eRA eSubmission Items of Interest
More NIH eRA eSubmission Items of Interest on Competitive Revisions - April 21, 2009
eSubmission Errors Encountered with Competitive Revisions
Listserv messages are flying, phones are ringing, tensions are high and deadlines are upon us. Everyone wants to know, how to get his or her application past the eSubmission errors that are triggering.
NIH has received many electronic competitive revision applications in the past – many standard, uncomplicated revisions. The revisions submitted in response to the Recovery Act announcements are far from business as usual. We tried to anticipate and address as many eSubmission “gotchas” that applicants might run into given the special business rules in place for these opportunities and we caught most, but not all, of them.
The following table summarizes known conditions that have triggered eSubmission errors although allowed for these revisions, the error triggered and action plan:
| Error | Allowable Condition & Notes | Action Plan |
|---|---|---|
| “R03, R15, R21, R34 and U34 applications submitted by domestic institutions must use the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form and not the SF 424 R&R Budget Form.” | The typical cost limits for these programs are not being enforced for these revisions. Although other errors were downgraded to warnings to allow detailed budget forms when over $250K in a budget year, this one was missed. | NIH temporarily changed this error to a warning. Applicants should resubmit their applications within the two-business day error correction window. |
| “The parent grant for a revision must be awarded. The parent grant for this submission is not a funded grant.” | The eRA system is not correctly handling the case when an NCE is completed and the proposed revision end date is within the extended period. | These applications require help desk intervention to complete the submission process. Applicants should address all other identified errors and warnings. Applicants will be placed on a systems issue list and the help desk will work with each applicant to complete the submission. Applicants that have reported this issue and are waiting for assistance will not be penalized for missing submission deadline. |
| “The parent grant that has been entered is not associated with this PI.” | The eRA system is not correctly handling the case when the PD/PI was changed during a non-competing budget period. | These applications require help desk intervention to complete the submission process. Applicants should address all other identified errors and warnings. Applicants will be placed on a systems issue list and the help desk will work with each applicant to complete the submission. Applicants that have reported this issue and are waiting for assistance will not be penalized for missing submission deadline. |
| “This application is a duplicate of a previous submission for the same council round. Please submit again using the ‘Changed/Corrected Application’ Type of Submission on the SF 424 RR cover page.” | The cause is the Type 2 (renewal) has been submitted but has not yet been reviewed, the system sees the revision as a duplicate of the renewal. | These applications require help desk intervention to complete the submission process. Applicants should address all other identified errors and warnings. Applicants will be placed on a systems issue list and the help desk will work with each applicant to complete the submission. Applicants that have reported this issue and are waiting for assistance will not be penalized for missing submission deadline. |
In establishing workarounds that allow these special revisions to be submitted, we have also opened the door for non-compliant applications to pass through the system. Be aware, that some applications will pass system validations and be refused by living, breathing NIH staff later in the process.
Each problem reported, must be considered on its own. It is a time-consuming and tedious process. Please be patient as our support team works through the support ticket queue. In the majority of cases, we are still finding that the system-identified errors are triggering correctly. Most common legitimate errors remain:
- Your very recent No Cost Extension (NCE) is not yet approved by NIH Grants Management staff and the project dates of the revision depend on the NCE being in place
- The project dates of the revision fall outside of the project period of the parent grant (no NCE in the mix)
If your application has one of these conditions, it must be reworked to meet the criteria for the revisions.
We are all working fast and furious. Thanks for your patience.
Sheri Cummins & Scarlett Gibb
Customer Relationship Managers
eSubmisssion and eRA Commons
NIH Office of Extramural Research
askera@mail.nih.gov
