Frequently Asked Questions
Prepare to Apply
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Registration in Grants.gov
- What do I need to do before I can submit an application through
Grants.gov?
Grants.gov and eRA Commons registrations are required prior to application submission. Grants.gov registration provides the ability to submit applications electronically. eRA Commons registration allows NIH to receive applications electronically from Grants.gov and validate them against agency-specific business rules. It also provides a way for NIH and registered users to communicate electronically after submission. Assignment, review outcome and summary statement information is available through the eRA Commons.
- Does a Principal Investigator have to register in Grants.gov and
eRA Commons?
A Principal Investigator does NOT need to register in Grants.gov but MUST be registered in the eRA Commons prior to electronic submission of a grant application. The Principal Investigator (PI) registers in Commons through the organization’s Authorized Organizational Representative (also known as the Signing Official).
- When should applicant organizations begin the registration process?
To avoid any potential processing backlogs due to last minute registrations, applicants are highly encouraged to start the registration process at least four weeks prior to the grant submission date. New businesses [i.e. those applying to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to complete the CCR registration] should start the process at least two months (eight weeks) prior to the grant submission date. If an applicant has started the eRA Commons registration process at least two weeks in advance of the submission date, NIH will consider it a “good faith” effort to prepare for electronic submission and the applicant will not be penalized for any NIH-caused registration processing delay. The applicant will, however, need to follow the established procedures for late submissions documented in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06-086.html and describe the reason for the late application in the PHS 398 Cover Letter component of the application package.
Please note that Institutions/organizations must be registered with Grants.gov, as well. NIH will not make any allowances for submission delays due to incomplete Grants.gov registration.
Also see FAQs on Submission Deadline.
- What is involved in the Grants.gov registration process?
Applicant Organizations need to complete a one-time only registration process for Grants.gov that includes obtaining a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, registering in Central Contractor Registry (CCR) and registering in Grants.gov. Detailed steps for Grants.gov registration for both domestic and foreign organizations can be found at http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/preparing_grantsgov_reg.htm . In addition, registration information can be found at the Grants.gov Get Registered webpage: http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp. Also see Flow Chart of Grants.gov Registration Process (PDF - 25 KB)
Please note that this is a one-time only registration for all Federal agencies using Grants.gov. So if your organization has already completed the Grants.gov registration process to submit electronically for another Federal agency, a separate Grant.gov registration is not necessary for NIH submissions.
- Part of the Grants.gov process is registering in the Central Contractor
Registry (CCR). What is the CCR and how will an applicant organization know
if they have already registered or have successfully registered in the CCR?
Grants.gov requires that applicant organizations obtain a DUNS number and register with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). CCR is a government-wide registry for vendors doing business with the Federal government. Grants.gov uses CCR to establish roles and IDs for those electronically applying for grants. In the future, the government anticipates requiring all grant applicants to use CCR whether applying for grants electronically or otherwise. To register in CCR, one needs a DUNS number. CCR registration is renewable annually. If your CCR has expired, you will not be allowed to submit grant applications via Grants.gov!
To register in CCR:
- Go to the CCR home page at www.ccr.gov
- Click on "Start New Registration"
- Choose from one of the following options:
- I am not a U.S. Federal Government entity.*
- I am a U.S. Federal Government entity, required by my trading partner to be registered in CCR (e.g. CAGE code).
- I am a U.S. Federal Government entity registering for intra-governmental transactions. Provide a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number to begin registration process. Complete and submit the online registration. - Provide a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number to begin registration process.
- Complete and submit the online registration.
- How will an applicant organization know if they are already registered
or have successfully registered in Grants.gov?
The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) of the organization should know if the organization has already completed the one-time only Grants.gov registration process. For more information on Grants.gov registration, see the Grants.gov Get Registered webpage: http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp
- My organization already has a DUNS number. Do we need to establish
a different one for Grants.gov submissions?
Your organization will need to determine if the already established DUNS number is being used for grant applications. Keep in mind that applications to the NIH have required a DUNS number since October 1, 2003. So most applicant organizations have already fulfilled this registration step.
- Grants.gov requires a DUNS and CCR Registration. I'm also
a reviewer for NIH so now I'm required to have an individual DUNS & CCR
registration as well. Will I use my individual DUNS on applications
and my individual CCR registration?
No. When submitting applications through Grants.gov, the DUNS number of the applicant organization and the CCR registration of the Authorized Organizational Official of the applicant organization must be used. The DUNS number used during CCR registration must also match the DUNS number in the organization's profile (Institutional Profile File) in eRA Commons.
- I seem to be receiving a lot of unnecessary email solicitations
and spam after I registered at the Central Contract Registration (CCR) and
obtained a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number for my organization
as part of the Grants.gov registration process. How can I prevent this spam?
If you do not want your name or company name included on this marketing list, D&B has asked that you contact them anytime at 1-866-705-5711 to request removal from that list. The D&B website states, “Any person included in the D&B database may ask to be excluded from business lists licensed for marketing purposes. For more information, contact D&B Customer Service.” To view full-length D&B policies, visit http://www.dnb.com/US/home/privacy_policy/index.html.
Registration in Commons
- What is involved in the NIH eRA Commons registration process?
Applicant organizations submitting grants to NIH must complete a one-time, two-step registration in the NIH eRA Commons. For detailed steps, click on Detailed steps for Commons registration (PDF - 36 KB).
- Commons Registration for the Organization: To find out if an organization
is already Commons-registered, check this query 'List
of Commons Registered Organizations.'. For organizations that need
to register, go to the 'Grantee
Organization Registration' link on the eRA
Commons Homepage.
- Commons Registration for the Principal Investigator (PI): The individual
designated as the PI on the application must also be registered in
the Commons. The PI must hold a PI account and be affiliated with the
applicant organization. This registration must be done by an organization
official or their delegate who is already registered in the Commons.
To register PIs in the Commons, refer to the eRA Commons User Guide
found at: http://era.nih.gov/commons/index.cfm.
- When a Signing Official, Administrative Officer or Account Administrator
creates an account for a PI, the PI is sent an email to that effect
telling him or her to go to the Commons to verify their profile information.
- Who needs to be registered in the eRA Commons--just the Grantee
Institution, the Principal Investigator (PI), or all Senior/Key Persons?
The applicant organization, Signing Official (SO) and the PI must be registered in the NIH eRA Commons.
- Do the PI and
SO require separate accounts in Commons (even if the PI and SO are the
same person)?
Yes, both the PI and SO need separate accounts in Commons. Only an SO has the ability to 'reject' an application in Commons to address warnings or if the assembled application does not reflect the submitted application package due to eRA Commons or NIH system issues. If an SO is given a PI role, it overrides the SO’s privileges such as the ability to reject the application, submit eSNAPs or Just-In-Time information and request No Cost Extensions. Therefore, if you are the SO for your organization as well as a PI of the grant, you will need two separate accounts with different user names — one with SO authority and one with PI authority. When an institution is registered, an SO account is created. Log on to the account with the SO authority role and create another account with PI authority.
- I have an Internet Assisted Review (IAR) account. Will this
satisfy the requirement for an eRA Commons account?
The Principal Investigator must have a PI role on the eRA Commons account in addition to the Internet Assisted Review (IAR) role. The PI should work with the Signing Official to verify that the PI has a PI role. For PIs who are selected for an Internet Assisted Review role, an IAR authority is automatically added to their account once a Scientific Review Administrator enables them for a meeting. All other reviewers who have never served as PIs only have IAR authority.
- Does a PI who moves to another institution have to register
again in Commons?
No. The second institution should affiliate the PI's Commons account with their institution. A PI's Commons account follows the PI throughout the PI's career. The steps to affiliate a PD/PI to the applicant organization/institution are: - For consortium or subawards, do the sub-awardees need to be registered with eRA Commons and Grants.gov?
Sub-awardees are not required to register. However, we do encourage them to be proactive and register to be ready to serve as primary awardees in the future.
a. PD/PI gives Commons user ID and email address to the administrator of the applicant institution. (The email address must be the one that is contained in the Personal Profile for the PI.)
b. Administrator logs into the Commons. (The administrator can be the Signing Official, Administrative Official, or the Accounts Administrator.)
c. Administrator selects "Administration" tab and then "Accounts" tab.
d. Administrator selects "Create Affiliation" tab.
e. Administrator enters the Commons User ID and Email address into the appropriate fields and clicks "Submit."
Hardware
- What are the minimum hardware requirements for submitting grants
electronically to NIH?
Grants.gov, not NIH, specifies the hardware requirements since all electronic grant applications are submitted to Grants.gov and then retrieved by NIH. In order to access, complete and submit grant applications, applicants must download a Grants.gov compatible version of Adobe Reader software. Hardware requirements may vary depending on which compatible version of Adobe reader you choose and your computer’s operating system. Visit Adobe’s system requirements page to determine your specific hardware requirements for electronic submission to NIH through Grants.gov.
Software
- What software do I need to have loaded before I can begin using
Grants.gov?
In order to access, complete and submit grant applications, applicants must download a Grants.gov compatible version of Adobe Reader software. Users can identify and download Grants.gov compatible versions of Adobe Reader by visiting the Download Software page on the Grants.gov Web site.
NIH requires all text attachments to be submitted as PDF files, so NIH applicants will also need a program to create PDFs. On the Grants.gov Download Software webpage users will find a variety of PDF Conversion Tools that can be downloaded used to create the required PDFs.
Policy
- Can an applicant file using an SF424 (R&R) for a mechanism
that has not yet officially transitioned (i.e., start using SF424 (R&R)
now and stop using the PHS 398 entirely)?
Applicants cannot submit applications through Grants.gov on the SF424 (R&R) for mechanisms that have not yet transitioned. NIH systems will not be ready to accept them.