August 30, 2022 | Office of Sponsored Programs

Grants.gov Migration and Downtime 

Dear Researchers, please note the following communication from NIH:

The Grants.gov website will migrate its systems and data to the cloud and therefore will be unavailable from September 23, at 12:01 a.m. ET to September 29, at 11:59 p.m. ET. More details on the migration are available here. 

To mitigate the impact of this downtime, NIH and AHRQ due dates that fall on or between September 22 and September 30 will move to October 3. Note that funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) will not reflect this change in dates; the guide notice serves as official notification and will be added as a related notice in active FOAs.

Impact on and advice for applicants/recipients

• Applicants will be unable to track application status or access opportunities in Grants.gov.
• Applicants should use the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts to search for opportunities.
• The two-week window of consideration associated with the NIH Late Application Policy (when applicable) will be calculated from the original due dates.
• The two-day application viewing window in eRA Commons will continue to function as normal for applications successfully submitted through Grants.gov. 
• Applicants are reminded to reject their application in eRA Commons, if a corrective submission is planned prior to the October 3 due date. 
• Otherwise, it may be necessary to officially withdraw their application to submit a changed/corrected application prior to the due date. Applicants are encouraged to use the Prior Approval module if they need to officially withdraw.
• Applicants planning to submit to NIH under the Continuous Submission policy should take this downtime into account. The Continuous Submission application receipt period end date for the September 7 AIDS application due date (January Advisory Council) remains October 1 and therefore automatically moves forward to October 3.
• ASSIST users can initiate and prepare applications, but will not be able to complete the submission. Users will receive an error message if they attempt to submit the application. 
• Grants.gov Workspace users will be unable to access Workspace to initiate/prepare/submit applications.
• Applicants are reminded that they can work on application attachments and pull together all needed materials, so they are ready to enter their information as soon as Grants.gov returns to service.
• The Application Form Instructions on the How To Apply – Application Guide page and the Annotated Form Sets include images of each form that can be used for reference.
• Applicants using System-to-System (S2S) providers will not be able to submit but may be able to initiate and prepare applications. These users must consult their S2S provider with any technical questions during the downtime. 
• If applicants encounter any issues with submission following Grants.gov’s return to service (e.g., Grants.gov message indicating the opportunity is closed), they should contact the eRA Service Desk for assistance. 

Resources

• NIH Guide Notice: NOT-OD-22-190: Adjustments to NIH and AHRQ Grant Application Due Dates Between September 22 and September 30
• Nexus article: Extended Grants.gov Downtime Impacts September 22-30 Due Dates

Kai Jackson, MS

Assistant Director, Office of Sponsored Programs 

Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute 

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago 

225 East Chicago Avenue, Box 271, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2605 

T: 312/503.7047  | F: 312/503.7059 | E:  [email protected]

https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/research/