eSubmission News and Updates
NIH eSubmission Items of Interest — January 22, 2007
Weekend Support for Early R01 Submitters
With two weeks left until the February 5 R01 deadline, we have already received over 100 electronic R01 applications. Glad to see so many folks getting an early start on the process.
The eRA Commons Helpdesk will provide special support hours on Saturday, February 3 and Sunday, February 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to support applicants who are trying to beat the deadline rush. Please use the Web option to create your own support ticket (http://ithelpdesk.nih.gov/eRA/). Although there will be limited staff available, they will assist as many applicants as possible.
R&R Budget Form and DUNS Numbers
NIH has recently received a flurry of inquiries about the requirement to include a DUNS number in the R&R budget form. Here’s the scoop.
The Research & Related Budget form is used to provide detailed budget information. “Organization DUNS” is a required field on this form. The form also includes a required “Budget Type” field with check boxes for “Project” or “Subaward/Consortium”.
When the prime applicant fills out this form, they check the “Project” checkbox. The DUNS number for the applicant organization is prepopulated from the SF424 R&R Cover component. The eRA Commons does a validation that compares the DUNS number of the applicant organization provided in the application with the DUNS number in the eRA Commons Institutional Profile. It is critical that the DUNS numbers match in order for application processing to continue. If they do not match, an Error will be given and processing will stop.
The same Research & Related Budget form is used for each subaward/consortium organization. The prime applicant uses the R&R Subaward Budget Attachment form to generate a copy of the Research & Related Budget form that can be sent to the subaward/consortium organization, filled out, sent back to the prime and attached to the R&R Subaward Budget Attachment form.
When the subaward/consortium organization fills out the form they select the “Subaward/Consortium” checkbox for the Budget Type. Ideally we would expect all subaward/consortium organizations to have a DUNS number. However, while the field is a required field (i.e. something needs to be entered) neither Grants.gov nor NIH currently validates on the accuracy of that field at the subaward level. For subaward organizations, eRA Commons only validates that the DUNS field contains a value and that value is not the same DUNS number provided by the prime applicant. At this time eRA Commons does not do any further validations on the accuracy of this number. So (for now), if a subaward/consortium organization is unable to secure a DUNS in time, then a value of nine zeros can be entered in the DUNS field on the subaward/consortium budget form. Note, however, that Federal requirements for reporting on subawards are changing and NIH may need to tighten up the subaward DUNS validation at some point in the future. For now, the workaround can be used without any threat to the processing of the application.
Others have asked if all subaward/consortium organizations also require registration in CCR, Grants.gov and the eRA Commons. At this time subaward/consortium organizations need only complete these other registration processes if they intend to also become an applicant organization.
How Big is Too Big?
Neither Grants.gov nor NIH has set limits for application size. NIH has successfully tested applications up to 140 MB. However, based on analyses of current paper application size and experience gained from grant programs that have already transitioned to electronic submission, NIH expects an average R01 application to be in the 6-10 MB range with 99% of applications falling under 40 MB. If your application has grown substantially larger than these ranges and you are having difficulty working with the application due to its unwieldy size, we have posted some tips for keeping file size under control.
NIH Announced Delay in Transition to Electronic Applications for K, F, T and Complex Grant Programs
Did you see NIH Guide notice NOT-OD-07-038? The transition to electronic application submission for K, F, T and Complex grant programs requires additional Grants.gov forms development. Understandably, all Grants.gov efforts at this time are devoted to their own transition to Adobe forms. NIH is working with Grants.gov to determine new transition dates that allow sufficient time for Grants.gov form development and subsequent NIH development efforts. We’ll post a new timeline as soon as possible, but didn’t want to wait for the new dates to provide a heads-up to the community.
Sheri Cummins
Communications Coordinator
NIH Electronic Submission of Grant Applications
