eRA eSubmission Items of Interest
eRA eSubmission Items of Interest - March 27, 2009
Grants.gov System Downtime This Weekend
Grants.gov has announced that the site will be unavailable Saturday, March 28 through Sunday, March 29 for system upgrades. The system is scheduled to be back online at 11:59 p.m. EDT March 29, 2009.
NIH, the Recovery Act and Grants.gov
We are all very excited about the recent American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) legislation, which provides an unprecedented level of funding ($8.2 billion in extramural funds) to the NIH to help stimulate the US economy through the support and advancement of scientific research.
Some concerns have been noted in the media regarding the ability of Grants.gov and agency systems to handle the additional demand for grant information and volume of grant application submissions related to the ARRA. NIH is working closely with Grants.gov and other Federal agencies/entities to take all possible steps, in the timeframe available, to meet the increased needs of the biomedical research community.
NIH plans to continue to receive applications through Grants.gov, both through the downloadable Adobe forms and via system-to-system solutions. Of course we will continue to carefully monitor the systems for issues and make adjustments as needed.
**Please note: NIH has seen a recent surge in Commons registration requests due to the ARRA. We are asking you to help us spread the word to potential applicants who are not yet registered for Commons. Please advise them to registration as early as possible to ensure their ability to successfully submit.
For additional information on NIH’s ARRA grant opportunities, please visit http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/.
New Adobe Reader Versions Compatible with Grants.gov (versions 8.1.4 & 9.1 )
Grants.gov has announced that Adobe Reader software versions 8.1.4 and 9.1 are now compatible with Grants.gov and available to download for free on the Grants.gov Download Software page. For more information on Adobe Reader, please visit the updated Adobe Reader FAQ section.
Modular Budget Issue Fixed
NIH believes that the Modular budget issue with the application image display on indirect costs is fixed. For background on this problem, please see our previous Item of Interest. If you see this issue with current submissions, please notify the eRA Commons Help Desk immediately.
NIH Policy Reminder: Small Business Grant Application Submission Date
As you may be aware, the next standard submission date for Small Business grant applications is Sunday, April 5, 2009. Per NIH’s standard policy, when submission dates fall on a weekend, we move the deadline to the following business day, Monday, April 6, 2009.
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Individual Fellowship Awards (“Fs”) Transition Date Scheduled for August 2009
The NIH/AHRQ/CDC/FDA transition to electronic submission of applications for Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Fellowship Awards (“F”s) originally scheduled to occur April 8, 2009, will occur on August 8, 2009. The transition was previously postponed due to Grants.gov-related delays. All “F” applications will need to be submitted electronically on August 8, 2009.
Notes: This message was sent to multiple listservs; you may receive it more than once – sorry for any inconvenience. To subscribe/unsubscribe to eRA listservs, please go to our Get Connected page.
You are welcome to send general eRA feedback to askera@mail.nih.gov. However, if you need real-time, production support, please contact the appropriate support desk (Finding Help).
eRA Communications Office
NIH Office of Extramural Research
eRACommunications@mail.nih.gov
