Transcript The Grant Process: Application, Review, and Award

2011 Systems Science
Grantsmanship Workshop
USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
in cooperation with
University of Tennessee AgResearch
Prior Workshops
The Grant Process:
Application, Review, and Award
Daniel Schmoldt
The Application Process
All applications for USDA grants must be submitted through Grants.gov
Most other federal departments use Grants.gov
Most deadlines are 5 PM eastern
Start the process well ahead of time
After you have submitted, you will get an email notifying you that the
application package has been received
If Grants.gov doesn’t find any validation errors, another email will be sent
saying the application has been accepted
This part of the process also takes time
If you get this email with a time stamp that is prior
to the deadline, you’ve made it into the review
process.
Application e-Correspondence
After an application package is submitted, the
AR will receive a series of four e-mails. The
titles of the four e-mails are:
#1 – Grants.gov
Submission Receipt
Number—this
should be received
within minutes of
submission
#2 – Grants.gov
Submission
Validation Receipt
for Application
Number—this
should be received
within 48 hrs of
submission
#3 – Grants.gov
Grantor Agency
Retrieval Receipt
for Application
Number—this
should be received
2-3 days after
validation
#4 – Receipt of
Grant Application
Number for Review
at USDA—this
should be received
within 2 wks of
closing date
Application e-Correspondence
And, there’s one more…
If accepted for peer review, the
application will be assigned a
NIFA application number (e.g.,
YEAR-XXXXX). This number
should be cited on all future
correspondence.
The Review Process

The first part of the process is the
administrative review
– A main focus of the administrative
review is to facilitate the peer review

The second part of the process is a
peer review
Administrative Review
All essential
elements of
application
present
Applicant
eligibility
Application
pertains to
program
• Documents in PDF
format
• COI lists
• C&PS forms
• Page and budget
limits
• Evidence of
matching funds
If these criteria
are met, the
application is
accepted for
peer review and
a notification
email sent with
a CSREES
application
number
The Peer-Review Process

Reviewers for a particular year are
selected based on the types of
applications that are submitted
– All panelists are considered experts in their
fields
– Panelists can include: academia, federal labs,
NGOs, industry, technology providers
– Around 30 % of the panelists are from the
previous year
– A number of diversity criteria are applied
before invitations are sent
The Peer-Review Process

Each application must be reviewed
by at least 3 external reviewers
– Panelists are generally assigned 10 to
20 applications to review
– Reviewers are provided with the RFA
and the evaluation criteria
– Applications that don’t adhere to the
guidelines and criteria are not likely to
be funded
The Peer-Review Process
During panel
discussion,
reviewers may
change their
impression of an
application
• Even though they
scored it high, they
may not rate it high
The ranking
process
compares each
application with
all others in their
rating category
Applications are
given a number
starting at one
The Award Process
Program Director(s)
and PM propose a set
of recommended
awards, based on:
•
•
•
•
Program funds available
Panel rankings
Legal mandates
USDA policies
Recommendations are
reviewed
with AD of
sub-Institute
Program
Director(s)
make the
recommended award
calls to PDs
Declination
and award
emails are
sent to
applicants
The Award Process
Updated, missing, or incomplete forms/documents requested by program
staff (including CRIS forms)
Completed application sent from program office to contracting office
Awards Management Division conducts further checks and prepares
contractual documents
Official award notification sent to institution from ADO