Simplifying NIH’s Grant Application Instructions: See What’s Changed! NIH Regional - Chicago October 27, 2016 Stefanie Harris Assistant Grants Policy Officer Division of Grants Policy Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA) OER, NIH

Agenda Overview and Background Examples of Streamlining How-To-Apply Application Guide Demo Analysis Forms Library Demo Communications Next Steps

APPLICATION SUPPLEMENTAL GUIDE (OLD) INSTRUCTIONS (OLD)

Old site http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm

Overview and Background Long identified need to streamline and enhance current application instructions Request for Information (RFI): Strategies for Simplifying NIH’s Grant Application Instructions posted on August 4, 2015 Web-based content available as HTML version Provide customized instructions for different types of grant applications Enhance clarity of instructions and remove contradictory or duplicative information Shorter and more user-friendly instructions

Some examples of streamlining in the R&R forms…

8. Supplemental Instructions to the SF424 (R&R) for Preparing Institutional Research Training and Career Development Program Applications 8.4.4 Special Instructions for 4.5 Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form (pg. 206) Complete the Profile for the Program Director according to instructions in Section 4.5 (pg. 81). If multiple PD/PIs are proposed, explain in the Program Plan your rationale for how this will facilitate program administration. If your application involves Multiple PD/PIs, follow the directions in Section 4.5 to designate the Contact PI and to assign the PD/PI role to other senior/key persons. Additionally, the application must include a Multi- PD/PI Leadership Plan emphasizing how it will benefit the program and the trainees. Do not submit a leadership plan if you are not submitting a Multiple PD/PI application. See Section 8.7 for information associated with Multiple Program Directors (pg. 207). Complete the profiles for other senior/key persons according to instructions in Section 4.5. Dense and confusing!

Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form – Revised Instructions/Layout Instructions applicable to all applications Additional program-specific instructions

“It is very confusing having both the generic and the NIH- specific guidance included in the application guide for each item on the application form, especially when in some sections these contradict each other. Would it be possible to just show the information here that is relevant to completing an NIH application?”

Old New SF 424 (R&R) Cover Form 16. Is Application Subject to Review by State Executive Order 12372 Process? Old New

Old New R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form Attach Current & Pending Support – PD/PI Old New

Process Information 2. Process for Application Submission via Grants.gov 2.1 Overview 2.2 Registration Process 2.2.1 Grants.gov Registration 2.2.2 eRA Commons Registration 2.2.2.1 Commons Registration for the Organization 2.2.2.2 Commons Registration for the Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) 2.2.2.3 Commons Registration for Other Individuals Participating in NIH Progress Reports 2.3 Software Requirements 2.3.1 Adobe Reader 2.3.2 Creating PDFs for Text Attachments 2.4 Funding Opportunities 2.4.1 NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts 2.4.2 Funding Opportunity Announcements 2.4.3 Finding a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Grants.gov Submission 2.5 Forms for an Application to NIH or Other PHS Agencies 2.6 Format Specifications for Text (PDF) Attachments 2.7 "Resubmission" Applications 2.8 "Revision" Application 2.9 Similar, Essentially Identical, or Identical Applications 2.10 Submitting your Application via Grants.gov 2.11 After you Submit your Application via Grants.gov 2.12 Correcting Errors 2.13 Post-Submission Application Materials 2.14 Application Due Dates 2.15 Submission, Review and Award Cycles 2.16 Resources for Finding Help 2.16.1 Finding Help for Grants.gov Registration or Submissions 2.16.2 Finding Help for the eRA Commons Registration or eRA Commons Validation Processes 2.16.3 Finding Help for Application Preparation 3. Using the Grant Application Package 3.1 Verify Grant Information 3.2 Enter the Name for the Application 3.3 Open and Complete Mandatory Documents 3.4 Open and Complete Optional Documents 3.5 Submitting the Application via Grants.gov “Our institution, and many of our PD/PIs, are veterans of the application process and do not need extensive instruction on creating a Grants.gov account, SAM registration, Commons registration, etc.”

“We feel that the most important info in the NIH General Application Guide SF424 (R&R), are sections 4 and 5 because they give guidance on how to complete the NIH application package forms according to NIH requirements and are referred to on a daily basis…however, currently, to get to these sections in the, you have to scroll down 4 pages in the TOC (55 pages in entire PDF doc). These front sections (1-3 and 6) contain relevant information on NIH policies, system registration, and application processes but are not directly related to completing the NIH application package and are referred to far less. Therefore we suggest pushing sections 4, 5, to the front of the document or to remove the background sections (1-3, 6), and instead add them as links on the NIH application website.”

New site Process information Program -specific views http://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to- apply-application-guide.htm http://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to- apply-application-guide.htm

Prepare to apply and register, etc. Form changes, restructure information Introduction on each program

New numbering system Consistent sections across instructions Prefix notes the instructions you are viewing; page numbers are set up the same General (G), Research (R), Career Development (K), Training (T), Fellowship (F), Multi-Project (M) and SBIR/STTR (B) G.200 = SF 424 (R&R) Form

Thumbnail form image, form description, quick links to specific questions

Instructions applicable to all applications No additional program-specific instructions

Instructions applicable to all applications Additional program-specific instructions

Includes previously separate career and fellowship biosketch instructions

Links to sections of the form

Form has multiple pages

All forms in the General guide

How much did we take out? A quick analysis… Guide Old # of Pages New # of Pages Difference (pages) % Difference General - old vs. new total 286 228 -58 -20.3% General - old vs. new R&R total 175 93 -82 -46.9% Research only guide - old vs. new 164 102 -62 -37.8% SBIR/STTR - old vs. new 176 121 -55 -31.3%

Old and new covers

Old and new covers

Where did we move everything? “It is taking me more than 10 minutes to find the new NIH biosketch template and instructions on the website. Difficult to navigate.”

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/format-pages.htm

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/format-pages.htm

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm

Change takes time “Slowly and reluctantly adjusting to the switch from a single instruction document to a distributed interactive instruction guideline. Advantage of single document: you know all the info is in a single document that can be searched. New web documents: getting lost in sequence of links to find specific info, sometimes can't remember where I started. Hard to track down the current answer to a specific question. Concerned I may spend more time trying to find the specific information I seek. Please keep the single document version of Application Guide, with purple font highlighting recent changes.”

Communications to date NOT-OD-15-134: RFI, August 4, 2015 NOT-OD-16-004: upcoming changes to forms/instructions, October 13, 2015 NOT-OD-16-058: reminded notice about upcoming forms and instructions changes, January 22, 2016 NOT-OD-16-080: clarifications and consolidated biosketch instructions and format pages available, March 23, 2016 NOT-OD-16-084: availability of new instructions and forms, March 28, 2016 NIH eSubmission Items of Interest: February 29, 2016 NIH eSubmission Items of Interest: March 25, 2016 Open Mike Blog Post: February 29, 2016 NIH Presentations (NCURA, FDP, SRA, NIH Regionals, etc.)

What’s Next? Future Enhancements More plain language! More filtering! More frequent updates! More custom-ization!

Feedback? http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=55

Thank you!