Retirement Countdown for Grants.gov Legacy Downloadable Forms

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On December 31, 2017 Grants.gov will no longer allow applicants to download an entire application form package as a single PDF for offline data entry and later submission. For the 80% of NIH applicants that used ASSIST or institutional system-to-system solutions in FY2017, this change will have little impact. Die-hard downloadable forms users, however, need to switch to another submission option quickly.

Consult with your Office of Sponsored Research or whoever is in charge of submitting grants for your organization to determine which of the remaining options (ASSIST, institutional system-to-system solutions, or Grants.gov Workspace) is the best fit.

Our Submission Options page can help you compare features and considerations for each choice. If there is no business reason to choose one option over another, give NIH’s ASSIST a try. It’s a user-friendly, online solution optimized for NIH applications.Submission options used by NIH applicants in FY2017  - 32% used ASSIST, 48% use system-to-system solutions, 19% use legacy downloadable forms rom Grants.gov, 1% use Grants.gov Workspace,

8 Comments

  1. Will copies of the downloadable application forms be made available to NIH staff? Or better yet, will the NIH make it possible for EVERY application to be submitted online? Unfortunately, that is not yet the case. For example, the second half of mechanisms that have transition components (the K00 portion of the F99/K00 and the R00 portion of the K99/R00) cannot be submitted online.

    1. Images of the screenshots are available in the last section of the application guide. For the Forms E Guide, this would be the link. Grants.gov has a new resource that is also helpful, How Do I Preview Forms in a Federal Grant Application? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyMYXQ2rbM4

      As for your second question, all competing applications submitted to NIH currently require electronic submission. Our goal is indeed electronic submission of all applications, including the information needed for the second phase of phased awards.

  2. We will be using grant.gov workspace at my institution moving forward in January 2018. In addition to the youtube tutorials, I was wondering if NIH have any national or regional trainings schedule to familiarize researchers and Office of Sponsored Program staff with the workspace interface.

    1. As Grants.gov (not a part of NIH) develops Workspace, we encourage you to reach out directly to them or check their website regarding training opportunities and resources. That said, NIH produces webinars and videos on ASSIST, our online submission system (read more about our new resources for using ASSIST at https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2017/12/06/resources-available-for-preparing-your-application-using-assist/). Further, we hold sessions on ASSIST at our regional seminar where you can learn more —registration has recently opened for the next in Washington DC in 2018.

  3. If we are submitting a grant proposal for the Jan 5 deadline, will we still be able to use the downloaded forms, provided that we have downloaded them before Dec. 31?

    1. Yes, you can. While you will be unable to download an entire application package as a single PDF after December 31,2017, Grants.gov will continue to process applications from downloadable forms packages through March of 2018. Quick tip: if you plan to submit after December 31, 2017 with a downloaded package, you might want to consider downloading an extra copy of the forms package for that opportunity before Dec 31 just for the off-chance you run into a technical difficulty with the original.

  4. I will be using grant.gov workspace at my institution moving forward in January 2018. I Will copies of the downloadable application forms be made available to NIH staff? Or better yet, I will the NIH make it possible for EVERY application to be submitted online? Unfortunately, that is not yet the case. For example, the second half of mechanisms that have transition components cannot be submitted online.

    1. NIH is working on eliminating the need for any paper submissions (paper is used in very limited ways currently, and should only be used if required by NIH).

      I am not quite sure what the question is about downloaded application forms. Submitting your application to NIH using Workspace will indeed result in NIH staff receiving your submitted application. Just remember to address any errors before the due date.

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