Electronic Submission Process for Grants

Complete Five Registrations

The registration process alone may take six to eight weeks, so it is important to start early! All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted.

Each role in the submission process carries specific responsibilities. The Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) will work with the applicant small business to prepare the application, and pass the completed application on to their Authorized Organization Representative (AOR). Only AORs have the ability to actually submit a grant application to NIH. Please click here for more detailed information about the various roles in the submission process.

Five Registrations Overview:

1. Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) – All registrations require that applicants be issued a DUNS number. After obtaining a DUNS number, applicants can begin SAM, SBA Company, and eRA Commons registrations.
   
   Employer Identification Number (EIN) – HHS requires both the EIN and a DUNS number prior to the issuance of a funding award. The EIN base for the organization is the IRS Tax ID number, for individuals it is their social security number, both of which are nine-digit numbers.
2. System for Award Management (SAM) – SAM can take a significant amount of time (days/weeks) to complete the registration or annual renewal process.
   • The annual renewal process may require as much time as the initial registration. Please be sure to initiate your SAM registration or annual renewal at least six weeks prior to your submission date.
   • SAM registration is required for Grants.gov prior to submission.
     • Create a User Account in SAM
     • Register/Update an Entity
3. Grants.gov – Grants.gov is a federal-wide portal to find and apply for federal grant funding. It is used by all 26 federal grant-making agencies and requires registration by the applicant organization. The applicant organization will need to designate an E-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC). The E-Biz POC will approve Authorized Organization Representatives (AORs) to submit applications.
   • Grants.gov Registration Instructions for Domestic and Foreign Organizations
   • Organization Registration (Grants.gov website)
4. eRA Commons – eRA Commons is NIH’s Electronic Research Administration system that allows applicants, grantees, and NIH staff to access, share and transmit application/grant information.
   • eRA Commons requires registration by both the applicant organization and the Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs). The organization’s Authorized Organization Representative (also known at NIH as the Signing Official) must register or affiliate the PD/PI(s).
   • To check if the organization is already registered, go to the List of Commons Registered Organizations.
   • Register in Commons
   • NIH demo on registering in Commons
5. SBA Company Registry – All applicants are required to register at the SBA Company Registry prior to application submission and attach proof of registration in the Other Project Information, Other Attachments section of the application.

Submit via ASSIST or Workspace

Applicants may submit their application using ASSIST or the Grants.gov Workspace option.

You will need to find an SBIR/STTR Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) using either the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, the SBIR/STTR Funding page, or the Grants.gov Search page. Once you do this, within the FOA, you will select the "Apply Online Using ASSIST" button or Option 3 “Use Grants.gov Workspace to prepare and submit your application and eRA Commons to track your application.” 

With either method, please refer to the SF424 SBIR/STTR (R&R) Application Guide, located here, which contains registration and application instructions. The SBIR/STTR Annotated Form Set, found here, can help guide you step-by-step through the grant application, and help you identify many HHS-specific application requirements. 

ASSIST

ASSIST (Application Submission System & Interface for Submission Tracking) is NIH's online system for the preparation, submission, and tracking of grant applications through Grants.gov to NIH. It was created to help streamline the electronic submission process, and allows the submission status of your application to be tracked in both Grants.gov and eRA Commons.

ASSIST provides:

• Secure web-based data entry
• Collaboration of multiple users
• Pre-submission validation of many HHS and Grants.gov business rules
• Pre-population of data from eRA Commons profiles
• Pre-submission print/preview of application in HHS format
• Submission status tracking for both Grants.gov and eRA Commons within a single system
• Ability to import subaward budget data from external sources
• Ability to copy application data (and attachments) from one announcement to another

 

The ASSIST webinar was held on November 4, 2015. Please find the resources below.

• ASSIST Webinar Slides
• ASSIST Overview , ASSIST Demo , and Q&A Recording on YouTube
• Additional ASSIST Resources

 

Additional resources are available to help applicants prepare their applications using ASSIST:

• Getting Started: Preparing Your Single-project Application Using ASSIST
• ASSIST Online Help System
• eRA Service Desk

 

For more information, view the NOT-OD-15-156.

 

Workspace 

Workspace is the standard way for organizations or individuals to apply for federal grants in Grants.gov. Workspace allows a grant team to simultaneously access and edit different forms within an application. Plus, the forms can be filled out online or offline—your choice.

Grants.gov Workspace also allows applicants and organizations to tailor their application workflow. There are three approaches that applicants can take when completing a Workspace application: Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced.

Resources and training videos to help you use Workspace are available at Grants.gov.