Grants.gov Agency Requirements for Applications
Federal agencies are in various states of change in the way they receive applications. They are moving from a paper to an electronic process OR from their own electronic process to a centralized electronic process called Grants.gov. Keeping up with where an agency stands in the conversion is challenging. Always check the proposal guidelines and the matrix below for the latest information.

Grants.duke Availability
In response to agency shifts to Grants.gov, Duke University has developed an alternative process of system-to-system (S2S) transmission: Grants.duke. The Grants.duke process eliminates the need to use the Grants.gov PureEdge forms.
→ login to Grants.duke website.

Matrix of Agency Requirements & Grants.duke Availability

AGENCY	NOTES	PAPER	AGENCY e-SYSTEM	GRANTS.GOV	GRANTS.DUKE
AFOSR	Varies-check program				X
AMRMC	Varies-check program		cdmrp.org
ARO	Varies-check program		baa@aro.army.mil		X
DOE	Varies-check program		e-center.doe.gov		X
ED	Varies-check program		e-grants.ed.gov	X
EPA	Varies-check program	X		X
HHS	Varies-check program	X		X
HUD	Varies-check program	X		X
NASA	Varies-check program		nspires.nasaprs.com	X
NEA	Varies-check program	X		X
NEH		X		X
NIH	Varies-check program	X			R03, R21, R33 only
NOAA				X
NSF	Varies-check program		fastlane.nsf.gov	X
ONR*	Send to PO as e-mail attachment or paper				X
USDA	Varies-check program	X		X
USGS**	2 submissions needed	X		X
*preference of the PI **until further notice, each USGS proposal must be submitted twice (in both paper format and through Grants.gov).

Grants.duke Use
If an agency requires Grants.gov submission and Grants.duke supports electronic submission to that agency, you must use Grants.duke. In the next few years the check marks on the matrix above should gradually migrate to the Grants.duke column. (See the workshop schedule for SPS and Grants.duke training sessions.)

Grants.duke Process
Grants.duke works in combination with the Sponsored Projects System (SPS) to prepare proposals. Some parts of a proposal are entered in SPS and others are attached in Grants.duke. Eventually your entire proposal will be prepared in Grants.duke but, until that happens, the following matrix shows where information is entered:

Matrix of SPS Entry and Grants.duke Attachments

NIH PROPOSAL SECTIONS	SPS	GRANTS.DUKE
Cover page	X
Summary or Abstract	X	X
Relevance Statement (Project Narrative)		X
Bibliography or References Cited		X
Introduction to Application		X
Specific Aims		X
Background Significance		X
Preliminary Studies/Progress Report		X
Research Design & Methods		X
Inclusion Enrollment Report		X
Progress Report Publication List		X
Human Subjects Y or N	X
Human Subjects ( 4 text sections)		X
Vertebrate Animals Y or N	X
Vertebrate Animals (text sections)		X
Select Agent Research		X
Consortium Arrangements		X
Letters of Support		X
Optional Cover Letter		X
Optional Other Attachment		X
Facilities	X
Equipment	X
Senior/Key Personnel Biosketches	X
Budget	X
Budget Justifications		X
Senior/Key Personnel Other Support	X
Appendices (up to 10 if desired)		X
Checklist	X

Grants.duke Tips

1. For S2S submissions, ORS will require a fully signed DPAF prior to approving the proposal in SPS.
2. Grants.duke is designed so that the PI herself can transmit the proposal to Grants.gov. Unlike the Grants.gov PureEdge process, ORS does not have to - and will not - push the final release button. This process change allows the PI the freedom to make all the needed changes and edits in the research plan up to the submission deadline if desired. Nevertheless, we don't recommend waiting to the last minute to submit as electronic systems can slow down or even fail on occasion!
3. If you are preparing an NIH proposal, a Commons ID is required for the PI and must match exactly with the ID already in Commons. No other IDs are required and we recommend not including them for other senior personnel as they easily cause errors or warnings during the NIH validation process. FYI - SPS stores Commons IDs for use on NIH proposals.
4. The Grants.duke list of forms and documents shows all possible attachments for your proposal. Follow the guidelines for your particular FOA (which you downloaded from Grants.gov) to determine which items are actually required for the particular opportunity you are responding to.
5. All attachments for Grants.duke must be non-editable .pdf files. Grants.duke will alert you if your file contains an editable field and will not allow the attachment. Convert the disallowed document to a pdf file and attach it.
6. Your abstract or summary will become editable (detach and attach) in Grants.duke once ORS has approved the proposal and its status changes to AS – awaiting submission
7. NIH requires breaking out your research plan into a number of discrete documents which are then attached individually. Together the plan must meet the agency page limits but once separated, white space will appear. Check the agency guidelines to see how many additional pages are allowed once the plan is broken into sections. (For instance, a 15 page limit is expanded to 18 pages.)
8. For NIH, the “Project Narrative” attachment should be the required 2-3 sentence relevance statement. For all other agencies the Project Narrative is the full research plan or project description.
9. Grants.duke is currently designed to run minimal validations and error messages because agencies are still changing what will and will not generate errors. At this point, only a missing biosketch, missing cover letter for a resubmission, or lack of ORS approval will generate an error in Grants.duke.
10. For NIH proposals eliminate page headers, footers, and page numbers in your pdf documents. These are now inserted automatically by NIH at time of receipt
11. When your proposal is ready to send to Grants.gov, a button appears that says “release.” The term “release” here means that the PI is ready to allow Grants.duke to transmit the proposal to Grants.gov on her behalf. Clicking on it sends the proposal on to Grants.gov.

Grants.duke Help Desk

• Your primary source for assistance with Grants.duke during business hours is your regular ORS contact person.
  • Susan Lasley - 681-8684
  • Maria Scripa - 681-2461
  • Phillip Grosshans - 681-5132
  • Keith Hurka-Owen - 681-8687

• If you are working after hours, call either of the following HELP desks and ask for the ADG staff member on call. Explain that you need technical assistance with Grants.duke.
  • OIT Help Desk - 684-2200
  • DHTS Help Desk - 684-2243

Agency Acronyms

• AFOSR - Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• AMRMC - Army Medical Research and Material Command
• ARO - Army Research Office
• DOE - Department of Energy
• ED - Department of Education
• EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
• HHS - Health and Human Services
• HUD - Housing and Urban Development
• NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NEA - National Endowment for the Arts
• NEH - National Endowment for the Humanities
• NIH - National Institutes of Health
• NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NSF - National Science Foundation
• ONR - Office of Naval Research
• USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
• USGS - United States Geological Survey

Updated: November 29, 2006.