eRA Items of Interest
eSubmission Items of Interest – February 10, 2010
February 5 R01 Submissions
Hopefully, everyone that had trouble last week submitting through Grants.gov for the February 5 deadline followed the guidance for NIH applicants at http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/app_help.htm.
Don’t forget to:
- Explain your submission issue in the cover letter attached in the PHS Cover Letter form of your application.
- Include your Grants.gov and eRA help desk ticket numbers (or, if you couldn’t get through to the Grants.gov Contact Center to get a ticket number, your email to them will suffice) obtained on the deadline date as proof of your attempt to submit on-time.
- Complete the submission process within the NIH “error correction window” – for the Feb. 5, 2010 deadline you must complete the process by Friday, Feb. 12.
We’ve received some inquiries as to why error-free applications submitted Friday (Feb. 5) have already moved forward to the Division of Receipt and Referral. The two-day application viewing window for applications submitted Friday was Monday and Tuesday. This morning, if no action was taken, those applications moved forward as expected. Although Grants.gov was down Monday and Tuesday, eRA has remained up and available to take any needed action on your applications.
If your institution was closed Monday and Tuesday, due to the storms, and you feel strongly that a Warning identified in your application should be addressed, you can request that your application be withdrawn from the Division of Receipt and Referral. You will need to fax your request to 301.480.1987 (e-mail requests will not be accepted). The request must identify the application by accession number (AN), PD/PI and Application Title, and must be signed by the AOR or SO. Once the application has been withdrawn, you can submit a changed/corrected application to Grants.gov. Changed/Corrected applications must be received by the close of the error-correction window. This process should not be used for trivial changes (e.g., typos) or application “tweaking” – the error correction window is for addressing errors and warnings only.
I Called, but Nobody’s Home
Actually, a lot of us are home – stuck at home due to the weather. Grants.gov and eRA systems are up and processing applications. However, NIH offices, including the eRA Help Desk, are officially closed again today. Although we are closed, we have a skeleton staff monitoring service requests; please understand that we can’t respond immediately to your support inquiries.
Handy reminders:
- When working through eSubmission errors and warnings, reference the opportunity announcement and application guide<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm>. These two documents contain just about everything you need to know to successfully submit.
- Take advantage of on-line resources. The NIH Grants Web site<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm>, the eSubmission Web Site<http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/> and the Enhancing Peer Review Web sites<http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/restructured_applications.html> are tremendous sources of information.
- The eRA Help Desk Web ticketing system (http://itservicedesk.nih.gov/era/) is an efficient way to submit a support request at any time and especially handy when the Help Desk is closed. We will respond to submitted tickets in the order received when our offices reopen.
Notices regarding the recent storms:
- Grant Application Submission due to Blizzard (NOT-OD-10-060<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-060.html>).
- Delays in Grant Application Submission due to Widespread Winter Storm (NOT-OD-10-061<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-061.html>)
Goodbye ADOBE-FORMS-A, We’re Moving On!
The last of NIH’s ADOBE-FORMS-A submissions (R01, R21, and R34 AIDS submissions from applicants eligible for “continuous submission”) needed to be complete by the designated cut-over date of February 7. Since it was a hard cut-over date, not a deadline, no ADOBE-FORMS-A submissions to NIH will be accepted with timestamps after February 7 (the “error correction window” and late submission practices due to system issues do not apply to these submissions.)
Now that Grants.gov is back on-line we will begin systematically shutting down NIH application packages with ADOBE-FORMS-A Competition IDs. That process will take a few weeks given the number of packages that must be individually touched. In the short-term, the Grants.gov system will still allow ADOBE-FORMS-A applications to go through; however, NIH staff will not assign them for funding consideration.
Applications that were not submitted prior to the cut-over will need to be resubmitted with ADOBE-FORMS-B application packages.
One little caveat – eRA services other agencies (AHRQ, CDC, FDA) that may have different cut-over dates. eRA will continue to process ADOBE-FORMS-A applications for those agencies if specified in their announcements.
Thought for the Day…Where does the white go when the snow melts? I hope everyone is staying warm and safe. To those of you in friendlier climates – count your blessings. It’s snowing sideways today in DC.
Take care,
Sheri
Sheri Cummins
Customer Relationship Manager, eSubmission
Electronic Research Administration
NIH Office of Extramural Research
NIH Office of Extramural Research
askera@mail.nih.gov
