Organizations interested in creating System-to-System (S2S) solutions to submit grant applications to NIH should first work with Grants.gov to establish S2S connectivity with the Grants.gov system. The Grants.gov website provides the basic information required to get started. When setting up an account in Grants.gov’s test environment S2S Trading Partners should request that Grants.gov set them up under the DUNS number they will use in NIH’s test eRA Commons. Otherwise, Grants.gov will provide an all-zero DUNS. Once the S2S solution is tested with Grants.gov you will want to do further testing with NIH to ensure the solution can successfully submit applications that pass the NIH validations process.

• NIH’s test environment (https://commons.uat.era.nih.gov/commons) accepts test applications through Grants.gov’s Acceptance Test Web environment (http://at07web.grants.gov/).
• You will need to set up a test and production environment at your end.
• To access the NIH test environment [also called External-User Acceptance Test (Ext-UAT) environment], you will need a Commons account:
• If you are the owner of a production Commons account that you would like activated in NIH Ext-UAT, please email B2BSupport@mail.nih.gov
• Requests to activate accounts in NIH Ext-UAT that you do not own will require an email from the account Signing Official (SO) to B2BSupport@mail.nih.gov for implementation.

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NIH’s eRA systems check all electronic grant applications against application guide instructions and instructions found in the funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). These system checks are called validations. When an application fails to pass a validation (i.e., is found to be non-compliant with the instructions found in the application guide and the FOA), the eRA systems generate errors and/or warnings.

The following document provides system-to-system partners with a comprehensive list of current eRA validations (form by form and field by field). The document also includes new validations tentatively planned for eRA’s next software release, so that S2S developers can prepare their systems to parallel the upcoming changes to the eRA systems.

Validations document for system-to-system partners (changes are indicated by bold or strikethrough text and the word “NEW!” in the Comments column):

• February 2012 SF 424 (R&R) validations with changes tracked. No pending changes for production. (PDF, 1 MB)

Previously updated validations with changes tracked:

• January 2012 (PDF, 1 MB)
• October 2011 (PDF, 1 MB)
• July 2011 (PDF, 1 MB)
• May 2011 (PDF, 1 MB)
• November 17, 2010 (PDF, 1 MB)
  
  System Validations Archive...
  
  
• Funding Opportunity Announcements with Opt-Outs
  A listing of FOAs with opt-outs, until a systematic way to determine opt-out FOAs can be provided to system-to-system developers.
  
  
• Grant Program/Mechanism Specific-Limited Validations
  (March 2010)
  There is a limited set of mechanism specific validations that, although standard values are assigned, NIH Institutes and Centers (IC) may choose not to have eRA systems enforce applicant compliance with these standard values in order to allow alternative values specified in a Funding Opportunity Announcements to be accepted. When this happens we call it “opting-out of limited validations”. This document explains the concept of limited validations and provides a chart of the limited validations and their standard values.
  
  
• List of Activity Codes Processed Electronically by eRA (PDF, 38 KB)
  (March 2010)
  

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NIH has identified a small number of ongoing eSubmission system issues that may affect applications submitted using a System to System provider. eRA plans to address these issues as soon as possible. Plans/timing for resolution will be communicated once this information has been approved. In the meantime, read about these system issues and how to avoid them in your S2S submissions.

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• Below are listings of NIH Test Opportunities available in the Grants.gov AT Web environment. The test opportunities are posted under the ‘NIH Stage’ agency. NIH will pick up and process these test applications just as it does in production. All the usual Grants.gov and eRA Commons email notifications will be sent. You can view the results of the submission in Commons stage.
  
  
  • Adobe-Forms-B Series
  
  
  
• NIH Application Forms and Activity Code Mapping (Excel, 60 KB)

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• NIH has set a standard deployment window for the Ext-UAT environment as Monday-Friday 7-10 a.m. ET. This does not mean that Ext-UAT will experience daily deployments. It does mean that when deployments are necessary, NIH will make every effort to stay within this standard window. As agreed upon, NIH will only provide notifications to the NIH_ESUB_SYS2SYS-L listserv of deployment activities that fall outside the standard window.
  
  If for some reason it is critical that Ext-UAT be available during the standard window (e.g., to do a demo), please send an email to B2BSupport@mail.nih.gov within 3 business days of the date in question and we will do our best to coordinate with you and the NIH technical team.