Requesting a New Signing Official Account (If No SOs Available)

Rarely, an organization might find that it has no active signing official. This might happen if an organization has only one signing official and that person becomes unexpectedly unavailable/inactive. For example, if your organization has only one signing official, and that person suddenly leave your organization, you might find your organization has no active signing official.

A signing official is a crucial role for organizations in eRA Commons, because all activities that require legal signing authority, such as applying for awards, submitting documentation, and more, must be done by a signing official (SO). It is strongly recommended that all organizations have at least two SOs at all times. If you find that your organization is without any available/active SO, then the eRA Service Desk can create a new SO account for your organization following a thorough vetting process.

IMPORTANT: If a SO becomes unavailable but your organization still has at least one other active SO, then this topic does NOT apply to your organization. If you have any active SO, that SO can create additional SO accounts using the steps provided in Create or Edit a Commons Account.

About Requesting a New Signing Official Account

To uphold the integrity of registered organizations and their user accounts, the eRA Service Desk conducts an evaluation of SAM.gov registration information when processing signing official account requests. If you need help with SAM.gov, refer to the Federal Service Desk.

To initiate an SO account creation request with the eRA Service Desk, requirements are as follows:

• Your organization's SAM.gov registration status must be active. If your SAM.gov status is not active, you must work with SAM.gov to renew your registration.

• The Electronic Business Point of Contact (eBiz POC) associated with your organization's SAM.gov registration must still be active at your organization. This is the person who must contact the eRA Service Desk to request a new SO account. If that person is no longer associated with your organization, request an update to this record directly through SAM.gov.

• The eBiz POC must still have access to the email address associated to your active SAM.gov registration.

Once the above information is confirmed, the eBiz POC can submit a request for a new SO account to the eRA Service Desk using their registered email address. Once received, the request will be evaluated by the eRA Service Desk.

If the request is granted, the Service Desk will gather necessary information for the new account, such as the person's name, preferred user ID, and contact information. They will let you know the status of your request via email, and the new SO will receive two emails when the account is created; the first email will contain the new Commons ID, and the second email will contain a temporary password. The new SO should immediately log into eRA Commons, whereupon they will be prompted to change their password.

Because it is recommended that registered organizations maintain at least two SO accounts within eRA Commons, the new SO should immediately create another SO account for a second member of your organization.