Notice Number: NOT-OD-09-055

Key Dates
Release Date: February 27, 2009

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), http://www.nih.gov
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), http://www.ahrq.gov/
Center for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (CDC/NIOSH)    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), http://www.fda.gov

Related Notice:
NOT-OD-09-045

Effective March 1, 2009, NIH, AHRQ, CDC, and FDA will restore the “error correction window” (i.e. the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH identified errors/warnings) to two (2) business days for all electronically submitted grant applications. 

The temporary extension from two to five days, announced in NOT-OD-09-045, was in response to Grants.gov’s delay in delivering system enhancements intended to improve the applicant experience, especially during peak submission times. These changes are now in place and applicants have reported improved service performance and stability. Although the error correction window is returning to the normal two day period, NIH will continue to work with applicants who believe that Grants.gov system issues are threatening the timely submission of their grant application, on a case by case basis.  Applicants experiencing submission problems are encouraged to visit http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/app_help.htm for more information.

The reversion back to the normal, two-day error correction window means that electronic applications must meet the following criteria in order to be considered “on-time”:

• All required registrations must be complete prior to the initial submission.
• Initial successful “on-time” 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”).
• The AOR/institution is expected to enforce that application changes made within the window are restricted to those necessary to address system-identified errors/warnings. NIH may reject any application that includes additional changes.
• If final submission is sent after the receipt date, the application must contain a cover letter attachment that includes proof of “on-time” submission (e.g., original Grants.gov tracking number, help desk ticket numbers that confirm system issue) and documents the changes made to the application. The two business days provided after an error-free submission to view the assembled application image in eRA Commons will remain unchanged.

Inquiries

Questions about this Notice should be directed to:

Grants Information
Office of Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health
Phone: 301-945-7573
TTY: 301-451-5936
Email: grantsinfo@nih.gov