eRA Facilitates Scanning of Legacy Applications and Progress Reports
As requested by the Steering Committee, eRA has established a contract through which Institutes and Centers (ICs) can purchase scanning services for legacy grant applications and all progress reports. The eRA Project began scanning applications received by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) in January 2002; by mid-June, 21,797 applications had been scanned. These grant images, converted to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), are accessible via the IMPAC II grant folder and by authorized IC extension systems.

There are many advantages to converting applications to electronic format at this time.

  • Scanning will provide relief from the burgeoning volume of paper. The NIH received 51,000 applications and managed a collective portfolio of 80,000 active grants in 2001. Scanning will free space in IC file rooms and in the offices of Program staff.
  • NIH will pilot electronic SNAP T-5 progress reports by the end of this year (see article in this issue) and electronic competitive applications in late 2003. Scanning will enable ICs to normalize procedures for grant processing instead of maintaining separate procedures for digital and paper.
  •  Scanning will allow faster retrieval and concurrent access by multiple users.
  •  The loss of paperwork will be minimized, if not eliminated since after scanning, the paper document is no longer handled.

Interested ICs should contact Scott Swidersky of Quality Associates Incorporated (QAI) at 410-884-9100 or sswidersky@qualityassociatesinc.com. All arrangements for scanning of legacy applications and progress reports (e.g., pickup and return of documents) will be negotiated between the IC and the contractor. This includes establishing quality-control procedures for source documents such as checking for missing or out-of-order pages. eRA will be responsible for uploading the output PDF files into the IMPAC II system.

The same standards implemented for current applications will apply to legacy applications. For example, appendices will not be scanned. Likewise, for consistent functionality, ICs should purchase the same services (such as indexing). Bookmarking, however, may be too expensive for the value received, depending on the anticipated frequency of usage.

Rough cost estimates, based on a 200-page paper grant folder (consisting of application and progress reports only), are as follows: $370,500 for 5,000 grants; $179,000 for 2,200 grants; and $87,000 for 900 grants. The contractor will prepare detailed cost estimates on an IC-by-IC basis.

For more information about legacy grant scanning, contact Dr. Steve Hausman, Advocate for Paperless Business Practices, at hausmans@exchange.nih.gov or Michael Cox, eRA analyst and Scanning Task Manager, at mc70k@nih.gov.