NIH CRISP Update

NIH & Adobe Forms

NIH will hold off transitioning to Adobe forms for Grants.gov submissions until the end of this calendar year (2008). 

See full story for the text of the annoucement and other items of interest.

eSNAP Tip from the eRA Commons Help Desk

Around the middle of each month the eRA Commons Help Desk gets an increase of eSNAP calls&.more calls around deadlines -- not a huge surprise. The most common eSNAP inquiry this month is related to a recently identified software issue where the error message "One of the fields under the months devoted should be more than 0" is triggering inappropriately. Even if numbers greater than zero in the calendar fields are shown in the Edit Business -> Key Personnel screen, under some conditions our system is not recognizing the values and triggers the inappropriate error message. This seems to be especially prevalent when all effort is recorded as "Calendar" months.

We will be addressing this software issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Help Desk has asked us to pass this tip along. We have found that changing the months of the first person (the PI) to 'Academic', clicking 'Save & New' and then changing the months back to calendar (as originally entered) forces the system to recognize the values and the error goes away.

Grants.gov Update

Website Enhancements

Grants.gov has launched website enhancements to help visitors navigate the website more efficiently to find and apply for grants with better success. Visit the Site Features and Enhancements page to review a brief summary of the enhancements.

Important Software Version Announcement: Adobe Reader 8.1.1 Required

To apply for Adobe Reader applications on Grants.gov, it is now required to download Adobe Reader version 8.1.1. Adobe Reader 8.1.1 is available to download for free on the Grants.gov website. For more information on Adobe Reader please visit the Help section.

Please note, not all applications are provided in Adobe Reader, so it is recommended to also have the PureEdge Viewer installed. 

Grants.gov has become aware of a corruption issue when Adobe Reader application packages are saved in different versions of Adobe Reader. To address this issue Grants.gov is executing the following: 

1. Immediate action to modify coversheets for all Adobe Reader forms to include a message that warns users against using any Adobe Reader version other than Adobe Reader 8.1.1.

2. Continuing efforts to develop code to include in Adobe Reader cover pages to detect the version of the Adobe Reader software seeking to open the form.

3. Code development efforts anticipate completion of a prototype solution and completion of prototype testing by Friday, January 25, 2008. Presuming a successful prototype, production code would be completed and clear internal testing.

NIH Announces New Salary Cap

Use of PubMed now Mandatory by NIH

NIH now requires all investigators funded by the NIH to submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. See link below to NOT-OD-08-033 for full details.

New Version of NIH Forms Released

The newly revised 'Application for a DHHS Public Health Service Grant' (PHS 398, rev. 11/07) instructions and forms are now available and will be accepted for due dates on or after January 25, 2008. All applications received for May 25, 2008 and subsequent due dates must use the new instructions and forms. In addition new versions of PHS 2590, PHS 2271, PHS 3734 and PHS 568 are now available.

Please see link below for full details on PHS 398.

Error Correction Window for NIH Electronic Grant Applications being Reduced to Two Business Days

NIH will reduce the "error correction window" (i.e. the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH system identified errors/warnings) from five (5) business days to two (2) business days for all electronically submitted grant applications with submission deadlines on or after January 8, 2008.

This change will mean that electronic applications will be considered "on-time" if all of the following criteria are met:

·         All required registrations must be complete prior to the initial submission.

·         Initial successful submission to Grants.gov must have a timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date.

·         Applicants must correct errors and/or warnings within the two business days following the receipt date (referred to as the "error correction window").

·         All application corrections must be in response to a system-identified error/warning (application submissions with additional changes may be refused).

·         If final submission is sent after the receipt date, a cover letter attachment must be included identifying the system-identified errors/warnings that have been corrected.

The two business days provided to view the assembled application image in eRA Commons will remain unchanged.

For additional details see full text of NIH notice NOT-OD-08-018 available via the link below.

VP for Research Presents FY07 Award Activity to UC Board of Trustees

Data for fiscal year 2007 was presented to the UC Board of Trustees at their November 27, 2007 meeting by Sandra Degen, PhD, vice president for research.

More detailed information on UC's fiscal year 2007 activity is available in the 2007 Sponsored Awards Report. You may access the funding report and investigator detail below. The SRS Sponsored Awards Report will no longer be published in a paper format, but will be available on our web site for download.

Non-Competing Grant Awards Under the Current Continuing Resolution

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to operate on a continuing resolution (CR) that currently extends through November 16, 2007. The CR applies the terms of the FY 2007 appropriations for the period covered by the CR. Until the final FY 2008 appropriation is enacted, NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 80% of the previously committed level). This is consistent with their practice during the CRs of FY 2006 & 2007. NIH will consider upward adjustments to these levels after the final appropriation is enacted, but expects institutions to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period.

Cost Sharing Reinstituted for MRI Program and Revision of GPG announced by NSF

National Science Foundation has issued a notice that Federal legislation directs them to require cost-sharing in the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program of at least 30%. See link below for additional information.

NSF has published a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 08-1, which will be effective for proposals received on or after January 5, 2008.   It should be noted that revisions were made only to the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG); all other parts of the PAPPG, such as the Award & Administration Guide, remain unchanged. 

The significant changes made to the GPG include:

• Revision of the intellectual merit review criterion to specifically include language on potentially transformative research and 
• Updated guidance on the designated fonts that may be used when preparing an NSF proposal.

PHS Research and Related Forms Still Authorized for Use

The Research and Research Training Grant Applications and Related Forms (PHS-398,PHS-2590,PHS-2271, PHS-3734, and HHS-568) due to expire 9/2007 remain authorized until further notice. The revised versions have been submitted to OMB for review and approval. Once OMB approval is received, the new forms will become available for use and will be accessible on the NIH web site. There will be a transition period when both the new or old forms will be accepted. Further guidance will be provided at that time.

NSF Changes Intellectual Merit Criterion

Important Notice 130 details NSF's implementation of the National Science Board's motion to enhance support of transformative research at the Foundation.  In addition, the notice highlights the change to the Intellectual Merit Review Criterion to specifically include review of the extent to which a proposal also suggests and explores potentially transformative concepts. 

Effective October 1, 2007, the Grant Proposal Guide and new funding opportunities issued after this date will incorporate the change to the Intellectual Merit Criterion.  Proposals received after January 5th, 2008, will be subject to the revised merit review criterion.

OBR Action Fund Due Date

It is currently taking a little longer to receive approval for Action Fund commitments. Hence, it is important that you submit your Action Fund requests a minimum of 10 days prior to the date the proposal is due at the agency where the proposal is being sent. This time frame is the one delineated in the Action Fund Policies document that has been in effect and posted on OBR's web site since April 2004. To review the OBR submission guidelines please access the full article link below. The full Action Fund policy is available on the OBR website at the link provided below.

NIH eSubmission Updates

Updating Announcement Expiration Dates - Expect Flurry of Grants.gov Emails

NIH has posted an announcement to the NIH Guide about their plans to adjust the expiration date for over 400 Funding Opportunity Announcements (see NOT-OD-07-093 for full details).

Updates to eRA Commons and eRA eXchange

Grants.gov Extends Transition Time for Agencies

Although originally targeting the end of FY2007 to have all agencies transitioned to the new Adobe-based forms, Grants.gov has extended the time provided to agencies to fully transition to the new format into 2008. This is great news for both agencies and applicants. The additional time allows Grants.gov to complete their development and testing of the new forms and provides agencies with greater flexibility in how they approach the transition. NIH's transition to the Adobe forms remains on hold while they wait for Grants.gov to finalize the SF424 (R&R) form set. Thye do not expect to be positioned to post new application packages with the Adobe-based forms this summer.

New NSF Guidelines

Proposal Processing

New Training Resources Posted

New automated tutorials are now available on the Training page of the Electronic Submission Web site. Watch at your own pace and receive step-by-step instructions. A sample of topics includes Finding Grant Opportunities and downloading applications, Check E-Application Status - SO (Signing Official), and Check E-Application Status - PI (Principal Investigator) . 

NIH Modular Budget Application Process

Processing FastLane Submissions

If the science portion of your proposal is not complete do not give SRS submit access.  SRS will not be responsible for incomplete applications submitted to NSF because the science was not in its final form. 

Response to Comments on the New Internal Deadline

Not surprisingly, I received many comments and suggestions about the policy regarding the new internal deadline for submission of applications to Sponsored Research Services (SRS) five working days before the deadline. 

First and foremost, I want you to realize that I am very well aware of how each of us responds to deadlines, having been there myself.  But this internal deadline was put in place (after much consideration and discussion with the Research Officers) in order to protect the applicant.  The next round of NIH submissions will occur in the beginning of February with the requirement that all NIH grants will now be submitted electronically.  This means that on February 5, 2007 all NIH R01 grants will be due electronically.  The NIH expects about 30,000 grants to be submitted, and UC expects to submit approximately 200 proposals within two weeks of this deadline.  Most of these proposals will be submitted via Grants.gov.  It is unimaginable how Grants.gov (the federal site for electronic proposal submissions) will be able to handle this enormous response.  We do know that Grants.gov can take up to 48 hours to communicate an error in a rejected application.  Assuming the corrected application is resubmitted it may take another 48 hours to clear the proposal and receive confirmation the proposal was accepted.  Therefore, a 5 day deadline is absolutely needed.  And more importantly, this deadline will hopefully protect our investigators and ensure grants are submitted to meet the sponsor's deadline. 

And for those non-NIH grant applicants, we know that the NSF and other federal agencies are migrating to Grants.gov over the next year for all proposal submissions.  So FastLane and other existing systems will no longer be "time-stamping" proposal submissions to validate receipt.   Grants.gov will be the validation point.

New Internal Proposal Deadlines

NIH Institutes Will Be Conservative during FY07 Continuing Resolution

NIH Nexus Highlights E-Submission for Feb. 5

Multiple PIs Now Allowed on NIH Individual Research Awards

Reduced Non-Competing Grant Awards Under the Current Continuing Resolution

The Department of Health and Human Services continues to operate on a continuing resolution that currently extends through November 17, 2006. NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 80% of the previously committed level). NIH will consider upward adjustments to these levels after the final FY 07 appropriation is enacted.

Registering Research Fellows in the eRA Commons

Revised NRSA Instructions Issued

The instructions in the PHS416-1 have been revised and are required to be used immediately in all application submissions regardless of submission date.

Change in Standard NIH Application Deadlines

The Notice (link below) is to inform the research community of a change in standard receipt dates for grant applications submitted to NIH, AHRQ and NIOSH. The new receipt dates will be effective as of January 2007 and will apply to both paper and electronic applications.

Guidance Provided for Consulting and Entrepreneurial Activities Involving UC Intellectual Property

New NRSA Tuition Policy Announced

Streamlined Review Process Announced for NRSA Applications (F32)

NIH eSubmission Items of Interest

The May 4^th notice in the NIH Guide indicated that there were a number of active R03, R21, R21/R33, R33 and R34 FOAs that had not yet been updated to reflect the new electronic submission process. The notice immediately expired any R03, R21, R21/R33 and R34 announcement (or portions of announcement) that still referenced paper submission for these mechanisms. Applicants were encouraged to use parent FOAs (referencing the expired FOA in the cover letter) or to contact the NIH Institute or Center (IC) that issued the specific expired FOA for guidance. See NOT-OD-06-068 for details.

For additonal NIH eSubmission information see full text of this article.

Multiple PI Implementation Update

New NIH Listserve Focused on eApplications

The Office of Extramural Research has established a listserv electronic mailing list to provide periodic updates on its electronic grant application program to scientists and administrators in the biomedical research community. Persons interested in receiving these updates are encouraged to subscribe to the appropriate listserv. See NIH site for additional information.

NSF Eliminates Pay Cap on Consultant Costs

New Policy: Demonstrating Knowledge of Human Research Protection by Researchers

New Procedure for Issuance of Subawards

SRS is streamlining the process for the creation, approval and execution of sub-award agreements authorized under federal assistance agreements (grants or cooperative agreements). To facilitate the payment for these types of subawards, Purchasing will no longer require an A910 as part of the documentation for the purchase order. Please review the draft policy and associated forms. If you would like to comment on the procedural change, please send your comments to Diane Sparks at diane.sparks@uc.edu.

Offices of Sponsored Programs Name Change

 In conjunction with the University of Cincinnati's new and comprehensive academic master plan, the Office of Research created a more streamlined administrative structure to effectively meet the academic and research goals associated with UC|21 as announced in the UC-Triple-D letter dated January, 2005.  The merger of the two Offices of Sponsored Programs (OSP) was one initiative designed to better serve the entire university research enterprise.  This office provides administrative services to faculty seeking external support for scholarly activities.

 To "establish a sense of place" and better describe the office's functions, staff recommended a name change.  I am pleased to announce the new name for the office:  Sponsored Research Services (SRS).