New NIH forms for electronic submission

(From NIH Extramural Nexus, July 2006)

Updated Forms For eSubmission Are Here: Grants.gov and NIH Update SF424 (R&R) and Agency-Specific Forms

Grants.gov and NIH recently updated the standard form SF424 (R&R) and agency-specific PHS 398 electronic grant application form components used for electronic submission of grant applications. The changes provide greater standardization among application forms and incorporate new policy requirements. All new NIH Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) will use the revised application form. Over the next few months, NIH will update existing FOAs that use the older forms to reference the new application.

To summarize, we have updated sections and components of the grant application forms. New grant opportunity announcements will reference the revised application, and old announcements will be revised to reflect the new application form.

We will maintain and support the old and new application packages and their associated application instructions until we are sure that all applications approved to use the old form set have been received and processed.

What the new application form means for applicants:

• New FOAs will be posted citing the revised application packages. No special action needs to be taken.
• FOAs issued before June 15, 2006 that expire on or before December 31, 2006, will be allowed to close naturally without issuing any revised application form. No special action needs to be taken.
• For older FOAs with multiple future receipt dates, NIH will update the FOA to expire the old application form and reflect the revised application. Once the new application form is in place for a particular FOA, the old application will no longer be accepted by Grants.gov. Any application “in the works” will need to be moved to the new form package (i.e., download new forms and cut-and-paste content from one form to the other). Older FOAs will be updated as follows:
• New forms will be in place by July 18 for the following grant programs: R03, R15, R21, R21/33, R33 and R34
• New forms will be in place by September 15 for the following grant programs: R41, R42, R43, R44, R13/U13
• To differentiate between the old and new application, the new application will be labeled Version 2 Forms in the Competition ID field
• There will be a short period of time when both the old and new application packages will be available to download. Whenever there is a choice, the package labeled Version 2 Forms in the Competition ID field should be used.
• If your business office provides versions of the application packages to Principal Investigators that are pre-populated with your organization's information, be sure your application package templates use the revised application package.
• The existing and revised application guides will be labeled Version 1 and Version 2 on the cover page and within the footers. The FOA will continue to link you to the appropriate application guide.

The following table shows when to use the new forms:

* Only FOAs that expire after December 31, 2006