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The Office of

Sponsored Research

OSR Links

R@C Links

Contact us

104 Airport Drive Suite 2200, CB 1350
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350
Phone: (919) 966-3411
Fax: (919) 962-5011 or (919) 962-3352
Email: resadminosr@unc.edu
RAMSeS Help desk: (919) 843-2594

Electronic Research Administration

Sponsors are providing methods for conducting research administration electronically. The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) has developed the following guidelines for submitting grantee information using a variety of electronic interfaces. For more information about developing proposals, refer to the OSR Research Toolkit.


Grants.gov

Grants.gov is a government initiative focused on improving access to services via the Internet.  It serves as the centralized point of assess for 26 Federal grant-making agencies, allowing organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities. As the portal for submitting grant applications, Grants.gov is replacing federal agency-specific proposal submission systems that have grown in recent years, most notably NSF’s FastLane, DOE's IIPS, and NASA's NSPIRES.  Instead, applications are submitted electronically by institutions through the Grants.gov portal and are forwarded to the respective funding agencies. (more information)

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FedBizOpps

FedBizOpps.gov provides a listing of announcements for support and procurement opportunities over $25,000. Many agencies provide for electronic submission through this site.

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proposalCENTRAL

proposalCENTRAL is shared by many government, non-profit, and private grant-making organizations to facilitate electronic research administration. Some of the organizations include the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Arthritis Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

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National Science Foundation (NSF)

NSF uses the FastLane interactive real-time system to conduct NSF business electronically. With the NSF FastLane "Proposal Preparation" application, PIs can prepare proposals and save them as works in progress. Once the OSR contact in the pre award office is granted access to a completed proposal, he/she submits the proposal to NSF using the "Submit Proposal" module of the FastLane application.

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National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIH has developed a system to facilitate the exchange of information between NIH and applicant organizations. The "eRA Commons," which stands for electronic Research Administration, is the web interface where NIH and the grantee community conduct their extramural research administration business electronically.  In addition, NIH is transitioning to electronic submission of proposals through Grants.gov which interfaces with the eRA Commons.

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Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

DARPA is the central research and development organization for DoD, and it uses the BAA Submission System for electronic submissions. PIs must for register for an account for each open BAA in which they plan to participate. Electronic copies of proposals should be in PDF (preferred) or Microsoft Word format.

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Department of Energy (DOE)

DoE requires formal applications to be sent electronically by an authorized institutional business official through DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS). OSR is registered to submit applications through IIPS. The Office of Science Grants and Contracts web page provides the appropriate PDF fillable application forms for submission through IIPS.

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U.S. Department of Education (ED)

The Department of Education (ED) is transitioning to Grants.gov. However, selected ED grant competitions are still being accepted through ED's e-Application system. The application notice will indicate whether applicants are to submit through Grants.gov or ED's e-Application system.

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NSPIRES is the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System. This new web-based system electronically follows the proposal from initial solicitation through the final publication of results. NSPIRES aims to facilitate grant management for researchers and, effective in January 2005, replaced the SYS-EYFUS system.  OSR is registered to submit applications through NSPIRES.  PIs must be registered with NSPIRES as well, either as new users or by converting from a previous SYS-EYFUS account.

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North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NC Biotech)

The Biotechnology Center awards are designed to help researchers leverage larger amounts from federal agencies or venture funding groups. On-line proposal preparation and submission is available for a variety of funding types.

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For information about other funding opportunities, visit the GrantSource Library.