Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are Proposal Approval Forms (PAFs) still required?
A: Yes. The internal approval process remains unchanged by the transition to Grants.gov; fully signed PAFs are required for every submission.

Q: What is an administrative shell?
A: DRDA's administrative shell requirements are:

1. Proposal Approval Form (PAF) signed by all appropriate unit officials.
2. All pages of the sponsor's face page, Grants.gov specific (SF 424 or SF 424 R&R)
3. Budget pages for all years of the project.
4. Budget Justification
5. Abstract or statement of work
6. "Research and Related Other project Information" page from SF 424 R&R. Just the form, not the attachments unless otherwise specified
7. Agency specific pieces; check with your Project Representative

Q: Is the current "Grants.gov: Electronic Submission of Federal Grant Applications" (a workshop from DRDA) teaching only the NIH or all the proposal submission instructions?
A. The workshop covers Grants.gov proposal applications in general. Any workshops targeted to particular agencies will be clearly indicated as such.

Q. I can't get my materials to DRDA in the timeframe specified in the DRDA service policy. Will you still submit my application to Grants.gov?
A: Our service policy specifies that DRDA needs the routed, signed paper PAF and administrative shell to DRDA no fewer than 7 days ahead of the deadline. Upload the completed application file to the Dropbox [instructions] no fewer than 4 days before the deadline. We will try to do what we can given the shortened time frame, but you run the risk of a submission that fails to pass the Grants.gov and agency validations necessary by the agency deadlines.

Q. Can I choose my submission method? My agency offers a choice between paper or Grants.gov submissions or Grants.gov or other electronic systems. Which should I use?
A. DRDA recommends that you use Grants.gov. Note that if your agency specifies paper, you must use paper. If your agency specifies Grants.gov, you must use Grants.gov. NIH does not permit optional use. Check for the latest agency rollout information on the UM Grants.gov Information page.

Q: I don't want to use PureEdge. Can I still submit proposals on paper ?
A: It depends on the particular program. Check the guidelines for the program you are interested in. Some sponsors eventually will require all submissions to be submitted via Grants.gov. Check for the latest agency rollout information on the UM Grants.gov Information page.

Q: If I provide all the documents for my proposal, will DRDA fill out the Grants.gov forms for me?
A: Sorry. You must fill them in yourself and upload the completed file to the DRDA Dropbox [instructions].

DRDA does not not have sufficient staffing to prepare applications. Our staff are happy to give advice and instructions on how to use Grants.gov. For system and forms information, contact Bob Beattie (beattie@umich.edu) or your Project Representative for agency advice. Also be sure to contact your Unit administrator to learn what help is available in your department or college.

Q. Can I use a Macintosh computer to work on my applications?
A. Yes. Be sure to download the viewer program meant for Mac, called the IBM Workplace Forms. Here is a link to the Grants.gov download page.

Q: If you are submitting a revision of a grant application that was not funded previously, and you have to make corrections/changes to it, what info needs to be put in the Federal Identifier field?
A: Check the Changed/Corrected application box and enter the previously submitted NIH grant number.

Q. Is it true that we no longer need to put page numbers anywhere in the proposal text because grants.gov will populate numbers automatically?
A. This varies by agency. NIH does not want page numbers because their system creates one file from all the parts and then puts in page numbers and creates a table of contents. Read the guidelines for your application.

Q. Where can I find the Project Representatives names and initials?
A. Use this list:

DRDA Contacts

Sponsor Assignments

To determine which Project Representative works with you sponsor, refer to the table on the sponsor assignments page.

Q. Individual users are not to register with grants.gov. That said, is there a way (at the department level) to track the progress of an application? Say from when grants.gov retrieves the application to it's decision to fund or not fund?
A. This is a good suggestion for implentation by the agencies, rather than Grants.gov. Keep in mind that Grants.gov is just a mailing service. Asking Grants.gov for tracking info about the review process of an application would be like asking FedEx for that info.

Those of us registered with grants.gov to submit applications only know if the agency we sent it to has picked it up. The is akin to us knowing that FedEx has delivered the package. Some of the project representatives notify the PI/research staff when that has been done. From then on it becomes an agency process for the review. NIH does provide some information on the review process through their NIH eRA Commons.