The NIH advises that it can take up to six weeks to complete all of the registrations necessary to submit your SBIR/STTR proposal through Grants.gov to the NIH. If you haven’t already completed this process for a September submission, you should start now.
Be aware that there is now an additional requirement in the SAM registration process that requires a Notarized Letter. This can extend the registration process by days/weeks. Please take this into consideration and start the process as soon as possible.
At this point we think we have seen almost every mistake that can be made in this process and have shared in many of our clients’ stress and disappointment when at the last minute they find they are unable to submit their proposals. Please don’t underestimate the number of things that can go wrong and start the process early and check that it is complete!
Links to Registration Sites:
Click here for more information on registrations at NIH
View Frequently Asked Questions on preparing to apply/registrations
View a help video tutorial from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
We cannot stress enough how important it is to keep track of your login and password details for these sites — particularly Grants.gov and eRACommons. Losing or confusing these details can cause a great deal of distress when you are trying to submit your application. Of course, this stress is reduced if (as we encourage) you submit several days before the deadline!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrea Johanson, PhD, is Senior Principal Consultant with BBCetc.
