Submitting smoothly online

SUBMIT EARLY. The Internet may seem instantaneous, but considering that the NIH expects around 5,000 grant applications this year, bottlenecks will likely occur, says Christian Harker, president of Cayuse. Grant proposals submitted at the last minute may be delayed, possibly past the deadline. The delay may be in the system, but you can save yourself the worry about whether it was received on time and the headache of having to go through procedures for late submissions by submitting your proposal early. Harker suggests 48 hours in advance of the deadline. (Even 24 hours early will help.)

STAY IN TOUCH. Gone are the days of obtaining signatures and running off to FedEx. If using PureEdge, the free grant-formatting software available through www.grants.gov, individual investigators can't submit grant applications directly. Instead, your institution's sponsored program office must turn in the proposal on your behalf. As a result, administrators will play a much more prominent role in the new electronic submission system by setting internal deadlines and submission guidelines. "Communicate well and early with your sponsored programs office," advises Harker. "If they're telling you to do something, do it." Also, be sure to include time in your schedule for the university's administration review process.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER. The new NIH electronic submission process, which will eventually be used for all applications for federal funding, requires grant proposals to be filed as a series of separate PDF files. Harker suggests that applicants "view each section as its own document" so that figures and data are formatted properly and appear in the correct place. He advises creating each section separately or using a software program that formats your grant. Cayuse was involved in the pilot testing of the new submission process, and Harker notes that the formatting aspect "is the most problematic for investigators."