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Re: Grants.gov issues and problems Graydon Kirk 08 Nov 2005 12:03 EST

Hello All,

PL 106-107 sunsets in November of 2007.  At NCURA, I asked OMB if there are
plans to extend this legislation and the indication was that there are no
plans that they are aware of.  This same question was asked by others in
subsequent meetings.

Without a PL 106-107, I am concerned that the improvements gained thus far
will be diluted with "exceptions", etc over time.  I would suggest that PL
106-107 be extended with an additional requirement that agencies provide OMB
with information on their legislative requirements for administering grants
so that further standardizations might be achieved over the next 5 years or
so.

The momentum we have is recognized across all agencies, FDP, NCURA, etc.
This is a real opportunity to strategize and coordinate efforts.  As part of
this effort, I would suggest that serious consideration be given to a review
of the NIH timeline.  Everyone understands the goal and we need a firm
deadline, but the deadlines were set before the detailed plans (agencies,
vendors, service providers, grantee institutions, etc) were in place to
insure an achievable timeline.  Even under the best of circumstances, this
is going to be very difficult.

We need a Grants.gov test system for training purposes.  This need is known
to Grants.gov and I think they have plans to address this.

I would suggest that a full R01 stress test be designed and executed to
verify that Grants.gov will have adequate bandwidth when they have their
eight servers in place next year.

We need to know what the contingency plans are at Grants.gov, at the
agencies and at the intersection points (if our server fails, can we still
get our proposals in, etc).  Also, how will the return loop be implemented?
I suspect that for the foreseeable future that communications after the
proposal arrives at the agency will be direct from agency to grantee
institution.

Thank you for the comment opportunity!

Graydon Kirk
xxxxxx@emory.edu
 =========================================================================
-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On Behalf Of
Robert Beattie
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 10:03 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Grants.gov issues and problems

Note that the Grants.gov Director said at the September FDP meeting
that they would be offering a temporary Citrix solution by December
1, 2005.  This is being done with help from NIH eRA staff.  Moreover,
she said that PureEdge would have a native Mac (and other non-
windows) solution by November of 2006.  Too bad that is a month after
the Big R01 deadline.

Also, are you really planning to have PI "submit applications from
their own computers?"  Perhaps you might want to have the grants
office staff submit the applications.

Nevertheless, the PI's and their support staff will need to be able
to download the application files with PureEdge in order to complete
them.

Bob
xxxxxx@umich.edu

On Nov 8, 2005, at 9:32 AM, Jon Hart wrote:

Our biggest problem is that 50% of our investigators use the MAC
platform,
and grants.gov (specifically the PureEdge software) is designed to be
used
with a Windows PC.  The MAC "fix" doesn't really work, and we are
looking
into buying a Citrix server (approx. $40K), buying everyone a PC, and
other
ways to allow MAC users to submit applications from their own computers.
Major, major problem for us.

Joni.

Jon Hart, M.P.A., C.I.P.
Senior Director
Office of Sponsored Programs Administration
Human Subjects Protections Program
The Rockefeller University
email:  xxxxxx@mail.rockefeller.edu
Tel:  (212) 327-8054; fax:  (212) 327-8400

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of
Rochelle R Athey
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 6:04 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Grants.gov issues and problems

Dear all:

The State of Texas has been offered the opportunity to meet with GAO to
discuss implementation issues related to PL106-107 and the Governor's
Office
graciously invited UT Austin to participate in the opportunity to share
information with GAO.

This is a great opportunity to be heard by an organization that might be
able to help us with Grants.gov implementation.

I have collected information about Grants.gov issues from the FDP
website
and NCURA (and I have scoured resadm-l archives).

Nevertheless, I would like to obtain more data from you, the people
who most
often work with Grants.gov and ponder its usefulness or lack thereof.

Do any of you have a summary list of Grants.gov problems available?

I have already noted in my written materials for GAO that there are
issues
with bandwidth, difficulties with the SF424 R&R, CCR registration
problems,
and communication problems between federal agencies and Grants.gov on
what
is needed to move forward on the project.

What else should I communicate?  GAO seems particularly interested in
the
following problems (not exclusively focused on Grants.gov):  the
proliferation of agency electronic systems, system-to-system
interfaces with
Grants.gov, and lack of coordination among federal agencies re
information
to be submitted.

Please forward comments and concerns to me prior to November 11th so
I can
include them in the discussion with GAO.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Rochelle R. Athey
The University of Texas at Austin
Associate Director, Sponsored Projects
PO Box 7726
Austin, TX 78713-7726
512-471-6448
512-471-6564 fax

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======================================================================
 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")
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