Scroll down for updates from these funding agencies.

Grants.gov Updates

1) System Enhancements and New Functionality
On August 9, 2008 Grants.gov deployed system enhancements and new functionality. This deployment will improve the quality of service you experience when you find and apply for grant opportunities. For detailed information: http://www.grants.gov/aboutgrants/buildreleases.jsp

2) RSS Feeds for New & Modified Opportunities
A featured enhancement on Grants.gov is the RSS (Really Simply Syndication) feed. Now users will be able to receive a listing of new and recently modified opportunities by agency name or by category through a RSS feed. For details: http://www.grants.gov/help/rss.jsp

NSF Updates

NSF posts clarification/guidance regarding Broader Impacts criterion
Proposals received by NSF are evaluated based on two merit review criteria — intellectual merit and broader impacts. NSF has posted Notice NSF-08-062 to provide guidance and clarification for applicants. NSF investigators/applicants may review the full notice at:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08062/nsf08062.pdf?govDel=USNSF_25

NIH Updates

1) Reminders Regarding Inclusion of Special Features in Grant Applications (NOT-OD-08-095)
NIH recently posted this Notice to remind applicants that text only should be used in Description, Project Summary/Abstract, and Project Narrative sections of applications, emphasizing that figures and information must be in standard text format, and that movies or other materials should not be included in PDF attachments of the Resarch Plan or other components of electronic submissions. For the full announcement: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-095.html

2) NIH has Re-issued their Funding Opportunity Announcements of Kirschstein-NRSA T32 (PA-08-226) and T35 (PA-08-227) (NOT-OD-08-099)
Changes include guidelines for applications proposing multiple Training Program Directors, research training for health professional students, clarifications and updates to the required program evaluation plan and reporting, and associated review criteria for Kirschstein-NRSA institutional research training FOAs. See the full notice: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-099.html. Note that changes also apply to other current Kirschstein-NRSA institutional research training FOAs, and the changes will be made when each FOA is re-issued in the future. Because some FOAs may not have the latest policies incorporated within them, applicants must consult the NIH Training and Career Development website for a comprehensive listing of programs and policies (see http://grants1.nih.gov/training/extramural.htm).

3) Notice of Increase in Salary Cap and Research Development Support costs for Mentored Patient Oriented Research Development Awards (K23) and Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Development Awards (K08) funded by NIEHS (NOT-ES-08-008)
See full announcement: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-ES-08-008.html.

4) eRA Commons Announces New Fixes/Features

• eRA Commons Personal Profile – Publications: Display citation source of ‘PD/PI Entered’ for manual entries; Reflect either NIHMS (for NIH Manuscript System) or PubMed Central, with their corresponding Citation IDs, for entries automatically pulled from NIHMS; Changed ‘View PUB Article’ link to ‘View in PMC’ and changed ‘View Manuscript’ to ‘View in NIHMS’; Updated screen notes to reflect Public Access policy
• eRA Commons Institutional Profile: Added two assurances – ‘ClinicalTrials.gov Requirement’ and ‘Impact of Grant Activities on the Environment and Historic Properties’; Renamed ‘Delinquent Debt Assurance’ as ‘Non-Delinquency on Federal Debt Assurance’
• General eSNAP changes: Updated new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval numbers & dates; Corrected eSNAP initiation issues for multiple Principal Investigator grant applications; Implemented new terminology throughout the eSNAP screens:
  Old term: Principal Investigator —– New term: Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI)
  Old term: Key Personnel —– New term: Senior/Key Personnel
  Old term: Performance site —– New term: Project/performance site
• eSNAP – Upload Science: Mirrored changes made to Personal Profile – Publications
• eSNAP – Edit Business – Project/Performance site: Redesigned the screen: Provided the ability to enter DUNS number for all Project/Performance sites (DUNS field accepts 9 or 13 digits to accommodate DUNS or DUNS+4 designation); Added a check box to designate the primary Project/Performance site; Relocated the Country drop-down to the top of the screen — the data provided for Country determines the remaining fields that are required to be filled out (e.g. Filling out State is only required if you select United States as country); Created separate fields for State and Province; Disabled the third and fourth lines of address field — these read-only fields remain on the screen, but will not appear in the generated Progress or eSNAP report nor will they show on the list of Project/Performance sites at the bottom of the screen; Added a field for Congressional District. The field text is hyperlinked and links to http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/?lvl=L
• eSNAP – Edit Business – Senior/Key Personnel: Removed the Date of Birth field; Corrected effort reporting checks
• eSNAP – Edit Business – Research Subject: Removed the full IRB Review question (yes/no radio button)
• eSNAP & Progress Reports: Reflected changes made throughout the Commons screens