1 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:07,620 - Hello, my name is Jasenka Borzan. 2 00:00:07,620 --> 00:00:09,720 I'm a scientific review officer 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,720 at the National Institute of Mental Health. 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,140 Welcome to the first segment of a four-part presentation 5 00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:19,260 on the NIH peer review process. 6 00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:21,060 This presentation will focus on 7 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:23,370 the general overview of the process 8 00:00:23,370 --> 00:00:28,020 and fundamental aspects of submitting an application to NIH. 9 00:00:28,020 --> 00:00:30,630 As you may know, National Institutes of Health 10 00:00:30,630 --> 00:00:34,290 are composed of 27 institutes or centers, 11 00:00:34,290 --> 00:00:36,480 each with a specific research mission, 12 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:41,460 often focusing on a particular disease or a body system. 13 00:00:41,460 --> 00:00:43,980 When applying for funding to NIH, 14 00:00:43,980 --> 00:00:45,420 your application may be funded 15 00:00:45,420 --> 00:00:48,360 by one of 24 funding institutes. 16 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,780 The other three centers do not fund extramural research, 17 00:00:51,780 --> 00:00:54,903 but have other responsibilities within NIH. 18 00:00:55,830 --> 00:00:57,930 Important to notice for this talk 19 00:00:57,930 --> 00:01:00,000 is the Center for Scientific Review, 20 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,860 highlighted in green here, 21 00:01:01,860 --> 00:01:05,520 which serves as the portal for all NIH grant applications 22 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:07,683 and their review for scientific merit. 23 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,220 We'll talk about that in more detail in just a minute. 24 00:01:16,110 --> 00:01:18,540 First, in order to give you a broad overview 25 00:01:18,540 --> 00:01:19,980 of the NIH activities, 26 00:01:19,980 --> 00:01:23,400 you can see that, in the fiscal year 2021, 27 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,580 more than 80% of the 43 billion budget 28 00:01:26,580 --> 00:01:29,940 was spent on extramural research grants, 29 00:01:29,940 --> 00:01:31,953 on training and contracts. 30 00:01:32,820 --> 00:01:37,800 About 11% of the budget funds intramural scientists at NIH 31 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,960 across all institutes. 32 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,450 However, the largest part, almost 60%, 33 00:01:42,450 --> 00:01:44,100 is awarded to institutions 34 00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:46,500 supporting individual principal investigators 35 00:01:46,500 --> 00:01:47,943 through research projects. 36 00:01:52,170 --> 00:01:54,360 So what does it take to go from an idea 37 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,340 to a funded research project? 38 00:01:56,340 --> 00:01:58,710 Let's look at the so-called lifecycle 39 00:01:58,710 --> 00:02:00,930 of a grant application. 40 00:02:00,930 --> 00:02:02,610 As a principal investigator, 41 00:02:02,610 --> 00:02:06,390 you would write an application, and your institution, 42 00:02:06,390 --> 00:02:09,690 be it university or institute or another organization, 43 00:02:09,690 --> 00:02:12,933 would submit it then to NIH through Grants.gov. 44 00:02:13,980 --> 00:02:16,320 All applications are then first received 45 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,660 at the Center for Scientific Review, 46 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:21,873 more specifically the division of Receipt and Referral. 47 00:02:22,890 --> 00:02:25,170 From there, each application is assigned 48 00:02:25,170 --> 00:02:29,340 to a funding NIH Institute, for example, NIMH, 49 00:02:29,340 --> 00:02:33,420 and to a specific scientific review group, sorry. 50 00:02:33,420 --> 00:02:34,950 Center for Scientific Review 51 00:02:34,950 --> 00:02:37,860 has the largest number of such review groups 52 00:02:37,860 --> 00:02:42,860 and reviews about 70 to 80% of applications received by NIH. 53 00:02:43,410 --> 00:02:47,010 However, each funding institute has a review branch as well, 54 00:02:47,010 --> 00:02:48,330 and reviews applications 55 00:02:48,330 --> 00:02:51,033 that are of special interest to that institute. 56 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,260 In any case, once the application is assigned 57 00:02:55,260 --> 00:02:58,110 to an institute in terms of scientific interest 58 00:02:58,110 --> 00:03:01,650 and to a review for evaluation of scientific merit, 59 00:03:01,650 --> 00:03:04,740 the review process is said to have two levels. 60 00:03:04,740 --> 00:03:07,770 The first is evaluation of scientific merit, 61 00:03:07,770 --> 00:03:11,343 organized by a scientific review officer, such as myself. 62 00:03:12,810 --> 00:03:15,450 What we do is we recruit a panel of experts 63 00:03:15,450 --> 00:03:18,390 to evaluate and score the applications. 64 00:03:18,390 --> 00:03:20,820 However, we do not make funding decisions. 65 00:03:20,820 --> 00:03:22,830 We only focus on the evaluation 66 00:03:22,830 --> 00:03:25,290 of the scientific merit of applications 67 00:03:25,290 --> 00:03:28,076 and forward the recommendations about that 68 00:03:28,076 --> 00:03:31,590 to the institute council members 69 00:03:31,590 --> 00:03:34,980 and program officers at specific institutes. 70 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:37,500 They're the ones who make funding decisions 71 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:40,563 in this second part of the review process. 72 00:03:42,780 --> 00:03:44,850 The advisory councils recommend 73 00:03:44,850 --> 00:03:48,810 specific applications for funding to the institute director, 74 00:03:48,810 --> 00:03:51,210 and then, based on those council recommendations, 75 00:03:51,210 --> 00:03:54,990 the institute director makes final funding approval, 76 00:03:54,990 --> 00:03:57,360 after which the funds are finally allocated 77 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,750 to the respective applicant institutions. 78 00:04:00,750 --> 00:04:03,420 And it is at that point that the principal investigator, 79 00:04:03,420 --> 00:04:05,160 such as, perhaps, yourself, 80 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,043 receives the award and can begin research. 81 00:04:08,910 --> 00:04:11,280 It is certainly not a simple process, 82 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,680 but I hope that we can guide you through it 83 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,920 with some fundamental information and that will help you 84 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,353 if you decide to apply for NIH funding. 85 00:04:24,420 --> 00:04:27,510 The first rule of successfully applying for NIH funding 86 00:04:27,510 --> 00:04:30,510 is follow the instructions, 87 00:04:30,510 --> 00:04:31,890 so begin by following 88 00:04:31,890 --> 00:04:36,360 the SF424 application guide instructions. 89 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,100 The link to this guide is included 90 00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:40,983 in every funding opportunity announcement, or FOA, 91 00:04:41,850 --> 00:04:46,230 and also, importantly, section four of every FOA 92 00:04:46,230 --> 00:04:49,560 includes application and submission information 93 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,130 that states what part of the SF424 guide 94 00:04:53,130 --> 00:04:55,620 are relevant to the FOA and explains 95 00:04:55,620 --> 00:04:58,983 any additional application requirements for that FOA. 96 00:04:59,940 --> 00:05:02,430 Importantly, the instructions in the FOA 97 00:05:02,430 --> 00:05:05,523 supersede the instructions in the guide. 98 00:05:09,630 --> 00:05:13,740 For example, the application instructions in the FOA 99 00:05:13,740 --> 00:05:17,700 may state to follow instructions in the SF424, 100 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:20,190 as in some examples on this slide, 101 00:05:20,190 --> 00:05:23,310 or may include additional or different instructions, 102 00:05:23,310 --> 00:05:26,160 such as different page limitations for some sections 103 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,520 or specific requirements about the types of information 104 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,160 that must be included in the application. 105 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:33,150 The bottom line is 106 00:05:33,150 --> 00:05:35,823 make sure you follow the instructions in the FOA. 107 00:05:41,190 --> 00:05:45,660 And just to tell you a little bit about the important staff 108 00:05:46,650 --> 00:05:48,900 who are involved in the grant process, 109 00:05:48,900 --> 00:05:53,900 I wanted to introduce you to a few names or abbreviations. 110 00:05:54,390 --> 00:05:58,983 So an SRO or SRA you already are familiar with. 111 00:05:59,850 --> 00:06:03,390 They are people like myself who organize review meetings 112 00:06:03,390 --> 00:06:06,060 and are your primary point of contact 113 00:06:06,060 --> 00:06:08,370 after you submit your application, 114 00:06:08,370 --> 00:06:11,103 but before the review actually happens. 115 00:06:12,060 --> 00:06:14,610 We manage the scientific review 116 00:06:14,610 --> 00:06:16,830 by organizing special emphasis panels 117 00:06:16,830 --> 00:06:21,300 and recruiting reviewers of appropriate expertise to them. 118 00:06:21,300 --> 00:06:23,370 And we're also responsible for generating 119 00:06:23,370 --> 00:06:27,330 summary statement reports after each review meeting. 120 00:06:27,330 --> 00:06:30,990 SROs can work at the Center for Scientific Review 121 00:06:30,990 --> 00:06:34,593 or within review branches of individual institutes. 122 00:06:36,210 --> 00:06:37,860 The second person you should know 123 00:06:37,860 --> 00:06:40,830 are program officers or directors. 124 00:06:40,830 --> 00:06:42,930 They work at funding institutes and manage 125 00:06:42,930 --> 00:06:47,040 specific portfolios of awarded grants or contracts. 126 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,220 They're probably the best first contact at NIH 127 00:06:50,220 --> 00:06:54,510 when you are applying for a grant. 128 00:06:54,510 --> 00:06:57,450 When you have an idea and you're thinking about applying, 129 00:06:57,450 --> 00:06:59,070 the POs can answer questions 130 00:06:59,070 --> 00:07:02,340 about the scientific priorities at their institute 131 00:07:02,340 --> 00:07:04,440 and how responsive your ideas may be 132 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,203 for specific funding opportunity announcements. 133 00:07:08,190 --> 00:07:10,050 Once a grant is awarded, 134 00:07:10,050 --> 00:07:12,210 program officers are also responsible 135 00:07:12,210 --> 00:07:15,813 for monitoring scientific progress on that award. 136 00:07:17,490 --> 00:07:19,020 Grants management specialists 137 00:07:19,020 --> 00:07:21,750 are equally important in this process. 138 00:07:21,750 --> 00:07:24,880 They work at specific institutes 139 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,400 and are responsible for the fiscal stewardship 140 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,460 of a portfolio of awarded grants. 141 00:07:32,460 --> 00:07:36,183 They monitor the financial progress of each award. 142 00:07:43,590 --> 00:07:46,890 When you're applying for an NIH grant 143 00:07:46,890 --> 00:07:49,110 applicant institutions have to complete 144 00:07:49,110 --> 00:07:53,700 and maintain registration in a number of systems, 145 00:07:53,700 --> 00:07:57,120 such as Grants.gov, eRA Commons, 146 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,403 and System for Award Management. 147 00:08:00,270 --> 00:08:01,830 As a principal investigator, 148 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:04,140 you need to be familiar with two of those systems, 149 00:08:04,140 --> 00:08:06,453 Grants.gov and eRA Commons. 150 00:08:07,470 --> 00:08:09,840 Grants.gov is an online portal 151 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,310 that's used to find and also apply for most federal grants 152 00:08:14,310 --> 00:08:16,713 within and also outside of NIH. 153 00:08:17,610 --> 00:08:19,110 It also provides access 154 00:08:19,110 --> 00:08:21,363 to all the current application forms. 155 00:08:22,350 --> 00:08:26,460 eRA Commons is a system for receiving applications 156 00:08:26,460 --> 00:08:30,390 and communicating information about review dates, 157 00:08:30,390 --> 00:08:33,900 outcomes of the review, and also awards. 158 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:36,870 Every applicant as a principal investigator 159 00:08:36,870 --> 00:08:39,330 must have an eRA Commons account 160 00:08:39,330 --> 00:08:43,113 that is associated with their institution or organization. 161 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,260 Also, as I mentioned previously, 162 00:08:46,260 --> 00:08:48,690 it is institutions or organizations 163 00:08:48,690 --> 00:08:51,300 who submit applications to NIH, 164 00:08:51,300 --> 00:08:54,570 and in order to do so, every institution must be registered 165 00:08:54,570 --> 00:08:58,230 in the System for Award Management, or SAM, 166 00:08:58,230 --> 00:09:02,370 and also in eRA Commons prior to submission. 167 00:09:02,370 --> 00:09:05,160 The institutions are responsible for completing 168 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,130 and maintaining institutional registration in SAM, 169 00:09:08,130 --> 00:09:09,360 as well as registering 170 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,273 principal investigators in eRA Commons. 171 00:09:18,420 --> 00:09:23,160 Applications are submitted using the Grants.gov or ASSIST, 172 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,610 which means Application Submission System and Interface 173 00:09:26,610 --> 00:09:28,833 for Submission Tracking portals. 174 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:32,190 The NIH applications must be in response 175 00:09:32,190 --> 00:09:34,440 to an open funding opportunity announcement, 176 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,990 or FOA, in Grants.gov. 177 00:09:36,990 --> 00:09:38,430 There are many ways you can search 178 00:09:38,430 --> 00:09:41,070 for open funding opportunity announcements. 179 00:09:41,070 --> 00:09:43,260 One way is to go to Grants.gov 180 00:09:43,260 --> 00:09:46,650 and search for current parent announcements 181 00:09:46,650 --> 00:09:49,620 using the website listed on the slide. 182 00:09:49,620 --> 00:09:50,940 You could search for FOAs 183 00:09:50,940 --> 00:09:54,330 based on specific scientific topics of interest, 184 00:09:54,330 --> 00:09:56,580 or you could decide to narrow your search 185 00:09:56,580 --> 00:09:59,130 based on specific institute of interest 186 00:09:59,130 --> 00:10:00,690 by going to their website 187 00:10:00,690 --> 00:10:03,333 and searching their current announcements. 188 00:10:04,830 --> 00:10:06,600 What is important is that you download 189 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,750 the specific application package from Grants.gov 190 00:10:09,750 --> 00:10:14,460 each time that you apply for an NIH grant 191 00:10:14,460 --> 00:10:16,680 based on a FOA of your choice, 192 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:17,640 and the reason for that 193 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,100 is to make sure that you don't have outdated forms 194 00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:21,180 or that you're not missing 195 00:10:21,180 --> 00:10:24,153 any new potential requirements in the FOA. 196 00:10:30,870 --> 00:10:32,040 So, to tell you a little bit 197 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,880 about the types of FOAs you can apply for, 198 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:37,380 there are three main categories 199 00:10:37,380 --> 00:10:40,230 of funding opportunity announcements at NIH. 200 00:10:40,230 --> 00:10:43,410 Parent announcements, or PA, funding opportunities 201 00:10:43,410 --> 00:10:45,780 are also called unsolicited 202 00:10:45,780 --> 00:10:48,750 or investigator-initiated applications, 203 00:10:48,750 --> 00:10:51,390 because they're open to broad scientific interests 204 00:10:51,390 --> 00:10:53,793 within the scope of the NIH mission. 205 00:10:54,660 --> 00:10:57,330 These include many different types of grants 206 00:10:57,330 --> 00:11:02,100 or so-called activity codes, like an R01 application, 207 00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:06,150 or other research grants, training, and fellowship grants. 208 00:11:06,150 --> 00:11:08,130 These applications utilize 209 00:11:08,130 --> 00:11:11,283 three standard receipt dates per year. 210 00:11:12,630 --> 00:11:17,340 PARs are program announcements with special receipt, 211 00:11:17,340 --> 00:11:20,520 referral, or review requirements. 212 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,220 These FOAs are more narrowly focused 213 00:11:23,220 --> 00:11:24,960 in soliciting applications 214 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,950 for a specific scientific topic or area, 215 00:11:28,950 --> 00:11:33,950 and they're often reviewed in institute review branches 216 00:11:34,230 --> 00:11:37,263 and have special receipt dates. 217 00:11:39,330 --> 00:11:43,890 The third category are RFAs, or requests for applications, 218 00:11:43,890 --> 00:11:46,920 in defined and high priority 219 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:50,846 or high opportunity areas of science 220 00:11:50,846 --> 00:11:53,820 for one or more institutes. 221 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:58,320 These are RFAs, or requests for applications. 222 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,960 I will discuss a few important details about these 223 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,420 in just a moment, but, first, 224 00:12:03,420 --> 00:12:05,760 what I would like to do is provide you 225 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,940 with a little bit of more information, 226 00:12:08,940 --> 00:12:12,390 just a second, about the different types 227 00:12:12,390 --> 00:12:15,810 of parent announcements that exist. 228 00:12:15,810 --> 00:12:18,690 So, as you can see from this table, for example, 229 00:12:18,690 --> 00:12:19,770 these are quite broad. 230 00:12:19,770 --> 00:12:23,700 They can be R01s, they can be smaller research grants, 231 00:12:23,700 --> 00:12:26,820 grants that support conferences or scientific meetings, 232 00:12:26,820 --> 00:12:28,590 or small business grants. 233 00:12:28,590 --> 00:12:30,390 They can also be training grants, 234 00:12:30,390 --> 00:12:35,370 like T32s, Ks, or fellowship grants. 235 00:12:35,370 --> 00:12:37,920 The full list of parent announcements can be found 236 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,503 following the link at the bottom of this slide. 237 00:12:41,940 --> 00:12:45,210 An important note again here is that institutes choose 238 00:12:45,210 --> 00:12:48,630 what parent announcements they wish to support, 239 00:12:48,630 --> 00:12:51,013 so you need to check in the FOA 240 00:12:52,170 --> 00:12:55,560 whether your institute of interest is accepting applications 241 00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:59,313 for that activity code before you submit your application. 242 00:13:03,210 --> 00:13:05,400 Now, a little bit more about the RFAs. 243 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,980 As I mentioned, these FOAs are focused on 244 00:13:07,980 --> 00:13:12,480 specific scientific interests of one or more institutes. 245 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:14,100 They're typically very specific 246 00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:17,730 in terms of scientific goals, desired outcomes, 247 00:13:17,730 --> 00:13:20,430 and also application requirements, so it's critical 248 00:13:20,430 --> 00:13:23,943 that you read the RFA very carefully before applying. 249 00:13:24,810 --> 00:13:26,940 RFAs are shaped in consultation 250 00:13:26,940 --> 00:13:30,450 with advisory council members of each institute, 251 00:13:30,450 --> 00:13:32,160 and they have set aside funds 252 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,670 to support a specific number of awards each year, 253 00:13:35,670 --> 00:13:38,733 and they typically have special receipt dates. 254 00:13:39,660 --> 00:13:43,890 These FOAs often have special eligibility requirements, 255 00:13:43,890 --> 00:13:46,623 submission instructions, and review criteria. 256 00:13:50,670 --> 00:13:52,287 Once you select the appropriate FOA 257 00:13:52,287 --> 00:13:54,330 and you write your application, 258 00:13:54,330 --> 00:13:57,450 you will need to submit it using Grants.gov. 259 00:13:57,450 --> 00:13:59,310 You can fill out appropriate forms 260 00:13:59,310 --> 00:14:01,410 using Workspace in Grants.gov. 261 00:14:01,410 --> 00:14:03,870 This is typically done in collaboration 262 00:14:03,870 --> 00:14:06,900 with your grants office at your institution, 263 00:14:06,900 --> 00:14:09,390 and this process generates PDF files 264 00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:13,380 for a lot of the administrative pages, like the cover page, 265 00:14:13,380 --> 00:14:16,380 key personnel information, budget, and so on. 266 00:14:16,380 --> 00:14:19,320 And the main documents, such as the research strategy 267 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,610 or biosketches that you have, are uploaded in the system 268 00:14:23,610 --> 00:14:27,513 as separate PDF attachments to the application. 269 00:14:28,410 --> 00:14:30,030 As mentioned a few times already, 270 00:14:30,030 --> 00:14:32,580 the most important thing is to carefully read 271 00:14:32,580 --> 00:14:36,844 and follow instructions in the SF424 guide, 272 00:14:36,844 --> 00:14:38,403 as well as the FOA. 273 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,460 So just a couple of more details that I wanted to mention, 274 00:14:44,460 --> 00:14:47,223 when you're thinking about applying for an application, 275 00:14:48,090 --> 00:14:52,050 one of them is, if your project requires 276 00:14:52,050 --> 00:14:54,210 a multidisciplinary team of scientists, 277 00:14:54,210 --> 00:14:56,220 you may want to consider whether applying 278 00:14:56,220 --> 00:14:58,380 as multiple principal investigators 279 00:14:58,380 --> 00:15:00,990 might be appropriate for your project. 280 00:15:00,990 --> 00:15:03,390 In this case, even though one person 281 00:15:03,390 --> 00:15:06,000 is designated as a contact PI, 282 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,760 every principal investigator on the MPI team 283 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,390 is responsible for the success of that project, 284 00:15:12,390 --> 00:15:15,330 although they don't have to devote equal effort. 285 00:15:15,330 --> 00:15:18,900 Specific roles have to be clearly defined, in that case, 286 00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:21,360 in the MPI leadership plan, 287 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,203 and a conflict resolution plan has to be described as well. 288 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:28,230 Most types of research project grants 289 00:15:28,230 --> 00:15:29,850 allow MPI designations, 290 00:15:29,850 --> 00:15:32,640 although there are some activity codes that do not, 291 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,980 such as career development or K awards 292 00:15:34,980 --> 00:15:36,903 or fellowship applications. 293 00:15:37,860 --> 00:15:40,050 The second detail I wanted to mention is, 294 00:15:40,050 --> 00:15:42,270 if you are working in an area 295 00:15:42,270 --> 00:15:45,300 that is similar to global health 296 00:15:45,300 --> 00:15:48,690 or you anticipate having foreign collaborators, 297 00:15:48,690 --> 00:15:52,870 it is important that you check whether the FOA allows 298 00:15:53,940 --> 00:15:58,248 participation of foreign institutions or foreign components 299 00:15:58,248 --> 00:16:00,300 as part of the FOA. 300 00:16:00,300 --> 00:16:01,770 You can find that information 301 00:16:01,770 --> 00:16:05,820 in section three of every FOA, and this brings us back 302 00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:08,883 to the picture of the grant life cycle. 303 00:16:09,780 --> 00:16:11,400 In this first segment, 304 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,020 I hope you gained a good understanding 305 00:16:13,020 --> 00:16:15,690 of the overall application and award cycle, 306 00:16:15,690 --> 00:16:17,820 as well as more specific information 307 00:16:17,820 --> 00:16:19,680 about the first part of the process, 308 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:24,680 namely that you, as an investigator, are writing the idea 309 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:30,560 and preparing your application, and then your institution, 310 00:16:30,660 --> 00:16:33,270 by way of authorized institutional official, 311 00:16:33,270 --> 00:16:35,793 submits the application to Grants.gov. 312 00:16:36,810 --> 00:16:39,390 Once submitted, you can actually view 313 00:16:39,390 --> 00:16:43,200 your assembled application in eRA Commons. 314 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,450 If you notice any errors in the final version 315 00:16:45,450 --> 00:16:46,860 of the documents you submitted, 316 00:16:46,860 --> 00:16:49,230 you can contact the eRA Service Desk 317 00:16:49,230 --> 00:16:51,843 for help on how to correct those errors. 318 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:56,640 And additionally, the filled out forms and attachments 319 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,470 are electronically validated, 320 00:16:58,470 --> 00:17:00,870 and applications with administrative errors 321 00:17:00,870 --> 00:17:03,033 are flagged by the system as well. 322 00:17:04,380 --> 00:17:06,810 The most important thing again here 323 00:17:06,810 --> 00:17:10,950 is that you start preparing your application early enough 324 00:17:10,950 --> 00:17:14,520 and submitting it before the actual deadline for receipt, 325 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,440 and the reason for that is so that, 326 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:18,630 if you notice any errors in your application, 327 00:17:18,630 --> 00:17:21,300 you have enough time to revise them 328 00:17:21,300 --> 00:17:25,110 and re-upload all of the components again in the system 329 00:17:25,110 --> 00:17:26,760 before the receipt date. 330 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,540 After that, you would not be able to make any corrections. 331 00:17:30,540 --> 00:17:33,393 And with that, I want to thank you for your attention.