Carole:

We had a similar problem on Monday 4/16 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm through
Grants.gov.  We attempted to submit six or more times before getting
results.

**Skip to the bottom area called "Long Story Short" if you wish to omit the
lengthy and painful details***

1) We were trying to upload a file with (optional) attachments that the PI
insisted we must include that were 36 megs.  The system just could not
handle that and we ended up lopping that non-mandatory portion off.
(Nowhere in the g.gov system guidelines does it state that files size is
limited for uploads.  We figured this out through trial and error.)

2) FINALLY we were able to get the submission through or so we thought
since we received a confirming message that it was submitted.

3) AFTER the deadline we received several more messages stating
"VIRUSDETECT FATAL Error Type: VIRUS DETECT Error Message:
DefaultValidationHandler found problems" - the submission was rejected due
to a "virus"

4) As far as the help desk, forget it we never got through on the deadline
date.

5) DAMAGE CONTROL:
After much hubbub, an irate PI, and several heart attacks later, we did
reach the Program Officer (PO) who initially stated we should have started
sooner.  (HahŠtell it to the PI, SRO had 3 hrs for corrections and to get
it under the wire, not accounting for system problems....we aim to please
so all attempts were made to race it toward the finish line )

In addition, we were informed by the PO, since the electronic submission
was optional, a hard copy was acceptable. This granted extra time for the
PI to get the signed hard copies to the agency by 12 mid-night.  Luckily we
are located close enough the PI was able drive over to do this.

6) GOOD TO KNOW INFO:
Since we had the verification of the "Virus" message, the program officer
gave us a bit of "Good To Know Info" for THIS particular submission.  ("If
the grants.gov system is not operating properly, as in this case when they
informed you the submission would not go through due to a virus, applicants
are provided with one additional day to submit their application, assuming
the system is corrected that day)."

Unfortunately this piece of "Good to Know Info" is not written clearly
anywhere easily accessible that I know of!! Maybe someone else has seen it
and can point us to the exact paragraph.

In addition, there does not seem to be any "APBs" when the system backs up
or outages occur and there are no informational recordings on the help desk
phone queue while one is waiting for assistance.

LONG STORY SHORT:

Our SRO spent an extraordinary amount of time working on just ONE submission!

In the case of grants.gov, random error messages such as the "virus" detect
are generally bogus default messages produced by the g.gov server.  A virus
check of the proposal files proved there wasn't a virus.  G.govs inability
to validate on the backend most likely indicates that the system is not
operating properly.

We did receive four additional messages, the next day, indicating the
proposal did in fact validate.  Who knows what to believe since the g.gov
system appears to have pretty poor reliability.  As such, we requested that
the PO accept the paper copy as the final version since attachments would
not upload and the system messages delivered were contradictory.

Patrice Grossmann
Office of Research Development - ORAA
University of Maryland, College Park

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

At 5:51 PM -0500 5/17/05, Carole Knight wrote:
>OK, I'm going to chime in too.  I have been on hold for 70 minutes trying to
>talk to a real person at "support at grants.gov".
>
>Has anybody else had the following problem?  I submitted a grant application
>today via grants.gov and it did not go through twice.  On the third try, I
>got a confirmation.  Then I got four emails stating that two applications
>were received and validated.  For the application for which I received a
>confirmation,  I got a receipt email but then a rejection - stating that the
>file contained a virus.  The only application that actually was confirmed by
>grants.gov as submitted was rejected.
>
>I'm trying to figure out if the other two applications are complete -- and if
>so, how do I delete one of them?
>
>Over a week ago we had a similar problem where an application showed up as
>two different applications with different tracking numbers.  I called twice
>and left two voicemail messages and emailed grants.gov to try to determine
>what was going on.  I have yet to hear from anyone there.  They are still
>showing up as separate submissions on grants.gov.
>
>How do you folks ever manage to get a real person to talk to you at
>grants.gov?  A better grants.gov response team might help, especially when
>we're facing a deadline.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Carole
>
>
>
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