Fwd: [RESADM-L] Question about GrantSlam? Michael Kusiak 07 Dec 2005 13:58 EST

I seem to be having a tough time sending a message to the list.  This
is my first time posting.  Sorry for multiple postings.

*******************

Whether or not an institution decides to use a service provider to
transmit proposal data to grants.gov seems to be a function of
proposal volume at your institution and your expectations of what a
grant proposal submission system can do for you.

Grants.gov relies on a form-based system.  As you complete sections
of a proposal, you are not saving the proposal on a server (think of
how when you are creating a proposal in NSF Fastlane).  Given our
institutional complexity at Berkeley, it  concerns me that we would
not have a standardized routing system that effectively tracks and
manages the components of a proposal.  Since you do not have a
routing mechanism, if you are emailing documents among PIs,
departmental research administrators and your central research
office, your local network might not support the size of the
documents (you could get a lot of "bounce-backs").

Keep in mind the helpfulness of the business validation rules that
are built in to the programs offered by the service providers.  When
creating a proposal in one of these programs, potential errors
(formatting errors and the like that might lead to your proposal
being rejected once the proposal hits NIH's servers) are identified
before submission of an application takes place. This has been a
helpful feature in the eCGAP proposals that we have submitted to
NIH.  My understanding is that a service provider;s validation
capabilities are just not as robust as what you can expect from
grants.gov.  Keep in mind that grants.gov is meant to eventually
serve every single type of grant application for all Federal grant-
making agencies.

Without getting into a fight about which is better, Windows or Mac,
currently grants.gov does not offer a PureEdge viewer for Mac -
users.  Although there is a requirement that R01s be submitted via
grants.gov as of October 2006, a Mac-based PureEdge viewer is not
expected until November 2006.  The PC-emulator route for Macs is not
a credible solution (that has been grants.gov's current
recommendation for Mac users).  Something that is being implemented
this month I believe is a Citrix-based solution to get Mac-based
proposal to grants.gov.  Here is a link to NIH that talks about this:
http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/faq_software.htm

eCGAP is the program at NIH, through an SBIR grant process, that
funded the development of System-to-System solutions for NIH
applications submission.  Vendors like Cayuse (the folks marketing
GrantSlam) were recipients of SBIR funds to develop the eCGAP
solutions.  I believe their work started before grants.gov initiative
became law in 2002.  They relate to the grants.gov initiative is that
they have developed this more "refined" proposal systems that are
being re-tooled to be able to submit via grants.gov.  If you have
submitted NIH applications electronically up to this point, you have
been submitting directly to NIH via the NIH Commons.

I think a good way to describe the service providers is something
akin to a tax preparation program (like TurboTax).  They help you
manage your data more efficiently so that you can more easily submit
grant applications.

A good way to understand grants.gov is like a post office.  All that
grants.gov is doing is stamping and sending your proposal to the
correct Federal agency.  The grant development and "business
validation" tools provided in grants.gov  are a very minimal level of
support, and I think that many larger institutional users who have
higher volumes of proposals across a lot of departments might be
challenged by using the "free" solution.

We have submitted three proposals under the current eCGAP system
using healthproposal.net.  What was stressful about using the system
was the "fear of the unknown" factor.  After we submitted the first
proposal, I realized that our concerns were more about process
management (i.e. who will be creating the PDFs for uploading) than
technical in nature.  In fact, submitting an NIH application
electronically that normally would require hundreds of pages of paper
plus a visit to FedEx reduced a lot of stress and the potential for
human error.

I have not been happy with how the eCGAP vendors have directly sent
emails to PIs soliciting them to try the respective submission
systems.  This has created somewhat of a panic mentality among some
in the PI community.

Also apropos this conversation, at some point all Federal grant-
making agencies will be switching to grants.gov submission (this
means, no more Fastlane for NSF submissions at some point).  NSF has
been saying they will not require submission via grants.gov until the
quality of its submission system is sufficient for the agency.  This
is another factor at why to take a look at this system-to-system
vendors; I don't think the plan is to make submitting via grants.gov
as comprehensive and relatively easy as a Fastlane submission.

Lots of information, but there is a complex set of issues to be
considered at each institutions.  I encourage folks to analyze their
respective institution's needs to determine the best solution.

>
> On Dec 7, 2005, at 8:05 AM, Plotkin, Pamela T. wrote:
>
>> Although I do not have direct experience with any of the service
>> providers beyond what I have read on their websites, it may not be
>> such
>> a bad idea to rely on one or more service providers while
>> Grants.gov is
>> "working out the bugs".
>>
>> The service providers typically provide you with a much easier web-
>> based
>> platform to work from and they are the ones who transmit your
>> information to Grants.gov.  It is true that they are one more
>> layer, but
>> they will facilitate the process and may in fact be the most critical
>> layer. If anyone has info suggesting otherwise please share!
>>
>> Our first Grants.gov proposal submission took us 4 hours from
>> start to
>> finish because we had "corrupt" files and had to retype.  This
>> problem
>> is not unique to my office, other folks have had similar experiences.
>>
>> If you have the money to invest in a service provider, I think it
>> is a
>> wise decision to pursue this option until the whole Grants.gov
>> process
>> is smoother, particularly if your university has high volume.
>>
>> My 2 cents.
>>
>> Pam
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Pamela Plotkin, Ph.D.
>> Assistant Vice President for Research and
>> Director of Sponsored Programs
>> East Tennessee State University
>> Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
>> Box 70565
>> Johnson City, TN 37614-1707
>> phone: 423-439-6000
>> fax: 423-439-6050
>> email: xxxxxx@mail.etsu.edu
>> http://www.etsu.edu/research
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
>> Behalf Of Mary Watson
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 10:07 AM
>> To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
>> Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Question about GrantSlam?
>>
>> Sounds like you are adding one more layer between you and the
>> grantor -
>> just
>> one more instance for things to go wrong!  I can't see the value.
>>
>> Mary H. Watson
>> Director
>> Grants and Contracts
>> Valdosta State University
>> Valdosta, GA  31698
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
>> Behalf Of
>> Lucretia Hollingshed
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 9:33 AM
>> To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
>> Subject: [RESADM-L] Question about GrantSlam?
>>
>> Good Morning,
>>
>> I wanted to ask you thoughts on GrantSlam.  Any information you
>> can give
>> me would benefit me.
>>
>> Is there anyone who received requests from faculty to use
>> GrantSlam as
>> the submission system to grants.gov?  Our faculty are insisting on
>> using
>> this program.  Our position is grants.gov does not need a system
>> to be
>> an intermediate to grants.gov so why waste the effort to use it.
>> If you
>> have used GrantSlam for the initial pilots that were done last year
>> eCGAP program is this necessary now?  The literature I have read
>> states
>> that GrantSlam 8 is coming out later June 2006 that allows you to
>> submit
>> for grants.gov requirements.
>>
>> Any thoughts you have about GrantSlam would be appreciated.  My
>> thoughts
>> are that GrantSlam is just a vendor and is trying to sell its
>> services
>> through the faculty.  Are there any benefits to having GrantSlam
>> versus
>> using grants.gov alone.
>>
>> Lucretia Hollingshed
>> Preaward Specialist
>> Grants & Contracts Office
>> Mercer University
>> Macon, GA  31207
>> xxxxxx@mercer.edu
>>

Michael Kusiak
Contracts and Grants Analyst
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
University of California
132 Barker Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-3190

Phone: 510.643.6383
Fax: 510.643.4966
Email: xxxxxx@berkeley.edu

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