I don't see how the chair's signature, electronic or paper, could be
eliminated.  If faculty members can submit applications without the
chair's consent, the chair loses all ability to plan for meeting
the department's teaching and financial responsibilities, and the chair's
boss consequently loses the capacity to hold the chair responsible for
anything. Presumably ERA will hasten grant submission by eliminating the
task of carrying documents from one office to the next; but we shouldn't
sacrifice the basic management controls that any organization needs to
operate effectively.  Yes, the creativity of faculty members should be
unleashed by minimizing control over their research and scholarly
activity; but the university remains an organization, and that means the
labor and ambition of individuals are subordinated--"coordinated" may go
down easier--to the ends of some larger unit like a department or school.