Re: leadtime for review of Grants.gov proposals Ivona Jukic 28 Nov 2007 13:57 EST

Bob,

Here is a horror story that appeared in both Boston Globe
(http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/02/technicality_may_end_s
tudent_program/) and the Chronicle of Higher Education
(http://chronicle.com/news/article/3360/grant-application-rejected-as-46-min
utes-late-may-cost-some-students)  and transmitted in the Miner and
Associates e-newsletter. I am also including this short synopsis in the FAQ
page on "Why do I have to start internal review process a week before the
deadline?" topic.

GRANTS.GOV GOOF-UP
We hate it when this happens.
The Chronicle of Higher Education cited a November 2nd story in the Boston
Globe where a $300,000 grant application to the U.S. Department of Education
was rejected because it was submitted to Grants.gov 46 minutes late.
The applicant, Choice Thru Education, has been providing academic skill
building support to low-income students for the past 40 years. Enraged at
this "bureaucratic technicality," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) complained
unsuccessfully to the Department of Education, where Assistant Secretary
Diane Jones explained "We do not have the discretion to waive the deadline
nor the flexibility to alter Grants.gov requirements."
Unless your name is Rip Van Winkle, you know that there are problems with
Grants.gov and we've detailed many of them in prior Grantseeker Tip issues.
The safest way to avoid electronic submission problems with federal grants
is to self-impose a deadline three to seven days in advance of the actual
deadline.
Always expect last minute problems. Remember: Murphy was an optimist!
(Grantseekert Tips #223, www.MinerAndAssociates.com , November 27, 2007)

Ivona Jukic
Pre-Award and Compliance Coordinator
Graduate Studies and Research
Phone  318.342.1036
Fax        318.342.1042
Email  xxxxxx@ulm.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of
Robert Beattie
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:07 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] leadtime for review of Grants.gov proposals

I hope other institutions have a policy of just not sending
applications that come after the internal deadline.  More chance for
ours to be successful :)  We will do everything possible to get an
application to the sponsor.  We have a 4 day requirement for the
complete Grants.gov application to be in our server prior to the
sponsor deadline.  If it is there a minuter prior to the deadline, we
will still try to submit it.  Deal with problems later.  However, if
a late arriving submission fails after our best efforts, we do not
take responsibility.

We have had a couple arrive late and have errors.  Luckily NIH allows
late submissions, if the original deadline is met.  I'll bet they
will begin to cut down on this and someday in the near future, will
not allow a late second submission.  The sooner the better.

In the meantime, we explain to PI's that it is in THEIR best
interests to get applications in early as these Agency computer
deadlines are firm.  We can now relate the story of those folks in
Boston, plus a couple of near run submissions here.

Anyone have a case of missing a Grants.gov deadline.  A few of these
to share with PI's would help prove that best interest story.

Bob
xxxxxx@umich.edu

On Nov 28, 2007, at 10:53 AM, Bloomberg, Robert wrote:

But I think the real questions are:

How many PI's get it to you within the number of days set out in your
policy, and

What is your approach if they don't

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org]On Behalf
Of Jon Teuber
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:36 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] leadtime for review of Grants.gov proposals

Our office recently instituted a similar policy - three working days
prior to the
deadline date (to give us a full four days when you include the
submission
date).  We didn't survey, but googled policies at other
institutions.  We found
that many use a five-day policy, and several were between 3 and 7 days.

Jon Teuber
Associate Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago

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 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
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