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Grantees (Post Award)-How To:
Basic Tasks in eRA Commons

1. To view Notice of Award

Notice of Award, or NoA, is the official grant award document notifying the grantee and others that a grant has been made. It contains or refers to all the terms and conditions of the grant, and provides the documentary basis for recording the obligation of federal funds in the agency's accounting system. When completing the eRA Commons registration process, an organization must fill in the Notice of Award e-mail field on the Grantee Organization Registration form. An error message will be generated if the user does not complete this field or completes the field using incorrect e-mail formatting. Notice of Award notification e-mails are sent to the specified e-mail address, which is displayed in the Institutional Profile within eRA Commons. This e-mail address may be modified by the institution's Signing Official (SO).

To view a Notice of Award within the eRA Commons system:

Note: Alternately, a query page generates a report of Issued Notice of Awards. The report shows awards made to your organization over a selected time period (you will need your IPF number in order to use this search feature).

2. To submit eSNAP (Electronic Streamlined Non-Competing Award Process)

For an SO to delegate authority to the PI to submit the eSNAP report:

To submit eSNAP:

The Submit eSNAP process allows the SO (or PI with eSNAP Submit Authority) to submit the eSNAP to NIH. The submitter must be the current eSNAP reviewer.

3. Submit Financial Conflict of Interest

The Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) module allows institutional users to initiate and prepare FCOI reports, electronically submit reports and supporting documents, search and view FCOI reports previously submitted through the eRA Commons, edit or rescind submitted reports with NIH involvement and access history of actions. The FCOI module is mandatory for all institutions.

Roles associated with FCOI:

For the SO to delegate FCOI authority:

To initiate a new FCOI notification:

This FCOI - Manage Notifications process is available to users with the FCOI role and/or FCOI ASST authority. If the FCOI user has multiple affiliations, he/she should only access grants associated with the institution that assigned the user the FCOI role. Grants assessable through the FCOI system are Latest, Awarded, and Active (not Withdrawn).

To submit new FCOI Notification (only available to users with FCOI roles):

4. To Submit Financial Status Report/Federal Financial Report

Background and Reporting Due Dates for NIH FFR Expenditure Data:

Effective Feb. 1, 2011, the Federal Financial Report (FFR) will replace the Financial Status Report (FSR), for reporting expenditure data to NIH for a given grant [See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-11-017]. Recipients of federal funds are required to report submit expenditure data using the FFR (form SF-425/SF-425A). If you are revising an FSR started or submitted prior to February 1, 2011, you will revise and submit the report in the FSR format, using form SF-269. The FSR/FFR module allows grantees to submit electronically a statement of expenditures associated with their grant to the sponsor of the grant via eRA Commons.

Note: The chart below captures the budget/project end dates for the majority of NIH awards. If your budget/project period does not end on the last of the month, please see instructions for calculating due dates in Reporting Requirements items 1 and 2.

Budget End Date

Final FFR Due Date
(90 Days)

Calendar Quarter End

Annual FFR Due Date
(90 Days after end of quarter)

1/31

5/1

3/31

6/30

2/28

5/29

3/31

6/30

3/31

6/29

3/31

6/30

4/30

7/29

6/30

9/30

5/31

8/29

6/30

9/30

6/30

9/28

6/30

9/30

7/31

10/29

9/30

12/31

8/31

11/29

9/30

12/31

9/30

12/29

9/30

12/31

10/31

1/29

12/31

3/31

11/30

2/28

12/31

3/31

12/31

3/31

12/31

3/31

 

FSR-related roles in eRA Commons:

Financial expenditure reports must be submitted electronically through Commons. The FSR role must be granted in order for the report to be accessible to a Commons user. The FSR role may be a separate account or it may also be combined with an SO role. It may not be combined with any other roles. Note that FSR has been replaced by FFR expenditure data, but the FSR role has not been renamed. The SO, Administrative Official (AO) or Account Administrator (AA) must create a separate FSR account in eRA Commons. Only an account with the FSR role assigned can perform FSR-related tasks.

Steps for the SO, AO or AA to add the FSR role to a person's profile:

Steps to submit a FSR/FFR:

Note: The Grant hyperlink will only show up 180 days prior to the end of the project period which then allows the user to work on the FSR/FFR form.

The FSR/FFR tab is only available to users who have been assigned the FSR role by their Signing Official, Administrative Official or Account Administrator. The form will pre-populate with information already in the eRA system. FSRs/FFRs can also be edited from the Closeout module.

5. To submit a No-cost Extension

The No-cost Extension (NCE) feature, accessed via the eRA Commons Extension screen, is an electronic means for a grantee organization to submit electronically a notification that they have exercised their one-time authority to extend without funds the final budget period of a project period of a grant. NCEs may be requested by the Signing Official only, no earlier than 90 days prior to the end date of the project and no later than the project's end date. After the one-time NCE has been exercised, any additional NCEs must be approved and processed by the Grants Management Specialist at the awarding NIH institute/center.

Steps for the SO to submit a No-cost Extension:

6. To close out your grant

Grants Closeout is a feature within eRA Commons that allows a grantee to file electronically the information necessary to complete grant closeout requirements. It interfaces with the Closeout system used by Agency staff to track and monitor this business process. NIH will close out grants as soon as possible after expiration of a grant that will not be extended or after termination of a grant. Closeout includes timely submission of all required reports and adjustments for amounts due the grantee or NIH. Closeout of a grant does not automatically cancel any requirements for property accountability, record retention, or financial accountability. Following Closeout, the grantee remains obligated to return funds due, because of later refunds, corrections, or other transactions, and the federal government may recover amounts based on the results of an audit covering any part of the period of grant support. Each required report can be submitted independently; however, Closeout is not complete until all reports have been submitted and accepted by the Awarding Office.

Steps for the PI and SO to locate the Grants Closeout link:

To search for grants requiring Closeout or to check the status of a recently closed grant:

For Application IDs that have an Action status of Requires Closeout, proceed with the following:

To submit Final Invention Statement:

You must submit a Final Invention Statement within 90 days following the termination of a grant award. The statement will include all inventions, which were conceived or first actually reduced to practice during the course of work under the grant award.

To submit Final Progress Report:

To submit final Financial Status Report/Federal Financial Report (FFR) Expenditure Data:

8. Steps to submit an electronic Relinquishing Statement (RS)

The Change of Institution process requires the institution giving up the grant to submit a Relinquishing Statement (RS). eRA Commons provides the ability to submit the RS electronically for processing by grants management staff. The institution receiving the grant also will be able to view this relinquishing statement in eRA Commons.

The Change of Institution process is initiated by the Signing Official (SO) for the original grantee institution that has agreed to relinquish responsibility for an active grant. This must occur before the expiration of the approved project period.

Here are the steps to submit an electronic Relinquishing Statement (RS):

  1. Log in to the eRA Commons.
  2. On the Commons’ Status screen, click on the Change of Institution hyperlink on the left.
  3. To find the grant to relinquish on the Status – Change of Institution screen, complete at minimum the required fields — Institution Code and Serial Num.
  4. Click the Search button.
  5. After the grant to be relinquished is found, click on the Manage Relinquishing Statement link on the Status Result – Change of Institution screen.
  6. On the Manage Relinquishing Statement screen, click the Start a new RS button.

NOTE: If an RS has already been submitted, a new RS cannot be submitted unless the prior Relinquishing Statement(s) has been acknowledged by the agency.

  1. On the Relinquishing Statement screen, complete the RS Form as follows:

    1. To complete the receiving institution's information, click the Search button in the New Institution Name section to search for the receiving institution within the eRA Commons database.

      1. On the New Institution - Search screen, type in the receiving institution's name, IPF or DUNS number and click the Search button.
      2. If the receiving institution is found, click on the receiving institution's IPF Code.
      3. If the receiving institution is not found, type the receiving institution's name in the New Institution Name text box and click the Insert button.

    2. NOTE: The Institutional Profile File (IPF) Code is used to link the submitted RS to the receiving institution and to make it viewable by the SO at the receiving institution.

      If the receiving institution is not registered in the eRA Commons (IPF Code is not provided), it may not receive notification and is not able to view the relinquishing statement until it is registered in the eRA Commons. The New Institution needs to register in the eRA Commons and contact the eRA Help Desk for assistance in linking the relinquishing statement to the new institution account.

    3. On the Relinquishing Statement screen complete the required fields: Contact Email at the Institution, Requested Termination Date (MMDDYYYY), Direct Cost $, and Indirect Cost $.
    4. Type ‘NONE’ in the Equipment Transferring with the Project section if there is no equipment to be transferred.
  1. Perform one of the following on the Relinquishing Statement screen:
    1. To save the RS, click the Save button.
    2. To cancel the RS, click the Cancel button.
  2. The RS can be routed to the Principal Investigator (PI) for additional information.  Look for the Change of Institution user guide that will be posted on or after April 20, 2012 at http://era.nih.gov/commons/user_guide.cfm.
  3. If no additional information is required, click the Submit button on the Relinquishing Statement screen to submit the Relinquishing Statement to the Agency.


This page last reviewed: April 20, 2012