The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), the largest biomedical research agency in the world.  The NIH invests over 80% of its budget in biomedical research and related training, awarding grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to more than 300,000 researchers at over 2,500 universities, including CSU.

In order to receive a competitive grant from the NIH, a researcher must submit a solid proposal, including a cost estimate, that follows the program guidelines, including format, deadlines, and attachments.

There are currently three ways researchers at CSU can submit a grant proposal electronically to the NIH:

• NIH ASSIST
• Grants.gov Workspace
• Kuali Research s2s (system-to-system)

Requirements for All

Regardless which system is used, the NIH application submitted will be completed with the same data items, will be validated against NIH business rules, will be assembled in a consistent format for review by NIH, and will be tracked in eRA Commons, the NIH grants interface.

All three systems are web-based and require user accounts.  All three systems will have users requiring certain roles, such as PI/PD (Principal Investigator/Project Director) and AOR (Authorized Organizational Representative), etc. and all three provide some level of validation that the proposal contains the required materials in the required format(s).

Information on how to prepare and submit an application to the NIH can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide.html

Before using any system, consult the NIH information above, along with any tutorials on using any one particular system.  Also check the FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement) for special instructions regarding submission.  Finally, begin early to ensure everyone who needs to have access to the application has the required account and/or roles, and understands how to work in the chosen system.

NIH ASSIST (Application Submission System & Interface for Submission Tracking)

ASSIST is the system used to prepare and submit grant applications electronically to the NIH.  Anyone wanting to work on an application in ASSIST must have an eRA Commons account.  The following provides basic step-by-step assistance for preparing an application for submission to the NIH.

Prepare Your Application Using ASSIST: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide/prepare-to-apply-and-register/submission-options/assist.htm

Step 1:  Find a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

Step 2:  Decide who will be responsible for data entry into ASSIST and gather eRA Commons usernames.

Step 3:  Login to ASSIST and initiate application.

Step 4:  Provide application access to your team.  The application initiator should contact the Signing Official (SO) to identify the person who should manage team access.  The SO will need to add the person with the “Manage Access” permission to the application.

Step 5:  Enter application data.

Step 6:  Finalize your application and prepare for submission.

Step 7: Route your application to the SO for submission.

Step 8:  The submitted application needs to be reviewed in eRA Commons by the PI to ensure that data transferred successfully.

Step 9: Track your application and view assembled application.  The downloaded application should be provided to the OSP.  Many ASSIST users are attaching the assembled PDF to the KR PD record to facilitate internal review.

Note:     Instructions may vary for multi-project applications.  Consult NIH ASSIST guidance.

GRANTS.GOV WORKSPACE

Workspace is a portal for individuals and organizations to apply for federal grants in Grants.gov.  Anyone wanting to work on an application must have a Grants.gov account.  The following provides step-by-step assistance for preparing an application for submission to the NIH (or other federal agency) using Grants.gov.

Step 1:  Make sure team members who will be actively working in the application have registered with Grants.gov.

Step 2:  Design an internal application workflow and assign responsibilities to team members.

Step 3:  Log in and create your Workspace by clicking on the “Apply” button on the “View Grant Opportunity” page of a posted grant announcement.

Step 4:  Add your team members as “Participants” so they can access the application forms.

Step 5:  Fill in all required form fields.

Step 6:  When all forms have been completed, the Standard/Expanded AOR can be notified and the application submitted. (Contact OSP for a list of AORs- Authorized Organizational Representatives).

Step 7: The submitted application needs to be reviewed in eRA Commons to confirm that all information was successfully transferred.

Step 8:  Track your application and download the submitted application for your offline record-keeping.  The downloaded application should be provided to the OSP.

Note:     Detailed instructions for using Workspace can be found under the Grants.gov Workspace Overview.

KUALI Research (KR PD s2s)

Kuali Research (KR) is a software product that allows complete lifecycle management of sponsored projects, including proposal development, internal routing, and direct submissions to Grants.gov using system-to-system (s2s) submission.   Any CSU employee with an active CSU eID can access and work in KR.  The following provides basic step-by-step assistance for preparing an application for submission using KR PD s2s.

Step 1:  Log in to Kuali Research using your CSU eID.  Users who need department-wide roles or approval roles should request additional access using the form available on the OSP and KR websites.

Step 2:  Access “Proposal Development” through either “Researcher” or “Unit” depending on your business role.

Step 3:  Select “S2S Opportunity Search” in the left navigation panel to find if the opportunity is available for S2S submission.  If not available, submit using NIH ASSIST or Granst.gov Workspace.

Step 4:  Select the “Forms” tab to view the forms required for completing the proposal.

Step 5:  Fill in all required data fields.  Information entered in the applicable sections of the KR PD record will map to fields on the forms.  The forms can then be viewed as PDFs when all required data has been entered.

Step 6:  When all required data has been entered and data has been validated, the proposal can be routed for internal approvals and submission.

Step 7:  The submitted application must be reviewed by the PI in eRA Commons to confirm that all data transferred successfully.

Step 8: Track your application and download the submitted application for your offline record-keeping.

Note:     Detailed instructions for using Kuali Research to create a proposal record and to develop and submit an application can be found here.

Conclusion

Regardless whether you submit through NIH ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace or Kuali Research, a completed KR PD (Kuali Research Proposal Development) record is required internally prior to submission.  The KR PD record must contain (at a minimum) a scope of work, a budget, and a budget justification.

Trying to decide which system to use for your NIH submission depends on a number of factors, including solicitation requirements and FOA availability.  Ultimately for lifecycle workflow and consistency, we encourage the use of Kuali Research when feasible.