I agree.  People are complaining about the agencies, when we have
Congress to thank for this mess--although they meant well, I expect.

Another thing to consider is that each agency has its own set of
guidance regulations applicable to it . . . Some agencies (like NIH) are
doing a better job than others in their attempts to comply with the law
and their specific regulatory guidance documents and still serve their
grantees to the best of their ability.

But they have a short time-line for the transition, so we're having to
deal with some less-than-satisfactory procedures during this period.  I
am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic that things will get better next year when the
agencies have time to "tweak" their systems.

Debbie

Deborah (Debbie) L. Smith, Ed.D.
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research
Research Administration
910 Madison, Suite 823
Memphis, TN  38163
901 448-5587
901 448-7600 fax
xxxxxx@utmem.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On
Behalf Of Young,Elaine M
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 10:27 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] An open complaint about HHS electronic
application processes

Grants.gov was developed in response to a Congressional mandate and is
not the brainchild of NIH or any other single agency.

The Office of Management and Budget issued a Notice related to the
"Grants Streamlining Activities under PL 106-107, Federal Financial
Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999" - here is the link.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/preamble2.html

It proposed "a standard format for federal agencies in announcing
discretionary grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities"

And thus, G.g was born.  I think the main problem stems from each agency
trying to fit it's own requirements into the G.g format and still get
the information they need.

Another example of government simplifying.

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On
Behalf Of Charlie Hathaway
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 11:00 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] An open complaint about HHS electronic
application processes

I do NOT concur.  I disagree that the new system was established to
simplify things.  And I think your complaints about NIH are very
short-sighted.  Improvements in anything are often difficult to deal
with at first.  But NIH has done a very good job.

Focus on other federal agencies without the NIH Commons-type
capabilities, and then I will sign on.

Charlie

> Winona State University is not a member of COGR.  I represent a small,

> one-and-a-half person mid-sized teaching-focused institution.  Still
> I'm dealing with the same problems that major research universities
> are experiencing.  If anyone could forward this message on to Council
> on Government Relations (COGR) - or to any other individual or
> organization you can think of that might be of help - feel free to do
so.
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>
>
> The Department of Health and Human Services is violating the basic
> principle behind creating grants.gov.
>
>
>
> First, NIH came up with their ERA Commons System.  You must be
> registered in the ERA system to apply.  To apply, you submit an
> application through grants.gov, then you have to login to the ERA
> Commons to verify you have no warnings or errors that must be
corrected.
> If you do, you have to re-apply through grants.gov, then go to ERA to
> check for warnings and errors (which may not be the ones you were
> informed about previously), then you have to re-apply through
> grants.gov, and so on and so on.  Applying to NIH means research
> administrators, authorizing officials and principal investigators all
> have to learn two systems.  (Oh, you also end up with a grants.gov
> tracking number and a different ERA number.)
>
>
>
> Now HRSA is requiring electronic submission and has an Electronic
> Handbook (EHB) system.  A recent deadline was an absolute nightmare.
> Again, the authorizing official and principal investigator must be
> registered with EHB.  (Oh, by the way, anybody can register and
> designate themselves to be an authorizing official.)  Again, to apply,

> you submit an application through grants.gov, then you have to login
> to EHB to complete your application.  I have a PI with multiple
> registrations because he received poor instructions from the help desk

> (on hold wait time for every call was 20-25 minutes) and there does
> not appear to be any way to delete the extra ones.  And of course,
> your application has one tracking number for grants.gov and another
> one for HRSA.
>
>
>
> Using grants.gov was supposed to simplify things, because applicants
> would use one application system and not have to learn separate ones.
> With HHS, we're using grants.gov and needing to register and learn
> different electronic systems for each funding source within the
> department...systems that are incredibly un-user-friendly and have
> woefully inadequate support services.
>
>
>
> As I said, HHS is violating the basic principle behind having
> grants.gov in the first place.  All they are doing is adding on a
> grants.gov requirement in addition to each funding source's own
application system.
> It seems the result of the paperwork reduction act is an electric work

> explosion.  Any assistance you could provide to initiate changes in
> this multiple application systems practice would be greatly
appreciated.
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> Nancy Kay Peterson, Director
>
> Grants & Sponsored Projects (G&SP)
>
> Winona State University
>
> Somsen Hall 212
>
> Winona, MN  55987
>
> Phone: 507.457.5519
>
> Fax:     507.457.5586
>
> http://www.winona.edu/grants
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ======================================================================
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> 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")
======================================================================

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