Cell Biology and Genetics

Grants.gov Information on Federal Grant Submissions

	For the past couple of years the federal government has been moving it's grant submission process over to electronic-based from a paper-based system. This has been due to federal directives. At this time ALL grant submissions for Federal grants (i.e. NIH and NSF) must be submitted electronically. This page will endeavor to keep up-to-date information and links to what Grants.gov requires to comply with their submission policies.
	The biggest obstacle to this transition has been how to do the submissions. The first solution developed by Grants.gov was the PureEdge Workforms. This was OK but did not meet a central requirement of the software developement contract, it must be computer platform neutral (forms should be able to be completed on ANY computer regardless of the operating system being run). PureEdge workforms only worked on computers running Microsoft Windows. Due to the time and money invested this solution was put into use as they looked for a solution that would also comply with this last requirement. Solutions to allow submitters on non-MS Windows computers were developed by others while a more permanent solution was sought out.
	They finally found a solution in Adobe's Acrobat software. Using the forms capabilites they have been able to develop a usable submission form and process which is truely platform neutral. The various federal agencies are now converting their PureEdge forms over to PDF forms. This may take some time though so keep an eye on what forms are available for your funding opportunity. As of Spring 2008, 11 of 26 federal agencies had sucessfully transitioned to the PDF forms. The rest have a deadline of September 30, 2008. Both NIH and NSF have as yet to make the transition. Grants.gov has certified that both Acrobat Reader versions 8.1.2 and 9, as well as Acrobat Pro, will allow one to fully fill out and submit their new PDF forms. Note that this is the only option for filling out and submitting application packages for those people running Microsoft Windows VISTA. UPDATE, July 16, 2008: In today's quarterly webinar it was mentioned that NIH and NSF have been given until December 2008 to complete the move to PDF forms. December 31, 2008 will be the last day that Pure Edge forms will be accepted for grant submission.


	Note that the above test files are just examples and that any entries made into fields within the forms will not be saved.