NIH Reduces Temporary "Error Correction Window" for Electronic Grant Applications from Five Business Days to Two

NIH will reduce the “error correction window” (i.e. the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH system identified errors/warnings) from five (5) business days to two (2) business days for all electronically submitted grant applications with submission deadlines on or after January 8, 2008.  

This change will mean that electronic applications will be considered “on-time” if all of the following criteria are met:

1. All required registrations must be complete prior to the initial submission.
2. Initial successful submission to Grants.gov must have a timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date.
3. Applicants must correct errors and/or warnings within the two business days following the receipt date (referred to as the “error correction window”).
4. All application corrections must be in response to a system-identified error/warning (application submissions with additional changes may be refused).
5. If final submission is sent after the receipt date, a cover letter attachment must be included identifying the system-identified errors/warnings that have been corrected.

The two business days provided to view the assembled application image in eRA Commons will remain unchanged.

It is NIH’s ultimate goal to define “on-time” submission as having an error-free application (i.e., passes Grants.gov and eRA Commons system-enforced business rules without errors) with a Grants.gov timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date. NIH temporarily relaxed the definition of “on-time” submission by allowing a five business day “error correction window” for the first six electronic application receipt cycles following the initial transitions to electronic applications. The “error correction window” allowed applicants to adjust to the system-enforced business rules and ensured that Grants.gov and NIH system processing times did not interfere with successful submission. Progress on both fronts allows NIH to close this window which helps speed up the process of getting the applications in to review and ultimately award.