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Home / FAQ
| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
Our FAQ is set-up in three categories:
Do you have a question for us? Please submit an FAQ to the Stanford Grants.gov FAQ Administrator (this is processed via email) and we'll get back to you and post your question to the site!
General Grants.gov FAQ
Question: Can I submit the new version of Microsoft Word that saves documents with the extension .DOCX to Grants.gov?
Answer: No, the new version of Microsoft Word saves documents with the extension .DOCX. The Grants.gov system does not process Microsoft Word documents with the extension .DOCX. When submitting Microsoft Word attachments to Grants.gov, please use the version of Microsoft Word that ends in .DOC. (in the new version of Word, you would "save as type" and choose the MS Word 2003 version).
For additional information, see Grants.gov FAQs.
Question: What is a 424?
Answer: The SF424 is a component of the Grants.gov application packet. The SF424 is what I call the electronic version of a face page. Sometimes you will see it as SF424 R&R. This form should be completed first as information in it is used to populate other forms. Additional information is available on the Stanford Grants.gov website.
Question: My MAC is running very slow when I use Grants.gov. Where is the upgraded software?
Answer: IBM has made available a pre-release version of their IBM Workplace Forms Viewers for the Macintosh. The software is available on the Grants.gov Download Software page.
Stanford Recommendation: If you’re upgrading your Mac soon, consider the new Intel Macs using “Parallels” software. This allows you to use your Mac, and run one "PC Window" to perform tasks such as Grants.gov.
Ordering tip: Buy it with 2GB or more of memory for better performance!
Question: What types of errors have resulted Grants.gov rejecting an application?
Answer: The application undergoes two validation/error checks, one by Grants.gov and a more extensive check by the funding agency. Grants.gov will reject an application for the following reasons:
- A required field is not completed or a required attachments is missing
- The DUNS number of the submitter does not match the DUNS number on the application.
- The application was submitted after the deadline for receiving applications.
- For help troubleshooting errors, check the Grants.gov Error Tips.
Question: If an agency returns an application because of errors, after the deadline, has the deadline been missed?
Answer: Yes. The deadline has been missed.
- Some agencies will allow you to submit the application with a cover letter explaining why the application is late. The agency reserves the right to reject a late application if the explanation is not acceptable.
- Some agencies are not flexible when it comes to the deadline. Once the deadline has passed, late applications are not accepted. If there is a possibility that your application will be late, contact the program office to find out what the agency’s policy is with regards to late applications.
Question: When correcting errors, must you retype the entire document?
Answer: No. Modify the document in word, then save it as a new PDF. Upload the new PDF into the GG application package. If correcting the application package, make the corrections in the latest copy, then upload to eSubmit (at Stanford) and route to your Inst. Rep for submission to Grants.gov.
Question: Why can't I get anything to launch when I click on the links to/within Grants.gov on my PC?
Answer: You most likely have a problem with one or more pop-up blockers on your web-browser. There are some quick overrides, and some more permanent disabling you can set up for the Grants.gov website:
- Quick Override: Try holding your [CTRL] key down while you select the link you want opened - this should override the pop-up blocker for this time only.
- Permanent Override for Specific Sites: In your Internet Explorer web browser, make the following selections to permanently allow Grants.gov (or any other site you wish) to allow pop-ups:
Tools [menu] Internet OptionsSecurity [tab]Select
select Sites [button] Add "http://grants.gov/" select OK [button]
- Using Windows Service Pack 2 configuration tool
IT Services has developed an XP SP2 Configuration Tool which does the following:
- Configures the Internet Explorer popup blocker to not block popups necessary for the use of Stanford's web-based administrative applications such as Kronos, PeopleSoft and Oracle Financials.
- Configures Internet Explorer's cache settings to check for a new version of the page at every visit.
Those who use Stanford's administrative systems should download and run this utility after upgrading to XP SP2. The download link is under the "Security" section of ESS.
SU Policy related to Grants.gov FAQ
Question: Why do I have to submit ALL my proposals at least 5 days in advance of the submission date?
Answer: The process for submitting a grant via Grants.gov takes quite a bit longer than the old mailing process. Submitting to a sponsor via Grants.gov with no problems can take 2-4 business days alone. If there are errors, the time to submit can increase significantly. A 5 day submission policy is actually quite liberal. Because we will have so many grants submitted via Grants.gov, the lead time for all proposals is increasing, therefore we have implemented the new submission deadline across the board.
Question: What is a SPO number?
Answer: The SPO number stands for "Sponsored Project Office" number. The SPO number is generated by the SPIDERS database when the application is entered into SPIDERS by an institutional rep. That number is used to track the application internally.
Question: Who downloads and completes the Grants.gov forms? The department or the Institutional Rep?
Answer: It depends on your school - generally for ALL schools, the department is responsible for searching for funding opportunities in Grants.gov, and downloading the application package and instructions. If you need assistance with this, you can contact your Institutional Rep for assistance.
The department is responsible for completing all the forms, with the following exception: In the School of Medicine, the Research Process Manager (RPM) will complete the budget forms. After the PI/Department has confirmed the budget is accurate (usually in Excel), the department will send the application to the RPM, who will complete all the budget forms. Note: The department will have to send a budget justification so the RPM can attach it to the budget form, and be able to open additional funding periods.
If you have ANY questions on this process, please contact your Institutional Rep!
Question: Can we use our department server to share the file?
Answer: We advise you NOT to use department servers to share Grants.gov applications. If multiple people accidentally open the same file it will corrupt, and a new application will have to be downloaded (or the last good version will have to be downloaded from eSubmit).
Stanford developed the eSubmit electronic drop-box to use for file-sharing and routing of Grants.gov grant applications. When downloading files from eSubmit to your computer to work on them, be sure to download them to a hard drive, not a department server or flash drive.
eSubmit Issues
Question: I am resubmitting a Grants.gov proposal to a sponsor. I initially submitted it six months ago under the same FON, and not much has changed. May I update the previous eSubmit record with a new version, or must I create a new eSubmit record?
Answer: You MUST create a new eSubmit record. To keep the chain of events clear, and reporting accurate, we must have new records. In Grants.gov we do not "recycle" application packages, and in eSubmit we use the same logic.
Question: I am trying to log into eSubmit and getting an error. Why isn't my SUNet ID working?
Answer: There are a couple of "standard" problems that can arise when logging into eSubmit; they follow here. If none of these solutions works for you, please submit a help ticket (helpsu.stanford.edu)
- Request Category: Administrative Applications
- Request Type: E-Submit
- Incorrect SUNet ID: Everyone has one SUNet ID. Some people set up aliases and they won't work for the eSubmit login. If you cannot remember your correct SUNet ID, please check your "Stanford You" record (https://stanfordyou.stanford.edu/)
- Multiple Employee IDs: Many faculty and staff have more than one Employee ID in the system. If you receive this message when logging into eSubmit: "Your SUNet ID and password are valid, but your user information is not available", please do the following:
- Check your Stanford ID Card for your current Employee ID number Submit a HelpSU ticket (helpsu.stanford.edu)
- Request Category: Administrative Applications
- Request Type: E-Submit
- In the Request Description section, Please enter the following information: Prevented from logging into eSubmit because of duplicate Empl ID, current ID is XXXXXX [enter number]. We'll include this information to a login script that will allow you to get into eSubmit
- You receive a message that your SUNet ID and Password are invalid: This can usually be resolved by resetting your password in Stanford You (https://stanfordyou.stanford.edu/). You can "update" your password to the same value as it is currently. Once this is done, you should be able to log in.
Question: I want to update the status of an older eSubmit proposal but I do not want to worry the PI by having the system send an automated email when I change the status.
Answer: This can be done by:
- Open the details of the proposal
- Click “Define Authority”
- For each person you do NOT want to receive notification, click the “EDIT” button next to their name then change each notification status to “NO”. Save the changes, rinse and repeat as needed
PDF Issues Please note some of the PDF issues are specific to NIH.
Question: What version of the Adobe Reader do I need?
Answer: Adobe Reader version 7.0.9 or 8.1.1 is required. NO OTHER VERSION WILL WORK!
Ensure you have the most current reader (8.1.1) by downloading it now.
Question: Do I have to have the full version of Adobe Acrobat to process a Grants.gov application?
Answer: No. The Adobe forms can be downloaded from Grants.gov, completed, and submitted using only an Adobe Reader (version 7.0.9 or 8.1.1).
Question: Can I use the Adobe Reader to create my "attachments"?
Answer: Many of our sponsors require attachments to the Grants.gov application be formatted as PDF. You will need a PDF conversion program to create these files; a list of acceptable programs is available on the Grants.gov website (we recommend using Adobe Acrobat). Using the Adobe Reader will not work.
Distinction between "The Grants.gov Application Package" and "Attachments"
- Application: You MUST use either Adobe Reader 7.0.9 or 8.1.1, or Adobe Acrobat 7.0.9 or 8.1.1
- Attachments: If you use Adobe Acrobat, it does not matter what version you use for Attachments - it will not impact the application package
Question: How do I find out which version of Adobe Acrobat I have?
Answer: If you have Adobe Acrobat, open the program. Choose the Help Menu and select "About Adobe....". It should give you the exact version you are using. If you use just the reader, please download the latest version now.
Question: Is it OK to scan documents if I don't have software to convert to PDF document?
Answer: No,
you should not scan PDF documents for attachments, unless you are scanning a cover letter with signatures.
Adobe Acrobat is an inexpensive and supported solution at Stanford. Check the Purchasing/licensing info. (Med School procurement has different pricing than the University)
Grants.gov has a list of alternate PDF Conversion Programs available.
Question: What do I do about large file sizes in Grants.gov application packages?
Answer: NIH has addressed this problem; while some of the information in this answer is NIH-specific, most of it is good for all PDF conversions. Check their website for the answer.
NIH eCommons FAQ
Question: Does NIH accept editable PDFs? What happens if I don't "lock" the editable fields?
Answer: NIH does not accept PDF documents with editable fields (fields that can be changed). NIH does have specific guidelines for the PDF documents being submitted through Grants.gov. These guidelines and other tips for avoiding PDF Problems can be found on the Electronic Submission Website, Avoiding Common Errors, PDF Issues the Guidelines link.
Some Tips:
If you have a PDF document with editable fields, do not save it and submit it.
If for example, you are using Adobe, use your PDF printer tool (Go to File and click on Print and select the output device for printing to Adobe PDF) to create an Adobe PDF print version file.
Send the Adobe PDF print version file, not the original editable version.
If you do not have a PDF print tool, Grants.gov has a recommended list of tools.
Question: What do I do about large file sizes in Grants.gov application packages?
Answer: NIH has addressed this problem; while some of the information in this answer is NIH-specific, most of it is good for all applications. Check their website for the answer.
Question: How do we handle it when we receive the following message during a Grants.gov submission?
Message: "NIH has received the electronic application identified above, submitted through Grants.gov. A system error has occurred and processing of the
application has not been able to proceed."
Answer: NIH e-commons is reviewing this but has no definitive answer. Some guidance from peer universities follows:
from Infoed: Check your program income section of the Checklist page. We had someone
indicate that there was program income but did not site the source in
the package. It threw this error till we removed the reference to the program income. There was no program income on the project so this an easy fix. If there was, and the source was listed, then all should have
been fine we suspect.
From Case University: Check the key personnel section. We received the same error message, and after consulting with the help desk, we determined the problem was the PI listing herself as PI/PD and key personnel #1. We deleted her entry as key personnel #1 and it was accepted.
Question: What is NIH doing to address the "15 page narrative limitation" problem? (see detail behind this question)
Answer: The instructions encourage the applicant to create the research plan as a single document, separating into distinct pieces for separate attachments only at the very end. In this way, page limits and other formatting requirements can be easily monitored by the applicant. The page limit validation done be the system already accommodates anticipated white space created by separating the pieces--thus the language in the warning message seen by many of you already. If the applicant has stayed within the required page limits before separating the pieces, then this warning can be ignored and the application will proceed through the process.
The only time the page limit validation is strict is when separate uploads are not required. One example of that is for Conference Grants (R13s). In the case of R13s, the entire research plan is attached as a single attachment; therefore there is no allowance for "white space" for the R13 page limit.
The warning will continue to show up but Grants.gov is working on the language to state that it can be ignored if the PI handled page limits as described above.
Detail behind "15 page limitation" question
People are having difficulty staying within the 15 page limitation for some
Grants.gov submissions.
With paper submissions, the narrative included the specific
aims, background and significance, preliminary studies, and research
design and methods. The15 page
limitation wasn't a problem because if a 1/2 page was not being used for the specific aims,
the background and significance could be started on that same page, and valuable real estate wasn't wasted.
With the PHS 398 Research Plan for Grants.gov, these pieces are all
uploaded as separate documents and we can loose 1/2 page here, 1/2 page
there since NIH is adding a hard page break between each section. So
what easily fits in 15 pages in the "old" way of doing things, now is
almost always 18 pages since NIH is inserting 3 extra page breaks
between these sections. Additionally, NIH is adding additional validations and it might be
that for a given program, this page limitation may become a hard stop
for certain programs instead of a warning.
The message says, "This may span 18 pages due to page breaks but the
total space occupied by text should not exceed 15 pages. - Warning".
NOTICE IT SAYS THE TEXT SHOULD FIT...Can we assume if the text fits but
there are many pages with 1/2 page of white space that the application
won't be denied and the white space is ignored and won't be counted as
text?
Question: Will the system support hyphenated names?
Answer: NIH e-commons cannot recognize hyphenated names, the hyphen is considered a special character and the file will be rejected. We recommend running the names together:
Example: If the PI's last name was "Smith-Doe", it should be entered "SmithDoe" (no hyphen, no space).
Question: How do we handle the Preferred address not included in Personal Profiles?
Answer: The employment sections of the Personal Profiles of the PI and SO are not updated to include preferred address. Log on to Commons and click the Personal Profile on the top menu bar; click Employments in the secondary menu bar and enter preferred address (it must be current for one of the employments). Check the box to the right of "Is this your preferred employment address?" The address on the SF424 (R&R) form and the employments section must match. If there are no employments, click "New Employment" to add the employment.
Question: What is the grant image order for NIH applications using the SF424(R&R) Application?
Answer: The NIH has developed a cross-reference list of information to be included in NIH electronic application packages (SF424).
NSF FAQ
Question: How do we submit collaborative proposals in Grants.gov?
Answer: Collaborative proposals must be submitted via FastLane until further notice from NSF.
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