How Well
Do You Know
eRA
Commons?
What is eRA Commons?
• The eRA Commons is an online interface where grant
applicants, grantee organizations, grantees and federal
staff can access, share, and transmit administrative
information related to their applications and grants.
Applications
eSubmission Errors/Warnings
Assurances
Certifications
Profile Data
Progress Reports
Financial Reports
Invention Reports
Training Appointment Actions
2
Assembled Application Images
Review Assignments
Impact/Priority Scores
Summary Statements
Notices of Award
Post-Award Correspondence
Who uses eRA Commons?
• Federal users
– 25 institutes and centers within NIH
– Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) Operating
Divisions
• AHRQ, SAMHSA, CDC, FDA
– Other federal agencies
• VA (intramural program)
• Institution users
– 18,200 registered organizations
– 241,000 registered users
• 167,000 registered principal investigators
– 57,000 reviewers
3
When will I use it?
• Review errors/warnings
identified by eRA system
Application
Submission • Check final application image
Process
for assembly issues
• Submit financial conflict of
interest notifications
Application
Intake at
Receipt &
Referral
4
• View information on the
review assignment of your
grant application
When will I use it?
Peer Review
Process
• View Summary Statement &
Impact/Priority Scores
Pre-award
Process
• Submit Just-in-time (JIT) data
(e.g., other support,
certifications)
Award
Process
5
• View award documents (NoA –
Notice of Award)
When will I use it?
Post-award
Process
Closeout
Process
6
• Prepare/submit reports
• Manage training grant
appointments
• Prepare final reports,
Invention Statement and
Certification, and population
tracking data
What’s new
with profiles &
accounts?
7
Maintain one Commons account
• If changing institutions, keep your current
Commons account
– Grant record history, degree information
and/or reviewer service will be kept together
– Complete information under one account
helps accurately determine eligibility for
Continuous Submission and Early Stage
Investigator status
Attention: PIs
Your new SO can affiliate your Commons account with your
new institution. See the steps for the SO to affiliate the PI.
(http://era.nih.gov/commons/steps_commons.cfm#step3)
8
Early Stage Investigator (ESI) support
• ESI support in Commons Personal Profile
– Users can enter area of medical residency
and date residency training ended
– ESI eligibility calculated and displayed with
end of eligibility date for PI, IAR and Trainee
users
Attention: PIs
Update degree & medical residency info in your
Personal Profile (prior to submitting an application)
to ensure ESI & New Investigator status are
calculated accurately.
9
Personal Profile – Degrees/Residency screen
Early Stage Investigator
Status and End of
Eligibility Date
10
ESI and New Investigator (NI) support
• Specific application eligibility
– ESI & NI eligibility are system-calculated and
status flags are displayed on the grant
application’s Status Information screen
• The New Investigator check box found on previous
application forms has been removed.
11
Status Information screen for an application
ESI & NI Flags
12
Continuous Submission (CS)
• At the end of April 2010, Commons will
feature new ways for IAR users to check
CS status (Personal Profile)
– On the Reviewer-Specific Service History &
Continuous Eligibility screen, a CS Eligibility
Period box will show 3 fiscal years
• Users can select a time period and click Submit to
display eligibility status and view list of all eligible
meetings for the past 18-month period
13
Continuous Submission (CS)
CS Eligibility Period
dropdown in ReviewerSpecific section of PPF
14
What’s new
with
eSubmission?
15
Latest eSubmission Milestones
Feb 2009:
Electronic Career
Development (K’s)
January 2010:
Restructured application forms
Jan 2009
Jan 2010
August 2009:
Electronic Fellowship (F’s)
16
January 2010:
Electronic Training
Grants (Ts & Ds)
With the transition of Ts and Ds on Jan. 25, all
“non-complex” mechanisms now require
electronic submission.
Support for updated forms
• Federal-wide SF424 (R&R) and agencyspecific PHS 398 form changes due to:
– Three-year OMB renewal of PHS 398 form set
– Three-year OMB renewal of SF424 (R&R)
form set
– The Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act (FFATA)
– NIH Peer Review redesign effort
Restructured forms have a Competition ID of:
ADOBE-FORMS-B
17
Error Correction Window
• NIH currently provides an “error correction window”
following a submission deadline to correct eRA-identified
errors/warnings as long as:
–
–
–
–
Initial submission made “on time”
All registrations completed before deadline
AOR enforces that changes are restricted to fixing errors/warnings
Proof of "on time" submission and description of changes
documented in Cover Letter
• NIH temporarily extended the window from 2 to 5 days
– NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-10-042
– Two (2) day “error correction window” restored after May 7, 2010
• NIH, AHRQ and CDC are considering the elimination of
the Error Correction Window
– NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-10-042
– Let us know what you think by April 19!
• Submit comments on the Web at:
http://grants.nih.gov/cfdocs/era_process_changes_rfi/add.htm
18
FOA posting changes ahead
• Multiple application packages for a single
FOA
– Currently, NIH posts a separate
announcement for each activity code
accepted for that opportunity
– Will move to a single FOA with multiple
application packages distinguished by
Competition ID
Example of single opportunity with three posted packages:
Opportunity Number: PA-10-123
Opportunity Title: Great Opportunity for Discovery (R01,R03,R21)
Package #1:
Competition ID = R01-ADOBE-FORMS-B
Package #2:
Competition ID = R03-ADOBE-FORMS-B
Package #3:
Competition ID = R21-ADOBE-FORMS-B
19
Future Grants.gov Security Enhancements
• Grants.gov security enhancements targeted for
late summer/early fall
– New “Change My Password” and “I Forgot My
Password/Unlock My Account” features
– Stronger passwords
• At least 8 alphanumeric characters with at least one upper and
one lower case letter
–
–
–
–
Forced password change every 90 days
Lock-out after 3 failed login attempts
Session timeouts reduced from 60 to 15 minutes
After one year of inactivity accounts will be locked
• Can unlock account
• E-biz POC must reinstate AOR authority
20
TIP: Log in to your Grants.gov and eRA Commons accounts prior
to deadlines to ensure you have appropriate access.
New eSubmission Web site
New site and new
URL. Be sure to
update any links to
old site.
21
http://grants.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/
What’s new
with eRA
Commons?
22
xTrain to be required in Jan. 2011
• xTrain allows users to electronically
process required paperwork associated
with awarded training and career
development grants. xTrain use will be
required in Jan. 2011.
– Create, route and submit Appointments, ReAppointments, Amendments and Termination
Notices
– Track the status and timing of training actions
23
Mandating xTrain NIH Guide Notice posted at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOTOD-10-072.html
Types of grants supported in xTrain
– Kirschstein-NRSA Undergraduate Institutional Training
Grants (T34)
– Kirschstein-NRSA Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral
Institutional Training Grants (T32, T35, T90)
– Kirschstein-NRSA Fellowships (F30, F31, F32, F33)
– NLM Institutional Training Grants (T15)
– Research Education Awards (R25, R90)
– Institutional Career Development Grants (K12, KL2,
KM1)
xTrain instructions & training resources available at:
http://era.nih.gov/services_for_applicants/other/xtrain.cfm
24
Commons & My NCBI / My Bibliography Integration
• At the end of April 2010, Commons will be
integrated with the National Library of
Medicine’s My NCBI system
– New Awards View in My NCBI is only available
to Commons users with active grants who have
linked their My NCBI and Commons accounts
Important note:
In July 2010, Commons will no longer accept PI-submitted
citations via the PPF publication section or eSNAP. All
citations will be pulled from NLM’s My Bibliography system.
25
Commons & My NCBI / My Bibliography Integration
From the new Awards View in My NCBI,
eRA Commons users can:
– See whether their publications are compliant
with the NIH Public Access Policy
– Start the manuscript submission process
– Associate their NIH extramural grants awards
with their publications
– Designate delegates to manage their
bibliography via My NCBI
26
My Bibliography citations in eSNAP
Upload Science screen shows My BIB citations that can be
associated with an eSNAP report.
For more My Bibliography & My NCBI info:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf10/jf10_myncbi_redesign.html
27
27
Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)
• FCOI allows grantee institutions to:
– Initiate, prepare and submit FCOI notifications
and supporting documents electronically
– Search and view FCOI notifications
– Edit or rescind submitted notifications
– Access history of actions
• FCOI use is now mandatory.
– NIH Guide Notice: NOT-OD-09-07
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/noticefiles/NOTOD-09-072.html
28
http://era.nih.gov/services_for_applicants/other/fcoi.cfm
Just-in-time new functionality
• Just-in-time (JIT)
– Some info can be submitted after the initial
application/review process
• e.g., other support, animal/human subject assurance dates
• JIT information can now be submitted piece by
piece to the NIH. All JIT items requested do not
need to be uploaded at once
• Users can now select from multiple Human
Subject Assurance (HSA) numbers on the JIT
screen in the HSA section
29
Multiple Human Subject Assurance numbers
JIT ability to select
multiple Human Subject
Assurance numbers
30
Now it’s time to find out…
How Well
Do You Know
eRA Commons?
eSubmission
Commons
Knowledge
Commons-ality
100
100
100
100
200
200
200
200
300
300
300
300
400
400
400
400
500
500
500
500
32
Commons
Features
These general funding
opportunity announcements
are used for investigatorinitiated applications.
• What is a parent
announcement?
– E.g., Use PA-08-071 for R01
Research Project Grants
– http://grants.nih.gov/grants/gui
de/parent_announcements.htm
eSubmission - 100
33
These documents, when
requested, are submitted
directly to Commons and
later linked to an electronic
application.
• What are reference letters?
– Note: Reference letters may
be submitted in Commons
before an application is
complete.
eSubmission - 200
34
The number of SO/AOR
accounts an organization
should have.
• What is more than one?
– Every organization should have
multiple Signing Official (SO)
and Authorized Organization
Rep (AOR) accounts.
– Certain tasks can only be
performed by users with these
roles – need back-up.
eSubmission - 300
35
The length of time available to
view an assembled application
image in eRA Commons before the
application moves forward for
further processing .
• What is 2 business days?
– Referred to as application
viewing window
– Begins the day after errorfree application is processed
eSubmission - 400
36
These two fields on the SF424
R&R Sr/Key Person Profile
form are required by NIH but
not marked required on the
federal-wide form.
• What are the Credential
and Organization fields?
eSubmission - 500
37
This is the number of
Commons accounts with a PI
role that a registered user
should have.
• What is 1 account?
PIs should maintain one account
throughout their careers, regardless of
if they change institutions or forget
their Commons password.
Commons Knowledge - 100
38
These two roles should not
be combined in a single
eRA Commons account.
• What are SO (Signing Official)
& PD/PI (Program
Director/Principal
Investigator)?
– If both roles are needed by the
same user, they must have two
separate accounts (one with
each role).
Commons Knowledge - 200
39
A PI can delegate these
actions to other Commons
users (name at least 2].
• What are:
– Complete eSNAP info (Delegate PI)
– Update Personal Profile (Delegate PPF
Edit)
– View application errors/warnings,
assembled application and most other
status information (Delegate Status)
– Perform all xTrain functions except ability
to submit appointments (Delegate xTrain
Authority)
Commons Knowledge - 300
40
This action must be taken in
order for a user to access the
new Awards View in My NCBI.
• What is link their Commons and
My NCBI accounts?
– Commons integration with NLM’s My
NCBI / My Bibliography will take place
this month
– Linking one’s publications to a
specific grant will be made possible
Commons Knowledge - 400
41
This type of eligibility allows
an applicant to submit an
application on a rolling
deadline.
• What is continuous
submission?
• Available to those who have
performed substantial review
service in support of NIH
• IAR users can view eligibility
in Commons
Commons Knowledge - 500
42
These items have something in common:
 Preferred institution name &
contact info
 DUNS Number
 Human Subjects Assurance Number
 Type of Organization
 Signing Official info
 Certifications & Assurances
• What is information
contained in the Institution
Profile?
Commons-ality - 100
43
These items have something in common:
 Registers Institution
 Maintains Institution Profile
 Account Administration
 Performs functions requiring
signature authority
 Track status of all institution
grants
 …and more!
• What are responsibilities of
the SO?
Commons-ality - 200
44
These items have something in common:
 General instructions for preparing/
submitting application
 Form-by-form, field-by-field application
requirements
 Guidelines for determining which
optional forms should be submitted
 Assurance & Certification info
• What are items you can find in
the Application Guide you
download with electronic
forms?
Commons-ality - 300
45
These items have something in common:
 Grant folder documents
 Review outcome info (if PI)
 Key NIH contacts
 Action history
 Application NI & ESI
eligibility indicator
• What are items you find in
the detailed Status
Information screen?
Commons-ality - 400
46
These items have something in common:
 Ensures NI & ESI consideration
 Ensures proper routing of e-mail
notifications
 Ensures correct information is
available to pre-populate and/or
validate electronic forms
 Ensures accurate data for
federal reporting
• What are “good reasons to
keep your profile
updated”?
Commons-ality - 500
47
Using this Commons feature,
an applicant is able to submit
last-minute information
requested by NIH.
• What is Just-in-time (JIT)?
– Only submit JIT if asked to by
NIH
– Not an indication that a grant
application will be funded
Commons Features - 100
48
R25, R90 & KM1 are new
activity codes that are
supported in this Commons
application.
• What is xTrain?
– Use of xTrain will be required in
Jan. 2011; paper appointment
forms and termination notices
will no longer be accepted by
NIH.
Commons Features - 200
49
The Financial Status Report
(FSR) is NIH’s version of this
federal report.
• What is FFR (Federal
Financial Report)?
• NIH is preparing to
transition to the use of the
federally mandated FFR
form this summer.
Commons Features – 300
50
A Business Official is a role
used with this Commons
application.
• What is xTrain?
• The BO has signature or
other authority related to
administering grantee
institution Training grants.
Commons Features – 400
51
Closeout allows you to submit
these three reports.
• What are:
– Final Financial Status Report (FSR)
– Final Progress Report
– Final Inventions Statement?
• Each required report can be
submitted independently
• Interfaces with the Closeout
system used by NIH staff
Commons Features – 500
52
These items have something in common:
 MARIOCAPECCHI  MELLOC
 OLIVER_SMITHIES  LBBUCK
 KORNBERG.ROGER  GRUBBSRH
 FIRE.ANDREW
 RSCHROCK
 AXELRICHARD
• HINT: Mario R. Capecchi & Oliver Smithie
were recognized in 2007 "for their
discoveries of principles for introducing
specific gene modifications in mice by the
use of embryonic stem cells"
• What are the Commons IDs of
Nobel Laureates that received NIH
support?
53
At the end of the day…it’s about the science.
Laureate
54
Year & Science
NIH Support
Mario R. Capecchi
Oliver Smithies
2007 - "for their discoveries of principles for
introducing specific gene modifications in mice
by the use of embryonic stem cells"
NIGMS, NHLBI,
NIDDK, NCI,
NICHD
Roger D. Kornberg
2006 - "for his studies of the molecular basis of
eukaryotic transcription"
NIGMS, NIAID,
NCI
Andrew Z. Fire
Craig C. Mello
2006 - "for their discovery of RNA interference gene silencing by double-stranded RNA"
NIGMS, NICHD
Robert H. Grubbs
Richard R. Schrock
2005 - "for the development of the metathesis
method in organic synthesis"
NIGMS
Richard Axel
Linda B. Buck
2004 - "for their discoveries of odorant
receptors and the organization of the olfactory
system"
NIDCD, NCI,
NIAID, NIMH,
NINDS, NIDDK