Everyone should send their experiences to COGR. Elaine Young, PhD Assistant Program Director for Research Development College of Medicine, University of Florida Room G1-004A P.O. Box 100215 Gainesville, Florida 32610-0215 (352) 273-5088 -----Original Message----- From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On Behalf Of Susan Anderson Rivaleau Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 2:48 PM To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG Subject: [RESADM-L] grants.gov/USDepartment of Education Hi, dear colleagues, We had a very frustrating experience Monday (5/9) in trying to submit a US Department of Education proposal electronically via grants.gov. I am wondering if others encountered similar problems with that USDEd program (Opportunity Number ED-GRANTS-032305-002) or any others in that timeframe. (Feel free to skip to the last paragraph if you wish!) Aware of the issues others have written about, I made sure to register early, including receiving confirmation that I had passed the "security clearance," and we thought we were set to submit. Although I am a newly authorized official for our institution, our office had been registered, my registration was acknowledged and my director received a message from grants.gov that she was the only person authorized to approve me as an AOR, and by April 25 we understood that she had done what she needed to do to approve me. After working with the PI throughout the day on May 9 (the USDEd due date), I hit the submit button with more than half an hour to spare -- but could not get the submission to go through. After finally getting someone on the telephone from grants.gov, who walked me through a final step that I had not known was applicable to me individually (through the business section of the registration module, I was told I had to authorize myself to be the authorized official, despite what we had earlier been told). Then I was to be fully able to submit -- but still the submission would not go through. By this time the 4:30 deadline had passed, but we didn't give up. The USDEd web site was down every time I checked that day (and had been most times I tried to check it over the previous two weeks), so I was unable to see who might be program contacts other than the Education Program Specialist listed on the proposal package. Since I could not look her up on the web site to phone her and only had an email address for her, on the same domain as the inaccessible agency web site, I tried emailing her. By this time more than an hour had passed since the deadline, but in the email message I requested authorization to submit the proposal on paper rather than electronically, due to the series of problems we were encountering; I commented that I would be surprised if we were the only people experiencing similar issues. Becuase we had spent so much time and energy trying to use the grants.gov submission system, The PI and I were worn out, and he didn't feel he could get the elements of the proposal ready to mail out until the next day, so we waited to hear. Tuesday morning I received a message from the Program Specialist, who reported that she had spoken with the chief administrator. Their position was that since the program did not require electronic submission of this proposal, they could only accept a paper submission if it were postmarked by midnight Monday, the deadline. Of course we had missed that deadline. But we wouldn't have missed it had we known the scope of the difficulties we would encounter with teh electronic submission process. It seems to me that it is unreasonable to expect folks to use a method of submission that seems so unreliable or too complex for intelligent people to use. I am a former Federal Grants Specialist, so I understand the issue of fairness to all applicants. Not having used the grants.gov submission module before, I could not have anticipated the level of difficulty that we would experience, and could not make a reasonable recommendation to our faculty member about method of filing. I am also far from a techno-phobe. The lesson I take from this is to make sure future submissions are made on paper and not to even bother with the electronic process -- but I know that option is being phased out. Maybe there should be a grace period for grants.gov first-timers (look at all the anxiety out there among RESADM posters on the subject!)... Before we make any further attempts on behalf of our faculty member to plead for acceptance of his proposal, can anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks, Susan -- Susan Anderson Assistant Director Office of Research & Grants Administration 66 George Street Charleston, South Carolina 29424 843-953-4973 (voice) 843-953-6577 (fax) xxxxxx@CofC.edu http://www.orga.cofc.edu/ ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================
