NIH begins electronic grant submissions Dec. 1 with SBIR/STTR applications

NIH begins electronic grant submissions Dec. 1 with SBIR/STTR applications

NIH officially launched the transition to electronic grant applications by requiring that all Small Business Research Innovation Program (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) proposals (except AIDS-related grants) be prepared in the new electronic format and submitted via grants.gov for the December 1 and all subsequent deadlines. AIDS-related SBIR and STTR grants must use the grants.gov portal for due dates of Jan. 2, 2006, and later. All electronic proposals will use the new SF 424 application form.

As a result of electronic, NIH expects to eliminate about 200 million pieces of paper a year and vastly reduce the costs of scanning, data entry, data validation, printing, and reproduction. Grants.gov has been designated by the Office of Management and Budget as the single access point for all grant programs offered by 26 federal grant-making agencies. Together the 26 agencies have 900 grant programs with more than $350 billion in annual awards.

In order to submit electronically to NIH, applicants must register with the NIH eRA Commons. This should occur at least two weeks before the proposal due date, as the Principal Investigator must use the eRA Commons account to complete the submission process.

NIH His phasing in electronic submission requirements for virtually all grant mechanisms over 18 months. After SBIR/STTR grants come R13 applications for Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings, with an effective date of Dec. 15, 2005 for non-AIDS applications and Jan. 2, 2006 for AIDS projects. Academic Research Enhancement Awards (R15) have target dates of Feb. 25, 2006 (non-AIDS) and May 1, 2006 (AIDS). Electronic submissions for Small Grant Programs and Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Awards (R03, R21 and R33) will take effect June 1, 2006 (non-AIDS) and Sept. 1, 2006 (AIDS). Electronic submission for the traditional R01 Research Project Grant mechanism will be required beginning Oct. 1, 2006 (non-AIDS) and Jan. 2, 2007 (AIDS). All remaining grant mechanisms will make the transition in May 2007.

NIH has posted extensive information about the new electronic procedures on its website at http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/