Grant Application, Electronic

Purpose

To enable applicants to apply for NIH grants that have undergone the transition to electronic application.

Procedure

If a grant type has switched to electronic application, applicants must complete the grant application package for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Find transition dates in the NIH Planned Transition Dates Timeline.

FOAs are listed in Grants.gov and the NIH Guide; NIAID's FOAs are also on the NIAID Funding Opportunities List.

Each grant opportunity has its own FOA that includes a grant application package with forms and instructions. For some grant types, NIH issues a parent PA that enables applicants to apply electronically for that grant mechanism. For example, the NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21) Announcement lets investigators submit an R21 application in any scientific topic they wish to participating ICs.

Although a parent PA may exist, institutes may issue their own FOAs for the same mechanism, e.g., the R21. Institute-specific program announcements enable institutes to solicit applications in a defined scientific area. The best way to find out which NIAID FOA to use is to go to the NIAID Funding Opportunities List.

Before an organization can submit an electronic application, it must register with Grants.gov and the eRA Commons. Typically, PIs must register only in the Commons. A PI registers in Grants.gov only if he or she is also an authorized organizational representative (AOR). See Plan Ahead for Electronic Application in the New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding for more information.

Find additional information on electronic applications through the Application portal and the Applying for a Grant questions and answers.

Principal Investigators

• Download the grant application package for your FOA. See that package's SF 424 Application Guide that describes how to fill in the component forms of the grant application package. Read more in the Funding Opportunity Announcements questions and answers.
• Sign up to receive an email notice whenever a grant application package is updated to a new version. Always use the latest version for your application.
• Pay attention to formatting requirements. NIH will not accept applications that are formatted incorrectly.
• Follow the special instructions for items such as human subjects, research animals, recombinant DNA, and other sensitive areas.
  • NIAID has additional requirements for clinical applications and select agents defined in our Clinical Terms of Award and Select Agent Terms of Award for NIAID Grants. If you're proposing clinical trials, see NIAID's Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trial Resources for instructions.
  • For advice on doing research that has extra requirements, read Will Your Application Involve Policy Areas With Special Requirements? in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
• Work with staff in your business office to sign a principal investigator signature assurance for each application.
• Send a completed Grants Application Package to your AOR.
• If an application does not pass Grants.gov and Commons validation, work with your AOR to correct and resubmit it to Grants.gov. See Passing Validations in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
• After the Commons validates an application, log in to the Commons and check your application image. See View Your Application Image in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
• If you see problems, work with your signing official to reject the application before midnight EST two business days after your application passes validations. Produce a corrected version that your AOR must submit to Grants.gov before your FOA's deadline. See NIH's Submitting Changed/Corrected Applications for more instructions.

Authorized Organizational Representatives

• Submit a Grants Application Package to Grants.gov with enough time before the deadline listed in your FOA to address any issues that may delay processing. See Submitting and Validating Your Electronic Application questions and answers and Passing Validations in the Strategy for NIH Funding for details.
• If an application does not pass Grants.gov or Commons validation, work with your PI to correct and resubmit it to Grants.gov. See NIH's Submitting Changed/Corrected Applications for more instructions.
• If your PI wishes to resubmit an application that has already passed Commons validation, submit a corrected Grant Application Package to Grants.gov before your FOA's deadline.

eRA Commons Signing Official

• After the Commons validates an application, log in to the Commons and check your application image before midnight EST two business days after your application passes validations.
• If you see problems, see View Your Application Image in the Strategy for NIH Funding and Submitting and Validating Your Electronic Application questions and answers for details.

Contacts

Kenneth Santora, Division of Extramural Activities

If you have knowledge to share or want more information on this topic, email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.

Links

Electronic Submission of Grant Applications Web site from NIH

Avoiding Common Errors

SF 424 Application and Electronic Submission Information

Animals in Research SOPs

Foreign and International Grants and Components SOP

Grant Application, Paper SOP

Human Subjects SOPs

Just-in-Time SOP

Modular Grants SOP

NIH Modular Research Grant Applications

Select Agent Awards SOP

Sharing Model Organisms SOP