What is Grants.gov?
Grants.gov is a portal website that allows organizations to search and apply for federal funding opportunities. It currently handles the grant application submissions for many federal agencies. Eventually, all federal agencies will be required to utilize this portal for their submissions. Many of the larger federal granting agencies, including NIH and NSF, have established timelines for transition to this site.
As an investigator, do I need to register with Grants.gov?
Only the institution needs to register. Additional administrators are registered as authorized organizational representatives (AOR) who are designated as signing officials (SO) by the institution.
As an investigator, do I need to register with eRA Commons?
Yes, if you plan to be a Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Investigator (Co-I) on an NIH proposal you need to register with eRA Commons. Write down your eRA Commons User ID, it is important.
What happens after my NIH proposal is submitted via Grants.gov?
Once a proposal is submitted, the authorized person at your institution who submitted it will receive a series of e-mails verifying the submission, confirming receipt at Grants.gov, and notifying the AOR that the grantor agency has retrieved the proposal from Grants.gov.
What is the difference between errors and warnings in the NIH eRA Commons system?
An error is any condition that causes the application to be deemed unacceptable for further consideration. Errors are significant inaccuracies, inconsistencies, omissions, or formatting identified in the body of the application. A warning is any condition that is acceptable but worth bringing to the applicant’s attention. The applicant must decide whether a warning requires further action.
What are some common errors and how can they be avoided when a proposal is transferred from Grants.gov to the grantor agency website?
The NIH website offers advice on many common errors that occur when a proposal is pulled from the Grants.gov website into NIH eRA Commons. It is important to submit in a timely fashion, the earlier the better, to allow time for correcting any errors.
