Four recipients of NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards were instrumental in the success of eRA’s electronic grants pilot (see full article in this issue). Awardees partnered with client institutions to prepare digital applications and to transmit them to NIH in the mandated format. Here are their stories.
For the pilot electronic submissions, the relevant profile data [Institutional Profiles and Professional Profiles] were exported from our product GrantSlam in XML format (along with budgets and other critical information collected in the PHS 398 form). During the export process, the XML data were organized and labeled so that the receiving computers at NIH would know exactly how to process them.
Most of the large blocks of text, such as the Research Plan and Biosketches, were included in the electronic submission as PDF files, linked to the XML data…
Once the data were exported and the PDFs in place, GrantSlam wrapped them together as an encoded bundle called a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) document. GrantSlam then used a secure connection to contact a particular server at NIH, identified itself as being associated with Cayuse (a “trusted broker” for NIH), and told the server that the SOAP document was ready to go. Some other key descriptive facts about the bundle were conveyed and NIH issued us a “ticket.”… The use of tickets was instituted to prevent the development of a bottleneck caused by too many electronic proposals coming in to the NIH at the same time. During this pilot, there was no such congestion and the proposal went right through.
…While getting to this point was a major task and plenty remains to be done, once we’d gotten the bugs out, submitting these proposals over the wires was far easier than sending paper.
Cayuse Customer Testimonial
I [Robert Beattie] teamed with Valerie Smith, the grants manager for the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, to use the Cayuse product, GrantSlam, to prepare an electronic proposal for Dr. J. Douglas Engel. GrantSlam produced a perfect paper copy of the application, and the data in the system were converted into the XML data stream needed for the NIH system. The process went very smoothly in the production stage and, with the close cooperation of the Cayuse team and the NIH eRA group, the transmission was accomplished. University of Michigan staff expect to send a number of applications via GrantSlam for the February, 2004 NIH deadline.
Robert Beattie, managing senior project representative for Electronic Research Administration, Division of Research Development and Administration, University of Michigan.
ERA Software Systems (ERASS) as told by Dianne Bozler, President
ERA Software Systems successfully submitted two proposals from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and two from the Pennsylvania State University for the October 1 deadline. For the November deadline, proposals were successfully submitted by UMASS, Penn State, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. All proposals were created and generated automatically from the Grants Application and Management System (GAMS) software. The ERASS focus was to verify the accuracy of the Web services running between GAMS servers and NIH servers. These services provide true machine-to-machine or business-to-business (B-to-B) communication. We were proud to be a part of the pilot project and feel that the close working relationship with NIH technical professionals has been extremely valuable. Finally, electronic research administration is a reality!
InfoEd International, Inc., a provider of software solutions that enable paperless management of research proposals, protocols, clinical trials and related intellectual property disclosures, announced today that it has made history by transmitting the very first electronic grant applications to be accepted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. InfoEd achieved this significant milestone with the support of four leading research institutions, which used the Web-based InfoEd solution to submit their own genuine research proposals for NIH's annual October submission deadline for new applications. The participating institutions included the University of Connecticut Health Center, the University of Illinois, the University of Miami, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
InfoEd Customer Testimonials
“eRA represents an opportunity for grantors and grantees to yield significant efficiencies from transforming paper-based processes into seamless electronic communications. As a result, we can focus on our research instead of paperwork, and optimize the return for our sponsors."
Dr. Norman Altman, vice provost for Research at the University of Miami
"VCU was delighted to have the opportunity to participate in the successful test of a pioneering system for electronic proposal data transmittal to NIH."
Herbert Chermside, director of Sponsored Programs Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University
"We were very pleased to have partnered with InfoEd to submit one of the first proposals to NIH e-submissions. Preparation and submission of the electronic files went very smoothly. We look forward to doing business with NIH this way in the future."
Jack Kamerer, director of Grants and Contracts at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign
On September 1, 2002, RAMS received a Phase I grant from the NIH to help develop an innovative solution for NIH grantees to submit proposals and interact electronically with NIH’s e-Grant effort (NIH Commons). Based on the successful research effort involving local control of professional profiles and the electronic submission of the NIH 398 competitive application via the Web –– using ASP, SQL, XML and SOAP –– RAMS was selected for a Phase II award.
Working with two of its customers -- Children's Mercy Hospital and Oregon Research Institute -- RAMS successfully submitted the competitive 398 grant applications electronically to NIH for their October 1st deadline. With successful completion of Phase I and Phase II of the eRA SBIR award, NIH will certify that the applications and services developed by SBIR companies, like the RAMS ecGrant product, will enable grantee institutions to submit electronic grant applications and communicate with the NIH eRA Commons.
RAMS Customer Testimonials
“Oregon Research Institute was excited about taking part in this NIH electronic submission pilot, and we found the process to be very simple. We're looking forward to the time when electronic submission is the norm.”
Virginia Osteen, grants specialist
“It was the smoothest and easiest electronic submission we've done. After going through this once, I don't want to go back to paper again.”
Bill Caskey, Ph.D., director, Research and Grants Administration, Children’s Mercy Hospital