NACOP—August 18-19, 2010 Grants.gov & NIFA: the systems/tips

1. NACOP—August 18-19, 2010Grants.gov & NIFA: the systems/tips Grants.gov searches and the application process Role ARIS plays in grant applications & awards Marcie Currie-Gross, Northern Plains Area Extramural Agreements Specialist “Making Agreements Work for You”

2. What’s listed in grants.gov? **DOD, DOE and NASA will sometimes require proposal submission through their own websites; the SY’s must be registered with these entities (separate from grants.gov registration). • 26 federal agencies posting program announcements • Agriculture (USDA) • Defense (DOD)** • Energy (DOE)** • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • Interior (DOI) • National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)** • National Institutes of Health (NIH) • 21 categories of grant opportunities are listed • Agriculture • Energy • Environmental Quality • Food and Nutrition • Health • Natural Resources • Science and Technology Grants.gov does have links to the NIFA/AFRI announcements

6. Application Instructions & Package

7. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) • Formerly the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) • The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) program announcements are listed • Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR): how does it apply to ARS?

8. SBIR Fee and the ARIS entry 2.5% is assessed on the outgoing funds when the Funding Project is any D project (appropriated in-house funds). The 2.5% is used for the Small Business Innovation Research Program. 11 Federal agencies participate in the SBIR Program (required by law—it is not just a matter of ARS administrators assessing a fee).

9. Zero SBIR fee when using incoming funds When Incoming funds (“soft funds”) are used to fund an outgoing agreement, the Funding Project is not assessed the 2.5% SBIR fee. It’s important to know and remember this because it does become a factor when grant proposal funds are used to fund outgoing agreements (the grant proposal budget and budget justification).

10. Regional Projects: IR-4 • Check the Full Announcement in the Request for Applications (RFA) for specific information/links regarding a regional project grant program • Interregional Research Project-4 Minor Crop Pest Management Program • Regional Centers are a key component to success due to geographical limitations on minor and specialty crop production • Each region has environmental factors which un-alterably influence which crops can be feasibly grown there • Awardees will be expected tobuild on the successes and capacitydeveloped by the Minor Crop Pest Management, IR-4 Program. • Progress reports and a strategic plancan be foundat the web site: www.ir4.rutgers.edu • North Central (NC):Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin • Western (W):Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Marianas, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

11. Multiple “Priorities” & NIFA Letters of Intent

12. We found a program of interest; now what? • NIFA requires a Letter of Intent (sometimes the SY’s will refer to this as a “Pre-Proposal”) • There’s a deadline: who do we notify and how • Is ARIS needed (Incoming Agreement Form (IAF), formerly called the ARS-425), for a Letter of Intent/Pre-Proposal (“encouraged” or “discouraged” response from NIFA) • What information is required in the Letter of Intent • Are there multiple ARS scientists across research units or other locations who will be participating • The full proposal has already been submitted, do we still need to enter the IAF

13. The content in a NIFA Letter of Intent

14. NIFA LOI & related ARIS entry info

15. NIFA LOI & related ARIS entry info

16. NIFA LOI & related ARIS entry info

17. 215 LOI’s received • 86 discouraged from submitting • 129 encouraged to submit • 129 encouraged to submit • 15 awarded • 114 rejected proposals

19. The SY decides to go for it! • Enter the ARIS IAF immediately!! • Make sure registration in grants.gov is complete/current • Download/print the instructions for the Program Area • Go through those instructions and highlight the most important or relevant parts • Pay attention to the restrictions, limitations, or suggestions • If they recommend templates and provide a link—go get that template (life will be easier and less chance of proposal rejection due to errors) • Ask for help and proof read multiple times (use someone not familiar with the research as they will find things that don’t match up or make sense—budgets and budget justification) • Working with multiple partners will be challenging • Allow plenty of time to write and edit

20. Explanations about overhead costs restrictions (applicable to university partners who normally assess 40% or more are now restricted, usually to 22% overhead); travel, supplies/materials, funding periods, etc. Everything the scientist asks about is in the instructions/guidelines.

22. Starting the application preparation • Application Filing Name:whatever name you want to use, it’s for your use only. • Mandatory fields are highlighted in yellow. • Mandatory Documents for the proposal are on the left side of the screen and they must be moved (one by one) to the right side of the screen so they can be opened and data entry completed.

23. Program Code Name and Program Code(Entering them correctly is extremely critical) • Check the Request For Applications (RFA) announcement for the correct Program Code Nameand Program Code (it’s usually the last 2-3 pages). • These are not the same as the Funding Opportunity Number or Catalog (CFDA) codes. • It’s always a required field and must exactly match the Name and Code listed in the RFA.

25. Required fields have help boxes

26. Form sections turn “white” when completed

27. Form completion information • Complete Congressional District info is vital when working with multiple partners (call the County Court House for Congressional District info if it is not known—usually the Voter Registration section). • Signature and Date blocks: automatically propagates the information into the system when the Submit process is completed (based upon the AOR duties assigned in the system under the Area’s DUNS number).

28. ► Read the instructions carefully; it explains who should be listed in this section.► This is particularly important later on when there are cooperators with sub-award budget entries and budget justifications. • Double-check to ensure the appropriate Budget Period info is entered. • There is no mechanism to highlight and delete a full line; each block within the line must be deleted individually.

29. Each budget block has been entered, so why won’t it go to the next Budget Period?

30. Adding another Budget Period

31. Package completion feature for multiple partners on a grant proposal submission

32. Submitting the completed application • Use the Check Package for Errors button first. • Click on the Save button after checking for errors and save the application package to the hard drive. • The Save & Submit button will transition from gray to black to allow for application submission (the application package cannot be submitted until this happens).

33. Note the validation message received from grants.gov Grants.gov received the application package, but it still has to make it to the NIFA program for acceptance.

34. The e-mail message below is received from the granting organization (in this case it is from the NIFA program). There is a difference in the e-mails received from grants.gov and NIFA, so be very aware of all e-mail notifications received.

35. The role of ARIS • The NIFA Letter of Intent (or “Pre-Proposal”) stage does not require entry of the IAF • It is helpful/useful to forward the NIFA Letter of Intent and subsequent memo/e-mail to the Agreements Specialist so the Area is aware of the submission (future reports) • The IAF is required when the SY will submit a proposal (to a Non-profit, grants.gov, DOD, DOE, NASA, etc.) • Line management approval is required from all applicable levels prior to submitting the proposal (not after the fact) • List all ARS scientists/locations participating in the proposal (linked to the Primary Agreement Holder field and designation as Yes or No) • Universities: will the university submit the proposal or will ARS • If it is ARS and the university will receive funds via a sub-award from the Prime Grant awarded to ARS: requires additional data entry in ARIS

36. ARIS/Incoming Agreement Form

37. The more information the better. Tell line management which ARS Locations/Scientists and the approximate amount that SY/Location will receive if the proposal is funded; working across ARS Areas is great—it is not a problem (Agreements staff will work to get it put together and flow the funds accordingly). Funds requested are rarely awarded, most likely the figures will change.

38. SOF/Funds tab: this Unit will show only the amount that will be retained at their Location for their portion of the project (including any sub-awards from your ARS unit to your SY’s university partners). • Other ARS units will show their portion of the budget for their part of the project in their own separate IAF (including sub-awards from their ARS SY to their university).

39. What does the information tell us to watch for? • Who is the PI submitting the proposal (ARS or University) • Will this be a Primary Agreement Holder (PAH) Yes or No entry • Will some of the funds coming in to this Area SY be used to fund an outgoing cooperative agreement

40. Primary Agreement Holder (PAH) = No and the PAH Log Number is unknown: The other ARS Units/Locations participating on a grant proposal can still enter their own separate IAF’s to document participation on the grant proposal and to obtain line management review/approval. The IAF can be revised to include the PAH Log Number later on (so don’t delay or stop entry because the PAH is not available at the time of data entry).

41. The Original SOF is not ARS (or USDA, etc.); only the Direct SOF should be entered (using AFRI in this example). The funds will be awarded to ARS (all ARS parties involved), and the PAH = Yes and PAH = No and dollar amounts reflect the flow of funds accordingly.

42. Select Both when incoming funds will be retained by ARS and sub-awarded to a university or other cooperating partner. Enter the Non ARS Performing Organization information, including the amount of the sub-award to the cooperating partner (this should match the grant proposal budget and budget justification information).

43. Space is limited, but a description of what the university will do on the grant proposal project is required.

44. This grant proposal will flow differently from the previous two we just looked at: TAMU will submit the proposal to AFRI and the ARS SY’s will be Co-PI’s receiving a sub-award (from the Prime Grant awarded to TAMU). In addition, ARS will issue a separate sub-award to Oklahoma State University (after ARS receives the incoming funds via TAMU).

45. ARS Primary Agreement Holder (PAH): If your ARS unit will receive the incoming funds (either directly awarded or via a sub-award from the university), then the PAH = Yes. If another ARS unit will receive the incoming funds, and “distribute” the funds to your unit, then the PAH = No (IAF’s will be “linked” by the agreement number).

46. AFRI will award the funds to TAMU under the Prime Grant. • TAMU will sub-award the ARS portion of $407,055 via a sub-award under the Prime Grant. • ARS will then sub-award the Oklahoma State University funds ($307,000) after ARS receives its incoming funds from TAMU (which won’t happen until after TAMU receives its funds from AFRI). • It is not a speedy process, every party involved needs to be patient.

47. Check the Work to be Performed block to ensure it reflects an outgoing agreement with a university (Both should be selected—per the red arrow above). • Check the Non ARS Performing Organization information to ensure the University named in the Comments and on the grant proposal match; check the dollar amount (many times the amount entered here doesn’t align with the grant proposal or Comments block—approximate is okay because it will be revised once the grant is awarded, but being off by thousands of dollars is not good).

48. Coding: the relevant 417 codes Not all related in-house D project codes apply; use only the ones that are relevant to the project proposal for the IAF submission.

49. Create Work Record-Amendment: adding the AIMS for the first time or a subsequent action that will require ARS and the Cooperator to sign the amendment record • Create Work Record-Correction: there is a typo, or to update the related in-house project number/codes • Create Work Record-Non AIMS: adding the 416/417 to an Interagency (FS, DOE, NRCS) or when receiving funds directly from NIFA/AFRI; or when revising a Research, No Funds to ARS from Pending to Active (also applies to CRADA’s) • Create Work Record-Closeout: only the Agreements Specialist can use this • Unfund Incoming Agreements: the proposed project has received notification that it will not be awarded (includes Research, No Funds) • Terminate Incoming Agreements: the agreement has reached its Term Date and is complete • Expire Incoming Agreements: the agreement has reached its Term Date and needs to be closed by the Agreements Specialist

50. AIMS: Purpose & Benefits • Streamlines approval processes • E-Review of IAF and 115’s (implementing for other ARIS submissions) • Eliminates use of multiple software programs • Retaining separate files in Word, Excel, etc. • Provides uniformity in agreement packages • Universities have begun to tell other Federal agencies about the way ARS is conducting business (via e-mail & standardized agreement packages) • Reduces/Eliminates paper processes • E-Green File (see handout for specific screen prints/info—very new!) • Facilitates use of electronic submissions/distribution of agreements • Utilizing e-mail to expedite agreement turn-around between ARS and our Cooperators; processing to NFC and ARS staff at Location, etc. • Cost savings (paper, printing/duplication, postage/overnight mail) • Eliminates burdensome data calls (inquiries from OMB, Congress, etc.) Data retention in the agency’s official database