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Submitting Your Application

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Submitting Your Competing Grant Application

The majority of competing applications now require electronic application submission. The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to which you are applying will identify whether you must submit electronically or use paper submission. Note that paper submissions require use of the PHS 398 application form, while electronic submission requires the SF424 (R&R) application.  Make sure to read instructions in the Funding Opportunity Announcement and the application guide to determine submission requirements.

Electronic Application Submission

  • Do your homework. Take the time to understand the process. Electronic submission involves two separate systems working together – Grants.gov  and eRA Commons. The NIH Electronic Submission of Grant Applications website and the application guide will walk you through every step of the process.

  • Develop a submission plan. Institution administrators and principal investigators should work together to come up with a submission plan. Think about:

    • What funding opportunity announcement should be used?
    • Who will be responsible for completing the different forms within the application?
    • How will the application file be shared between different contributors (e.g. email attachment, placed on shared drive, copied to portable media)?
    • When must the forms be completed in order to allow time for the actual submission?

  • Prepare to submit. Electronic submission requires institutions to register with Grants.gov and NIH eRA Commons (Grants.gov registration; eRA Commons registration). Principle Investigators (PIs) also will need to make sure they are registered with the eRA Commons (Creating PI Account).
Registration can take 2-4 weeks – start early!
  • Verify successful submission. Your Authorized Organization Representatives submits your SF424 (R&R) application to Grants.gov. The NIH will retrieve your application and process it into our own electronic system, the eRA Commons.  Part of that process includes actually assembling the data and PDF attachments submitted into a cohesive application. You will be able to login to eRA Commons to see if any “errors” or “warning” were identified for your submission. An application must be error-free to complete the electronic submission process.

    • See Check Submission Status for details.

    • You are responsible for checking eRA Commons to ensure successful submission of your application!

  • View your assembled application. Once an error-free application is received, NIH holds that application for two days (Monday-Friday, excluding Federal holidays) to allow submitters and PIs a chance to view the final assembled application in eRA Commons. This is your first opportunity to see the application just as a reviewer will see it – take advantage of it!

Paper Application Submission

  • Confirm submission requirements. The majority of competing applications now require electronic submission; however, there still are a few grant programs that accept paper. Check your opportunity announcement carefully for submission requirements prior to using the paper PHS 398 application format.

  • Pack it. Use one package (including all copies) per application.

    Send it. All applications and other deliveries must be submitted either via courier delivery or via the US Postal Service (USPS) to the NIH at:

    Center for Scientific Review
    National Institutes of Health
    6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040 - MSC 7710
    Bethesda, Md. 20892-7710 (regular USPS or USPS Express mail)
    Bethesda, Md. 20817 (other courier/express mail delivery)

    Phone: 301-435-0715

Finding Help

  • Grants Information. The Grants Information office provides general information to the biomedical research community about NIH extramural research and research training programs, grant application procedures and process, and other general research grant information.

Grants Information
Division of Communications and Outreach
Office of Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health
E-mail: grantsinfo@nih.gov
Telephone : (301) 435-0714
FAX: (301) 480-0525

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Submitting Your Non-Competing Grant Progress Reports

Progress reports usually are required annually as part of the non-competing continuation award process. However, NIH may require these reports more frequently. The “Grant Progress Report” (PHS 2590) form is used and submission is made directly to the awarding office.  Some progress reports qualify for a streamlined process for submitting known as SNAP, Streamlined Non-competing Award Process. 

To determine when a progress report is due, there are several tools available:

  • Web queries:  NIH provides 2 web queries by IPF, Institutional Profile Number (See Definition) and by Institution Name.
  • eRA Commons Status
  • Electronic Notifications:  The Principal Investigator is sent an e-mail 2 months before the scheduled due date. In the event a progress report is not submitted on time, a reminder e-mail is sent to the PI.  

Electronic Submission

  • Progress reports for applications that qualify for SNAP may be submitted electronically and are known as eSNAP.  The eSNAP system allows extramural grantee institutions to submit an electronic version of the PHS 2590 Progress Report to the NIH via a web interface.
  • Electronic progress reports must be submitted at least 45 days before the beginning date of the next budget period.
  • eSNAP is accessed through the NIH eRA Commons.
  • eSNAP User Guide

Paper Submission

  • Prepare it. Non SNAP progress reports require paper submission. Complete the PHS 2590  progress report to continue support of a PHS grant. It should be ready to send at least 60 days before the beginning date of the next budget period.

  • Send it. The signed original progress report and one copy (with required signatures) must be submitted either via courier delivery or via the US Postal Service (USPS) to the following centralized mailing address:
  • Division of Extramural Activities Support, OER
    National Institutes of Health
    6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 2207, MSC 7987
    Bethesda, MD 20892-7987 (regular USPS or USPS Express mail)
    Bethesda, MD 20817 (other courier/express mail delivery)

    Phone Number: (301) 594-6584

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