Submitting Your Application

Required: Electronic Grant Application Submission

Timing of Your Submission

Allow enough time to prepare and submit your application. SAMHSA recommends that you submit your electronic application 24 to 48 hours before the application due date. If any technical problems occur, this extra time should allow you to resolve them and re-submit your application by the due date.

Grants.gov will reject applications submitted after 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on the due date.

Required File Formats and Attachments

To find out what files you must include in your application, refer to the "Application and Submission" section in the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Part I, and the "How to Apply" section in the FOA Part II. The FOA will also provide instructions on how to format each attachment.

What to Expect After You Submit

After Grants.gov receives your submission, you will receive email messages about your application’s progress. You should receive three separate emails (as detailed in Submitting an Application on Grants.gov):

1. The first email is for submission receipt only. It confirms receipt of your application by the Grants.gov system and provides you with a tracking number and “Track My Application” link. This message does not mean the application has been accepted.
2. The second email notifies you that your application either has been validated successfully by the Grants.gov system (prior to transmission to the grantor agency) or has been rejected due to errors. This notice is critical. New applicants receive the first email and often mistakenly assume that the submission of their application to SAMHSA was complete.

   Note: Applications successfully submitted through Grants.gov will proceed to the NIH’s eRA system and undergo a series of validations to ensure all required information is included and in the appropriate format. Once your application is successfully validated by the NIH eRA system, it will be forwarded to SAMHSA as the receiving institution for further review.
    

3. The third email notifies you that SAMHSA has received your submission from Grants.gov. This email may arrive within a few hours or up to several days after the second email.

Troubleshooting Your Application Submission

Monitor your application to make sure it is successfully received and validated by both Grants.gov and NIH's eRA system. If it is not, Grants.gov and NIH's eRA system will not forward it to SAMHSA.

If you experience problems with the electronic submission of your application through Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov help desk by:

• Email: support@grants.gov
• Phone: 1-800-518-4726 (1-800-518-GRANTS)

Troubleshooting Application Packages provides additional tips.

If you do not receive a Grants.gov tracking number after your submission, you should contact the Grants.gov help desk immediately.

Technical problems with Grants.gov may prevent the successful submission of an application. In this case, get a case/ticket/reference number that documents the issues with Grants.gov. If technical problems with Grants.gov prevent a successful online submission, this reference number is the only documentation that SAMHSA will accept for special consideration to allow a paper submission. SAMHSA does not give special consideration for errors made by the applicant.

Additional support is also available from the NIH eRA Service desk:

• Submit a Web Ticket: http://grants.nih.gov/support/index.html
• Phone: 301-402-7469 or (toll-free) 1-866-504-9552. The NIH eRA Service desk is available Monday - Friday, 7 a.m., to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding federal holidays

Registration Checklist for New Grant Applicants

SAMHSA strongly encourages any organization intending to apply for a SAMHSA grant to follow Grants.gov’s Organization Registration Checklist (PDF | 104 KB). This checklist provides registration guidance for a company, institution, state, local or tribal government, or other type of organization submitting for the first time through Grants.gov.

Waiver of Electronic Submission

SAMHSA will not accept paper applications except under very special circumstances. If you need special consideration, SAMHSA must approve the waiver of this requirement in advance.

If you do not have the technology to apply online, or your physical location has a poor Internet connection, you may request a waiver of electronic submission. You must send a written request at least 15 calendar days before the application's due date.

Direct any questions to the Division of Grant Review at 240-276-1199.