It
is a busy time with upcoming NIH deadlines! As you are working away toward the
submission finish line, please take a moment to make sure you are using the
correct application package for each proposal. As noted below and in NOT-OD-13-074,
NIH has transitioned to updated electronic application forms packages—from
FORMS-B to FORMS-C—for most (but not all) programs with due dates on or
after September 25. If you are unsure whether or not you have the right
one, please don’t hesitate to contact your SGCA. We are happy to help.
Instructions
- If presented with more than one forms package, applicants should download and use the most recent set of forms to complete their submission.
- Return to FOAs posted without a forms package or existing FOAs with ADOBE-FORMS-B1 or B2 packages 45-60 days prior to the deadline to obtain the FORMS-C package.
- Verify you have the correct application package by checking the Competition ID for FORMS-C. The Competition ID field can be found when downloading the application package from Grants.gov, in the application header information of the downloaded package or in the ASSIST FOA summary information for multi-project applications.
- Learn more about choosing the correct forms packages at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/files/right_forms.pdf.
- All applicants should carefully read their FOA and the appropriate “C Series” Application Guide for program-specific instructions before completing their application.
NIH eSubmission Items of
Interest - August 21, 2013
Gearing Up for FORMS-C
Are you ready for our move to updated electronic application
forms (FORMS-C)?
We’ve been busy preparing for our transition to updated
application forms for most grant programs (NOT-OD-13-074).
Our FOAs now have FORMS-C application packages and old B1 and B2 packages have
been set to expire.
Here are some updated resources you may want to check out:
·
Updated FAQs
for Application Forms Updates and Choosing the Correct Forms
o
Pay special attention to the FAQs on choosing
the appropriate forms for applications submitted for the September 9 AIDS
deadline and under the continuous submission policy
·
New Application Guides
for Forms Version C in both Word and PDF format
·
Annotated
Form resources for C Series applications
Watch out for the dreaded ‘The Closing Date of the grant
opportunity for which you have applied has already passed and the grantor
agency is no longer accepting applications.’ message from Grants.gov. This
message is sent under multiple conditions. In addition to being sent after an
FOA has closed/expired, Grants.gov also gives this error when the FOA is still
active but the application is submitted using a forms package attached to the
FOA that has closed or not yet open. Basically, if you use B packages too late
or C packages too early, you may get that message.
If you
are submitting to one of the few NIH programs (Fellowship, Career Development,
Training and Small Business) that aren’t moving to FORMS-C yet, use the B
package available with your FOA. Otherwise…please, please, please use B
application packages for due dates before September 25, 2013 and C packages for
due dates on/after September 25, 2013.
ASSIST Has Lots to Say
My dad is a collector of quotes. He keeps long lists of them
and every year at Christmas he presents me with a bundle of purple day planner
pages with my name on the top, a little picture of Tigger in the corner (I’m a
huge Tigger fan), and one of the quotes across the bottom. I am blessed to be
able to face each day with a little ‘hug’ from my dad.
Last Tuesday (the day I gave the ASSIST webinar), this was
the quote I saw…
‘You can promote
and explain a software product, but it eventually speaks for itself.’
Sometimes dad has really freaky timing! After all the
requirements gathering, system building, pilot conducting, feedback gathering
and system tweaking, it’s finally time to let ASSIST speak for itself.
The September 25, 2013 due date for multi-project P01, P20,
P50, U19, P2C and U2C is just around the corner (note P2C and U2C are new
activity codes that will be used as the multi-project equivalent of R24 and
U24). Many of you are likely getting into ASSIST for the first time to prepare
your applications.
Here’s a list of handy ASSIST Links & Resources:
•
ASSIST: public.era.nih.gov/assist
•
Slides and recording of August 13 webinar: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/webinar_docs/webinar_20130813.htm
•
ASSIST Online help: http://era.nih.gov/erahelp/ASSIST/
•
Application Guide: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm
Be sure to check out the new section in the application guide on Multi-project applications.
Be sure to check out the new section in the application guide on Multi-project applications.
•
Applying Electronically Website for
Multi-project Applications: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/index.htm
•
Description of how your multi-project application
image will be assembled: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/files/Electronic_Multi-project_Application_Image_Assembly.pdf
•
Multi-project Application Demonstration
Resources: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/training.htm#multi
Yesterday I asked a pilot applicant what advice she’d pass
along to new ASSIST users. Denise is a wise woman...
·
Don’t get overwhelmed by the data entry for
all the components and forms. Take it one component at a time and treat each
component like a stand-alone single project application.
·
Once all the data entry is complete it takes
time to finalize each component and go through the appropriate steps and
statuses to prepare the application for submission. You can’t wait until the
last minute.
·
Be prepared for an onslaught of emails.
I must admit that we did get a bit carried away with the
email notifications and we know we still need to make some changes in that
area. Yes, sometimes ASSIST has too much to say.
Size Matters
For nearly a decade our application guides have included
specific formatting instructions for documents included with applications.
We’ve been very specific on such things as the font type (Arial, Helvetica,
Palatino Linotype, or Georgia), font size (11 points or larger), type density
(15 characters per inch), line spacing (no more than six lines per inch),
margins (at least one-half inch on top bottom, left and right) and paper size
(standard paper size of 8.5 x 11 inches).
If you forgot (or never knew) that last bit about paper size
and you submitted an application after July 18, then our systems may have
reminded you with the following error message:
Filename <filename> cannot
be larger than U.S. standard Letter paper size of 8.5 x 11 inches. Please see
our PDF guidelines at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/pdf_guidelines.htm
for additional information. (0.1.7)
We set formatting requirements for a number of reasons.
Perhaps the most important one being our strict page limits for Introduction,
Specific Aims, Research Strategy and other documents.
Before July we did not systematically enforce the 8.5 x 11
inch paper size. In some cases, our systems even resized documents to the
appropriate size for you. Consequently, we had cases where applications got
through our systems that were returned post-submission because of incorrect
page size or because, after system resizing, the font was no longer in the
acceptable range. Applicants were upset because our validations did not catch
the issues up front and provide the opportunity to make corrections before the
deadline. So, we implemented the systematic enforcement of 8.5 x 11 paper size.
What we didn’t realize was just how many documents we
receive that are larger (often very slightly) than 8.5 x 11 inches. The most
common offenders – Letters of Support, Cover Letters, Appendices and other
places where scanning or concatenating from a variety of sources is common. You
all apparently do a good job at self-policing paper size for the documents with
page limits (kudos to you).
So, here’s what we are going to do…we will continue to
systematically enforce paper size. However, we will not throw an error until
the file is well out of range (bigger than 9 x 12 or 12 x 9 inches). NIH staff
will continue to strictly enforce 8.5 x 11 inches for the attachments with page
limits. We are phasing out the resizing of documents. If you submit an attachment
that is bigger than 8.5 x 11 inches and the assembled image doesn’t look quite
right (e.g., text falls of the page or our footers overwrite some of your text)
we will not consider it a system issue and will not allow corrections after the
deadline. As always, we highly recommend submitting early and carefully
checking your application image in eRA Commons before the
deadline when corrections are still possible.
We plan to have the validation change in place by the end of
this week (August 23, 2013) for applications that use FORMS-B application
packages and by the end of next week (August 30, 2013) for applications that
use FORMS-C application packages. We have taken steps through timing and
monitoring to ensure that all applications for the same opportunity/due date
have equal systematic enforcement of business rules.
We have not changed our policy. We still expect a paper size
of 8.5 x 11 inches or 11 x 8.5 inches for all attachments (yes, landscape
is OK as long as you keep it to 11 x 8.5). We just want to acknowledge that
size matters, but it matters more for some documents than others. We think this
is a compromise we can all move forward with.