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

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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")
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