the project. The abstract should be a stand alone document that is suitable for distribution to a wide audience and may be provided to members of Congress, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of CDC, and many others. CDC often uses this abstract without editing.

Significant Findings. Significant findings are similar to conclusions. These are the important results of the project, and they should relate to the specific aims of the project. The most important findings should be listed first. Separate findings should be in different paragraphs.

Translation of Findings. This section provides an interpretation of how the significant findings of the project can be used by public health programs / practitioners. If specific recommendations are made, the language should be as nontechnical as possible in order to communicate to a variety of constituents. It is very important that a PI identify how these findings have been or may be adopted in public health settings. If the findings are such that they cannot yet be applied, this section should address how these findings can be used to guide future activities

Scientific Report. The report should contain: background for the project, specific aims, procedures, methodology, results and discussion, and conclusions. More detail should be provided in this section than is included in the “Significant Findings” section. Each of the specific aims originally planned or added during the project should be addressed in terms of what was accomplished or why progress was not made, so that there will be a complete documentation of the efforts on the grant. If there is any information that is considered as proprietary information for commercial purposes, be sure to label it so that the government can evaluate the request. Otherwise, the entire report may be released upon request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Publications. Any published or “in press” articles that have resulted from the grant support (such support from CDC should be acknowledged in the articles), should be listed and annotations should be provided that describe how the articles relate to the specific aims. Please do not submit manuscripts or other restricted information. Three copies of all reprints are needed. In addition, investigators are encouraged to inform the CDC Project Officer / Program Administrator of other publications resulting from this project as they are published after the final report is submitted.

Citation Format Examples

Journal Article

Clark WW, Popelka GR: Hearing Levels of Railroad Trainmen. Laryngoscope 99:1151-1157, 1989

Book

Trush MA, Thompson DC: Enhancement of Chemical Activation Via Radical- Dependent Mechanisms: An Emerging Concept in Chemical-Chemical Interactions. In: Oxygen Radicals in Biology and Medicine, (eds. MG Simic, KA Taylor, JF Ward, CV Sonntag), Plenum Publishing Corporation, pp 739B744, 1989

Murlas CG: Environmental Airway of Mucosal and Changes in Hyperreactivity. In Airway Epithelium: Structure and Function in Health and Disease, (eds. S Farmer, D Hay), Marcel Decker Inc., in press, 1989

Proceedings

Park MY, Casali JG: A Laboratory Simulation of Selected In-field Influences on Hearing Protector Performance. Proc of 1989 Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, 946-950, October 16-20, 1989

Dissertation/Thesis

Holton PM: Particle Size-Dependent leakage through the Face seal of Negative Pressure Half-Mask Respirators, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1986

Inclusion of gender and minority study subjects. Use the gender and minority inclusion table provided in the PHS-2590, if applicable

Inclusion of Children. Where appropriate, indicate whether children were involved in the study or how the study was relevant for conditions affecting children (see "Public Policy Requirements and Objectives— Requirements for Inclusiveness in Research Design—Inclusion of Children as Subjects in Clinical Research" and the PHS-398).

Materials available for other investigators. Describe any data, research materials (such as cell lines, DNA probes, animal models), protocols, software, or other information resulting from the research that are available to be shared with other investigators and how it may be accessed.

B. Final Financial Status Report:

Forms. The institution’s business office will determine which form (SF-269 or SF-269A) should be used for the Financial Status Report (FSR). Follow the instructions provided on the back of the form. Please provide an original and two (2) copies.

For those organizations receiving their funds through the Health and Human Services Payment Management System (PMS), final reports, as specified by PMS, must be submitted to that office. It is the responsibility of the grantee to reconcile reports submitted to PMS and to the CDC awarding office.

Long Form (SF-269) - (PDF)
Short Form (SF-269A) - (PDF)

Requirement. A final FSR is required for any grant that is expired, terminated, transferred to a new grantee, or modifications in the project requiring adjustment of funds. Awards which will not be competitively extended through award of a new competitive segment.

Process.

The final FSR must:

  • Cover the period of time since the previous FSR submission or as much of the competitive segment as has been funded prior to termination.
  • Have no unliquidated obligations. Unliquidated obligations on a cash basis are obligations incurred, but not yet paid. On an accrual basis, they are obligations incurred, but for which an outlay has not yet been recorded.
  • Indicate the exact balance of unobligated funds. Unobligated funds must be returned to CDC/PGO or must be reflected by an appropriate accounting adjustment in accordance with instructions from the GMO or from the payment office.

Withdrawal of the unobligated balance following expiration or termination of a grant is not considered an adverse action and may not be appealed.

Where the submission of a revised final FSR results in additional claims by the grantee, CDC will consider the approval of such claims subject to the following minimum criteria:

  • The charges must represent allowable costs under the provisions of the grant.
  • There must have been an unobligated balance for the given budget period that is sufficient to cover the additional claim. Such a claim may be considered regardless of whether the unobligated balance was moved forward to offset the award for a subsequent budget period.
  • Funds must be available from the applicable appropriation.
  • CDC/PGO must receive the revised FSR within 15 months of its due date

C. Final Invention Statement and Certification

Forms. Final Invention Statement (HHS Form 568 - Fillable) - (PDF)

Process. The grantee must submit a Final Invention Statement and Certification (HHS-568), whether or not an invention(s) results from work under the grant. The final invention statement/certification must be signed by the PI and the institution’s authorized official. This document must list all inventions that were conceived or first actually reduced to practice during the course of work under the project, from the original effective date of support through the date of expiration or termination, whether or not previously reported. If there were no inventions, the statement should indicate “None”.

Contacts For Final Reports

Send hard copies of Final Reports to the Grants Management Officer listed in the notice of award.

Send electronic copies of Final Reports to the CDC Program Official.

For questions, contact your Grants Management Officer or Program Official.

For further information, you may also contact the CDC Office of Public Health Research at 404-639-4621 or ophrinfo@cdc.gov.

 

 

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Page last reviewed: Page last reviewed: March 31, 2008
Page last modified: September 2, 2008
Content source: Office of the Chief Science Officer (OCSO)