If you have questions regarding your application or are experiencing submission difficulty, follow the steps below:

1. Check the FOA and/or Application Guide. The answers to most questions can be found in your Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or in the SF424 R&R) Application Guide. Be sure to check these resources first – they can save you valuable time! FOAs are the best place to look for questions specific to particular research programs.
   
   
2. Contact the appropriate Help Desk. If you can’t find the answer to your question(s) in the FOA or Application Guide, contact the appropriate Help Desk for assistance.
   
   
3. Document your issues and keep working on your submission! Still unable to resolve your problem or experiencing a system issue that you believe threatens your ability to submit on time? Carefully follow these guidelines to document your problems and continue working to resolve your issues.

eRA Commons Help Desk

NOTE: To help expedite your Help Desk request, we recommend that you have the following information readily available (NOTE: Additional details may be required depending upon the type of issue/request):

• Full Name of Affected User
• Full Name of Institution/Organization
• Grants.gov Tracking Number
• Submission Date
• Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
• Principal Investigator’s (PI) Username
• Signing Official’s (SO) Username

Grants.gov Contact Center

Grants Info

Back to Top

Experiencing system issues with Grants.gov or eRA Commons that you believe threaten your ability to submit on time? NIH will not penalize applicants who experience confirmed system issues that are beyond their control. However, you MUST follow the instructions below to document and confirm your issues.

To confirm a system issue, contact the appropriate system support service(s) as follows by the application due date:

For Grants.gov system issues:

1. Contact the Grants.gov Contact Center to document and help resolve any Grants.gov related submission issues.
2. Document issue preventing submission with the eRA Commons Help Desk and be sure to include your Grants.gov support ticket number(s).

For eRA Commons system issues:

1. Contact the eRA Help Desk directly to document the issue.
2. Should the issue involve a problem with the application image not accurately reflecting the submission to Grants.gov, applicants will have until the end of the 2 day viewing window to report the problem.

Important note on documenting your issues…

• NIH expects applicants to respond quickly (within one business day) to help desk requests for action to resolve the issue and complete your submission.
• Be sure to include as much information as possible in your help request.
• Applicants with multiple Grants.gov tracking numbers should include all relevant numbers when contacting the help desks.

Reports of system issues will be investigated on a case-by-case basis. If the eRA Commons Help Desk confirms a system issue, your application will not be considered late as long as you work diligently with the Help Desk to resolve your problems as quickly as possible. Remember that any application submitted after the deadline must include a cover letter documenting the confirmed system issues, Help Desk ticket numbers, and the action(s) taken to resolve the issue(s).
Applicants that fail to document their issues on or before the submission deadline will be subject to the standard NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications.

BE ADVISED - Problems with computer systems at the applicant organization, failure to follow instructions in the Application Guide or Funding Opportunity Announcement, or failure to complete required registrations by the submission deadline are not considered system issues. NIH is under no obligation to accept applications that are late for these reasons.

Examples of events that may be considered ‘System Issues’:

• Messages in eRA Commons that specifically say “System Error”.
• Significant Grants.gov service interruption on deadline day lasting longer than half a business day.
• Significant eRA Commons service interruption on deadline day lasting longer than half a business day.
• Failure of Grants.gov to process an application within half a business day.
• Failure of eRA Commons to process an application within half a business day.

Examples of events that would NOT be considered ‘System Issues’:

• Failure to follow funding opportunity instructions.
• Failure to follow application guide instructions.
• Failure to complete required organization or investigator registrations prior to deadline.
• Failure to correct Grants.gov or eRA identified errors/warnings by the deadline.
• Local internet problem at institution on deadline day.
• Problems with local submission system (e.g., system-to-system solution).
• Grants.gov AOR not authorized to submit for organization.
• Unable to see final application status (errors/warnings or image) in Grants.gov or eRA Commons within half a business day of submission.  (See System Issue bullet above for greater than half a business day).
• Forgot credentials.
• Discovered application image issue after the application viewing window.
• Failure to notify the eRA Commons Help Desk of submission issues by deadline or of application image issues within application viewing window.
• Rejected/Refused an application by accident.
• Did not receive Grants.gov or eRA notifications, but status available in Grants.gov or eRA Commons.