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Grant Application Process

Learn the new process for submitting a grant application to NOAA Fisheries.

National

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The Department of Commerce has transitioned their grants management system from Grants Online to eRA Commons. This change requires updates to an organization's application submission process.  Any grant application submitted to a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), competitive or noncompetitive, in Grants.gov after January 1, 2024 must follow the below guidance.

System Registrations 

Applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet or other technical issues prevent electronic submission, please contact the agency contacts listed in the NOFO to enable submission prior to the deadline. Registration for all three systems is free. 

If your organization is already registered, proceed to the Submission Checks section.

SAM.gov 

Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicant organizations must first register in SAM.gov to obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). The username and password for SAM.gov are managed by Login.gov. Registration can take 2 weeks or longer and requires renewal annually. 

SAM.gov registration guidance

Grants.gov 

In order to submit an application, applicant organizations must be registered in Grants.gov. Organizations must register after receiving the UEI from SAM.gov, but can register before or after registering in eRA Commons. Registration can take 2-4 weeks.

Grants.gov registration guidance

eRA Commons

Prior to submitting in Grants.gov, applicant organizations must first register in eRA Commons. The eRA registration can start while an organization is waiting for their final SAM.gov approval of their UEI. However, the organization must have a complete SAM.gov registration in order to submit the final application. Registration can take up to 4 weeks. 

eRA Commons registration must be completed by the Signing Official. The Signing Official is someone in the organization with signatory authority such as a President, Executive Director, Owner, etc. They will receive 4–5 emails throughout the registration process. 

In addition, you must create a Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account and link it on the SF-424 for a successful submission. 

Submission Checks 

When an application is submitted in Grants.gov, it will undergo two layers of checks. This is a new process with the transition to eRA Commons.

First Check: Grants.gov

Grants.gov will check for an on-time submission and attachments uploaded for each required form in the application package. If your application is successfully submitted in Grants.gov you will receive a Grants.gov tracking number.

Second Check: eRA Commons

eRA Commons will check for errors and warnings: elements of the application that need to be resolved and resubmitted such as file formatting or role information. Errors will prevent the application from being received by the agency. Therefore, a Grants.gov tracking number alone does not verify a successful submission. 

If the application includes errors or warnings, you may receive an email from eRA. You must resolve any errors listed and resubmit in Grants.gov prior to the due date in order for NOAA to receive your application for processing. 

Applicants cannot consider their application fully received by the agency until they receive an email from eRA.

Application Submission and Tracking in eRA Commons

NOTE: NOAA does not accept the use of the ASSIST function at this time. The ASSIST role is mentioned in some eRA Guidance Documents. 

Common Errors 

The following are common errors that prevent a successful application submission and receipt in eRA. Grants.gov may allow you to submit an application, but eRA will not accept it if it includes these errors, and therefore NOAA will not receive it.

Project Director/Principal Investigator Account and eRA Commons ID Not in SF-424

The Project Director/Principal Investigator listed on the application materials must have an eRA Commons account. That eRA Commons account must be affiliated with the applicant organization. The valid, affiliated eRA Commons ID (Username) must be included in the application materials on the SF-424 in box “4. Applicant Identifier.” 

Failure to provide the exact eRA Commons ID (Username) on the SF-424 in Box 4 will result in an error and prevent the application from being received successfully. Additional personnel included on the form do not need to include their accounts, however eRA will create a warning recommending those personnel also have valid eRA Commons IDs. The applicant can still proceed with submission. 

Any Signing Official, Administrative Official, or Account Administrator can create a PD/PI account. Please see the next page for more information. 

Creating a PD/PI Account

eRA Commons requires separate Accounts for Administrative and Programmatic roles.

Therefore, if one person is both the Signing Official (SO) and PD/PI they need to have two separate usernames and passwords (it can be the same email and contact information). We recommend you distinguish your usernames such as Jane.Doe_Admin and Jane.Doe_PI. 

If the SO and PD/PI are the same person, it is possible that the SO will be creating their own PD/PI account. 

Instructions for how to create a PD/PI account:

User IDs (Usernames) can be found by searching in the Account Management Module, or clicking on the person icon in the top right of eRA Commons. This is the User ID you will input in Box 4 of the SF-424 for the active PD/PI account. NOTE: PD/PIs will receive the email notifications from eRA Commons for application tracking.

Unique Entity Identifier Entered Incorrectly

The correct and approved Unique Entity Identifier provided by SAM.gov must be included on the SF-424 in the box 8.c “UEI.” This UEI should be consistent across all platforms: SAM.gov, eRA Commons Registration, and Grants.gov registrations.

Congressional District Entered in the Wrong Format

Applicants must enter their Congressional District on the SF-424 in a very specific format. It must be the two-letter abbreviation, a hyphen, and the three-digit district number. For example: State of Virginia, 1st Congressional District would be “VA-001.”

Any other format (VA001 or VA-01) will result in an error and rejection from eRA. 

How to find your Congressional District number

Flattened PDFs

Any PDFs uploaded into eRA must be “flattened,” meaning they are removed of any fillable fields. This is especially important for the Standard Forms: SF-424, SF-424A, CD-511, etc.

To flatten a PDF:

  • Fill out the PDF
  • When you are done, select Print
  • Select the Adobe PDF printer and click OK
  • Specify the location to save the flattened version
  • Open the saved file to verify that it retained all saved information and is no longer fillable
  • Upload the “flattened” file to Grants.gov

Formatting Issues

eRA requires certain formatting that Grants.gov may not require. The most common errors are: 

  • File sizes that are too large (over 100 MB)
  • Including paper (page) size larger than 8 ½” x 11”
  • File names that are too long (greater than 50 characters including spaces)
  • Including invalid characters in the file name

Full list of eRA format requirements

Submission Checklist for eRA Requirements

Below is a summary checklist of the items discussed in this document. All items below should be checked before you submit your application in Grants.gov.

  • SAM.gov Registration and approved UEI
  • eRA Commons Registration
  • Grants.gov Registration
  • PD/PI Account Created
  • PD/PI Commons ID (Username) entered exactly on Box 4 on the SF-424
  • UEI entered exactly on Box 8c. of the SF-424
  • Congressional District formatted correctly (ex. VA-001)
  • All PDFs flattened
  • File sizes are less than 100 MB
  • File page sizes are 8 ½” x 11”
  • File names are shorter than 50 characters (including spaces)
  • File names do not include invalid characters (&, diacritical marks)

If you have any questions, please reach out to the eRA HelpDesk or the Agency Contact listed in your notice of funding opportunity. 

Contact Information

eRA Help Desk

(866) 504-9552 or (301) 402-7469

Monday - Friday

7 AM to 8 PM EST

Closed federal holidays

More Information

More Information

Last updated by Office of Communications on 05/23/2024