Since I never hesitate to share complaints, I feel obliged to share the information that I had a grants.gov submission (my first) that went quite smoothly.  This was an application for an NEH Digital Humanities Grant.

The proposal was due 1/17 and we submitted on 1/11.  There were no glitches, and the confirmation e-mail was immediate.  I also received e-mails saying the proposal had been assigned a grants.gov, tracking number, and later an e-mail saying it had been "picked up" by NEH.  I never received an e-mail about an NEH tracking number, so a few days later I logged into grants.gov and went to "check application status."  There I found that we had been assigned an agency tracking number.

The only hassle I had with submission was having to spend a fair amount of time standing at a scanner to get all the CVs and letters and work plan and reading list into a single appendix document.  I had scanned the items individually as they came in to me, but then I found NEH wanted them to be in a single PDF that could not be created by merging all the PDF files.  (Yes, the directions specifically said "do not embed any additional .pdf files within any of the attachments.)  It was not logical to have all these items in one file, especially since more attachment buttons were available that would have allowed a file for CVs, a file for letters, etc.  However, they wanted it all in one appendix, so that's what I provided.

I have the pleasure of being blessed with a history professor who is well-organized and willing to be ready early with his submissions.  I told him we had to be early because I had never submitted via grants.gov before and I was sure I would have some kind of problem.  I was pleasantly surprised that it went as well as it did.

Landy

__________________________
Landy C. Johnson, MPA, Ph.D.
Director of Grant Development
Assumption College, Alumni Hall 024
500 Salisbury St.
Worcester, MA  01609-1296
(508)767-7666
xxxxxx@assumption.edu
http://www.assumption.edu/research

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