Grants Management User Group Meeting Minutes
July 11, 2001

IMPAC II GM Lead User’s Group
Minutes from July 11, 2001 Meeting

Attendees

Representatives from 16 ICs, OPeRA, ROW/Logicon and LTS were in attendance.

Discussion Topics

  1. Grant Folder
    2.

    Dave Chicchirichi has not received any other suggested documents for inclusion in the Grant Folder. His own IC (NIDCD) has had a favorable response to the electronic folder. It is much easier to retrieve the abstract, summary statement or notice of award online (from GM or QuickView) than to do so from the paper files. There was consensus that FSRs are good candidates for the Grant Folder.

  2. Results of Standard Terms Survey
    3.

    GMAC Policy and Procedure Announcement 1999-01 suggested that ICs adopt standardized language for a number of IC-specific Terms of Award. As part of the announcement, it was suggested that IMPAC II be modified to automatically generate 6 of the 11 categories of terms. Lead Users began discussing this issue earlier this year and Debbie Hendry volunteered to conduct an email survey to determine which, if any, of the suggested terms had been adopted by the ICs.

    Debbie reported that all 22 polled ICs have responded. There was no term that all were willing to adopt without modification. Therefore, all footnotes will continue to be institute-specific. Marcia Hahn will inform the Vision Steering Committee and the Business Practices Group of the survey results.

    Since the survey may be useful to ICs who are in the process of reviewing their footnotes, the responses have been posted on the GM Lead Users website http://odoerdb2.od.nih.gov/gmac/gmac/impacii_main.html on the Grants Infonet. Marcia thanked Debbie for contacting the ICs and gathering the data.

  3. Retirement of IMPAC I Legacy System
    4.

    Marcia distributed two matrices which display the proposed sunset dates for IMPAC I functions (See attachments A and B). The short list of major changes will accompany a memo to all IC directors. The comprehensive list will be posted on the eRA web site at http://era.nih.gov. Marcia marked the items which have impact on the GM community. Note that in attachment B, these items have been marked in red.

    Marcia asked the group to provide feedback to Tim Twomey on the SNAP query tool he provided for searching for grants by PI. Debbie Hendry said she would like the output to be sorted chronologically by category (e.g., active, pending).

    Several questions were raised regarding the generation of Type 5 shells (attachment B, p. 10). In IMPAC II, if data is changed, the change will cascade to the shells for the out years. In response to an inquiry from Bobby Tarwater, Marcia said that no decision has been reached about shells for fellowships (will they be created upon award or when activated?) Tim needs to discuss this issue with the Budget community. 7/23/01 Update: The plan is to have the fellowship shells generated using the "Latest Activation Date" information; unlike research T-5s shells, fellowship records will not be automatically coded as "To Be Paid". At the time of fellowship activation, the budget start & ends and the "To Be Paid" status will be entered.

    Marcia posed a general question about the group's dependency on IMPAC I. Marcia urged the Lead Users to share the information about legacy retirement with their colleagues, particularly those responsible for IT and/or IMPAC uploads and reporting.

  4. Update from Grant Closeout System (GCS) Working Group
    5.

    Mike Loewe reported on the first meeting of the GCS Working Group on June 29. The working group is comprised of representatives from NIAMS, NCI, NIEHS, NEI, NINR, NIA, NICHD, NIAAA and OPeRA. The group's purpose is to identify requirements for an automated system that will be a part of IMPAC II. As a first step, they are looking at three existing closeout systems (NCI, NIMH and NIGMS). The discussion centered around the NIMH system which was very favorably received at the NIH Workshop in May. Tim Twomey will consult with Jim Cain as to whether it would be best to incorporate this system or use it as a model for developing a new system.

    Members of the group would like to adopt a proactive approach to grant closeout. One idea would be to actually generate a closeout reminder letter before the actual termination date. This would be particularly attractive for SBIR/STTRs. If such a practice is adopted, Tim indicated that it might be possible to have such a letter system generated (like the R15 letters) separate from the actual closeout system.

    Mike asked if there were any other extension systems to be considered. Monika Christman mentioned that Human Genome has one. Contact Mike if your IC has a system or if you would like to participate in the GCS Working Group. The next meeting will be held in about a month.

    Minutes from the 6/29th working group meeting have been posted on the IMPAC II GM Lead Users website: http://odoerdb2.od.nih.gov/gmac/gmac/impacii_main.html.

  5. Upcoming IMPAC II GM Releases
    6.

    The IMPAC II release schedule is now posted at http://odoerdb2.od.nih.gov/oer/impac/("Upcoming Releases"). The upgrade to GM 1.9.4.0 planned for July 23 will be the last of the fiscal year. Changes to the worksheet will be implemented and several bugs will be fixed. As promised, there will be no database changes after July. The August software deployment has been postponed from August 17 to August 24 because of Secretary Thompson's visit to NIH during the week of August 20th.

  6. Updated Forms
  1. Revised PHS 398 and PHS 2590 Now Available

The following information was posted on the OER web site on July 10. Forms and instructions incorporate the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grant Programs.

The new PHS 398 application and PHS 2590 progress report instructions and forms are available on the NIH Grants Web site at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm, and may now be used by applicants. Beginning January 10, 2002, use of the revised forms are required. The forms available on our website are now fillable using Adobe Acrobat Reader Software. Applicants are encouraged to access the instructions and forms via the Internet because they contain valuable links to policy documents as well as links for navigating the instructions easily. For further information, contact GrantsInfo@NIH.GOV. See NIH Guide Notice of July 10, 2001 for more details or contact heffernj@od.nih.gov.
  1. PHS 2271 Statement of Appointment

Marcia reported that the 2271 has also been updated. She noted two differences from the previous version: 1) the Field of Training (FOT) field differs from the DFS code list; 2) there is now a two-tiered system for reporting Ethnicity & Race. Marcia expressed concern about IMPAC II's accommodation of these changes. Also, the FDP X-Train pilot is due to begin in August. 7/23/01 Update: The new 2271 will not be available until further notice. Since the new versions require collection of additional and/or different data elements, use of the new form will be delayed until the IMPAC II database is ready to receive this data--anticipated date for software changes is the November 2001 release.
  1. Open Forum
  1. Mary Graham inquired about the responsibility for updates to IMPAC II which may be required mid-year (not at time of award). For example, a mass mailing may reveal that numerous PI email addresses need to be corrected. Marcia informally polled the group regarding who performs this function in each IC and which module is used. Responses varied. In some ICs this task is handled by Program support staff. In others, it is handled by grants management specialists.


  2. Bobby Tarwater reported that Type 5 pre-printed face pages do not contain the PI's email address even though the address is stored in IMPAC II. As a result, the PI must enter this data item every year. Marcia explained that the face pages are still printed from IMPAC I. 7/23/01 Update: It appears that the e-mail address is in the legacy system. Since NIH has committed to continue to print these face pages through Fiscal Year 2002, and since that printing will continue to be handled from the legacy system, Marcia will investigate the possibility of having this data item print.


  3. Mary Graham reported that there is a problem with the point-of-contact information for NINDS in the notification of grant awards being automatically FTPd to the Congressional Liaison Office (CLO). Chip Groh will check into the source of contact information; however, Mary should report the problem to the Help Desk. Marcia is currently researching which elements are transferred in preparation for her presentation to the CLO at the end of July. 7/23/01 Update: The information electronically submitted to CLO includes the Name and phone number of the assigned GMO. It appears CLO may be using some other contact list that is probably outdated.


  4. Debra Battle-Dudley reported a problem with fellows drawing down on their funding without activating their fellowships. Marcia and Chip thought that an IC-monitoring system rather than an IMPAC II and/or PMS system remedy was appropriate. Grantees who do not submit an activation form should be required to return the money to NIH. Marcia also recommended that GM staff use the report provided in the IMPAC II GM System "Fellowship Awards-Awaiting Activation" to monitor activations and contact fellows as appropriate.


  5. For Type 6's, Bonnie Smith reported inconsistencies between IPF and EINs on the GM Admin screen and the print-out. According to Chip, this problem results from the fact that there is a one-to-one relationship for the IPF numbers but not for EINs. DEIS is working on an IMPAC II solution. In the interim, Chip advised Bonnie to email Emily Mitchell if she needs further assistance. Bonnie also asked for advice on handling a Type 5 to Type 6 change which may involve the deobligation of funds.

Action Items

  1. Inform the Vision Steering Committee and the Business Practices Co-chairs of results of Standard Terms survey (Marcia Hahn).
  2. Post IC responses to Standard Terms survey on the intranet (Marcia Hahn).
  3. Email minutes of GCS Working Group meeting on June 29 to Madeline Monheit and Marcia Hahn for attachment to these minutes and posting on Infonet (Mike Loewe).
  4. Contact Mike Loewe to participate in the GCS Working Group or to suggest an IC closeout system for evaluation (all).
  5. Inform GM Lead Users when the end-of-year system notice is posted (Chip Groh).
  6. Provide feedback to Tim Twomey on his SNAP tool for searching for grants by PI (all).
  7. Check source of IC POC information for automatic congressional notification of award (Chip Groh).

Next Meeting

Unless critical agenda items surface, no meetings will be held in August or September. The next meeting is scheduled for October 10 at 9:00 am in NSC, Conference Room D. NIDA will be the parking sticker host.