ASSIST Now an Option for Small Business Grant Applications

Notice Number: NOT-OD-15-156

Key Dates
Release Date: September 17, 2015

Related Announcements
NOT-OD-16-042
NOT-OD-16-023
NOT-OD-15-044
NOT-OD-13-075
NOT-OD-15-062
NOT-OD-15-098
NOT-OD-15-099
NOT-OD-15-126

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

This Notice announces the immediate availability of ASSIST as a submission option for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) Program applications.

ASSIST is NIH's on-line system for the preparation, submission and tracking of grant applications through Grants.gov to NIH.

ASSIST support is now available for the following activity codes:

  • SBIR: R43, R44, U43, U44
  • STTR: R41, R42, UT1, UT2
  • CRP: SB1, UB1

Funding opportunity announcements posted in the NIH Guide for Grants & Contracts that allow ASSIST as an option contain an "Apply Online Using ASSIST" button in addition to the "Apply Using Downloadable Forms" button.

The following resources are available to help applicants prepare their applications using ASSIST:

Use of ASSIST is optional; Grants.gov downloadable forms and institutional system-to-system solutions remain viable alternatives for application preparation and submission to NIH (learn more about options).

Background

ASSIST provides users:

  • Secure web-based data entry
  • Collaboration of multiple users
  • Pre-submission validation of many NIH and Grants.gov business rules
  • Pre-population of data from eRA Commons profiles
  • Pre-submission print/preview of application in NIH format
  • Submission status tracking for both Grants.gov and eRA Commons within a single system
  • Ability to import subaward budget forms
  • Ability to copy application data (excluding attachments) from a previously prepared application

By the end of 2015, ASSIST will be a submission option for all NIH competing grant applications (NOT-OD-15-044; timeline). ASSIST is already an option for the following programs:

  • All multi-project grant programs (May 2013: NOT-OD-13-075)
  • Small Research Grant (R03) and Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) programs (January 2015: NOT-OD-15-062)
  • Research Grant (R01), Research Project Cooperative Agreements and Individual Career Development Award (K, excluding KM1 and K12) programs (April 2015: NOT-OD-15-098, NOT-OD-15-099)
  • Institutional Training and Career Development programs (Ts, K12, and KM1), other training programs (Ds), DP7, R13, R15, R18, R21/R33, R25, R33, R34, R35, R36, R61/R33, RF1, RM1, SI2/R00, U13, U18, U2R, U34, UA5, UF1, UG3/UH3, UH1, UH2, UH2/UH3, UH3, UH4, UM1 (July 2015: NOT-OD-15-126)

Inquiries

Direct all notice inquiries to:

NIH Grants Information
Email: grantsinfo@od.nih.gov (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-945-7573

Direct requests for ASSIST support to:

eRA Service Desk
Submit a web ticket (preferred method of contact)
Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552