INSTRUCTIONS for 2018-NIST-PSIAP-UI PRE-APPLICATIONS.pdf

INSTRUCTIONS for

2018-NIST-PSIAP-UI PRE-APPLICATIONS

Applicants are strongly urged to use Grants.gov’s Download Submitted Applications option for checking that their Pre-Application’s required attachments (see pages 2 and 3 of this document, and Section IV.2.a. of the Full Announcement/NOFO document) were contained in their submission.

After submitting the Pre-Application, follow the directions found in the Grants.gov Online Users Guide (http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh). Click first on Applicants; then click on Applicant Actions; go then to the “Check My Application Status” option, and choose Download Submitted Applications.

If any, or all, of the required attachments are absent from the submission, follow the attachment directions found on pages 5 and 6 of this document and in Section IV.2.b. of the Full Announcement/NOFO document, resubmit the Pre- Application, and check again for the presence of the required attachments.

This document consists of seven important sections:

1) Overview;

2) Required Pre-Application Forms and Documents;

3) Pre-Application Format;

4) Grants.gov Application Submission Process;

5) Attachment of Required Documents;

6) Verifying the Submission and Tracking the Application; and

7) Submission Date and Time.

1) Overview

We strongly recommend that applicants do not wait until the last minute to submit an application. Allowances will not make for any late submissions. To avoid any potential processing backlogs due to last minute Grants.gov registrations, applicants are highly encouraged to begin their Grants.gov registration process early.

When developing your submission timeline, please keep in mind that (1) all applicants are required to have a current registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov); (2) the free annual registration process in the electronic System for Award Management (SAM.gov) may take between three and five business days or as long as more than two weeks; and (3) electronic applicants are required to have a current registration in Grants.gov; and (4) applicants using Grants.gov will receive a series of e-http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh mail messages over a period of up to two business days before learning whether a Federal agency’s electronic system has received its application.

Please note that a federal assistance award cannot be issued if the designated recipient’s registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is not current at the time of the award.

Applicants will find instructions on registering with SAM.gov as part of the Grants.gov process at:

http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html .

All applicants should be aware that adequate time must be factored into an applicant’s schedule for delivery of the application.

Submitters are advised that volume on Grants.gov may be extremely heavy leading up to the deadline date.

2) Required Pre-Application Forms and Documents

The Pre-Application must contain the following:

(1) SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance. The SF-424 must be signed by an authorized representative of the applicant organization.

• SF-424, Item 8.d. Zip/Postal Code field, should reflect the Zip Code + 4

(#####-####) format.

• SF-424, Item 12, should list the NOFO number 2018-NIST-PSIAP-UI.

• SF-424, Item 18, should list the total Federal budget amount requested for the entire project.

• For SF-424, Item 21, the list of certifications and assurances is contained in the SF-424B.

(2) SF-424A, Budget Information - Non-Construction Programs. A preliminary budget estimate that reflects the anticipated expenses for the entire project, considering all potential cost increases, including cost of living adjustments.

(3) Executive Summary and Quad Chart. (This does not count toward the page limit.) The executive summary must explicitly state the objectives and approaches to meet those objectives, anticipated challenges, and benefits and impacts of the proposed project. The summary must state which goal(s) the applicant is addressing (i.e., Goal 1, Goal 2, or both). The quad chart must contain a summary of the proposed project, the potential impact of the project, key milestones and/or deliverables, and applicant background. The executive summary and the quad chart must not exceed one (1) page each. Any http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html materials provided beyond the one (1) page limit for the executive summary and the one (1) page limit for the quad chart will be redacted and not provided to the reviewers.

(4) Pre-Application Narrative. A word-processed document of no more than seven

(7) pages. The Pre-Application Narrative should describe the proposed project and degree of alignment with objectives detailed in the goals of the NOFO.

Sufficient information should be provided to address the Pre-Application evaluation criteria (see Section V.1. of the NOFO), specifically: strategic alignment with the program’s objectives (see Section I. of the NOFO);

qualifications and resources availability; project execution; and public safety mission.

(5) Resume(s). Resumes are required for all key personnel, including the principal investigator. Resumes are limited to two (2) pages per individual and do not count toward the seven (7) page limit of the Pre-Application Narrative.

Please pay close attention to the guidance in Section 5) of this document, “Attachment of Required Documents”.

3) Pre-Application Format

(1) Paper, E-mail and Facsimile (fax) Submissions. Will not be accepted.

(2) Figures, Graphs, Images, and Pictures. Should be of a size that is easily readable or viewable and may be landscape orientation.

(3) Font. Easy to read font (12-point minimum). Smaller type may be used in figures and tables but must be clearly legible.

(4) Page Limit. The Pre-Application Executive Summary is limited to one (1) page;

the Pre-Application Quad Chart is limited to one (1) page; and the Pre- Application Narrative is limited to seven (7) pages.

(5) Page Limit Excludes: SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance; SF-424A, Budget Information – Non-Construction Programs; and Resumes of key personnel (although resumes are limited to two (2) pages per individual).

(6) Page size. 21.6 centimeters by 27.9 centimeters (8 ½ inches by 11 inches).

(7) Application language. English.

4) Grants.gov Application Submission Process

(1) Pre-Applications must be submitted via Grants.gov at www.grants.gov, under announcement 2018-NIST-PSIAP-UI.

a) Submitters of electronic applications should carefully follow specific Grants.gov instructions to ensure the attachments will be accepted by the Grants.gov system. A receipt from Grants.gov indicating an application is received does not provide information about whether attachments have been received. For further information or questions regarding applying electronically for the 2018-NIST-PSIAP-UI announcement, contact Christopher Hunton by phone at 301-975-5718 or by e-mail at grants@nist.gov.

b) Applicants are strongly encouraged to start early and not wait until the approaching due date before logging on and reviewing the instructions for submitting an application through Grants.gov. The Grants.gov registration process must be completed before a new registrant can apply electronically. If all goes well, the registration process takes three (3) to five (5) business days. If problems are encountered, the registration process can take up to two (2) weeks or more. Applicants must have a valid unique entity identifier number and must maintain a current registration in the Federal government’s primary registrant database, the System for Award Management (https://www.sam.gov/), as explained on the Grants.gov Web site. See also Section IV.4. of the Full Announcement/NOFO document. After registering, it may take several days or longer from the initial log-on before a new Grants.gov system user can submit an application. Only individuals authorized as organization representatives will be able to submit the application, and the system may need time to process a submitted application. Applicants should save and print the proof of submission they receive from Grants.gov. If problems occur while using Grants.gov, the applicant is advised to (a) print any error message received and (b) call Grants.gov directly for immediate assistance. If calling from within the United States or from a U.S. territory, please call 800-518-4726. If calling from a place other than the United States or a U.S. territory, please call 606-545-5035. Assistance from the Grants.gov Help Desk will be available around the clock every day, with the exception of Federal holidays. Help Desk service will resume at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time the day after Federal holidays. For assistance using Grants.gov, you may also contact support@grants.gov.

c) To find instructions on submitting an application on Grants.gov, Applicants should refer to the “Applicants” tab in the banner just below the top of the www.grants.gov home page. Clicking on the “Applicants” tab produces two useful sources of information, Applicant Actions and Applicant Resources, which applicants are advised to review.

http://www.grants.gov/ mailto:grants@nist.gov https://www.sam.gov/ mailto:support@grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/

Applicants will receive a series of e-mail messages over a period of up to two business days before learning whether a Federal agency’s electronic system has received its application. Closely following the detailed information in these subcategories will increase the likelihood of acceptance of the application by the Federal agency’s electronic system.

Applicants should pay close attention to the guidance under “Applicant FAQs,” as it contains information important to successful submission on Grants.gov, including essential details on the naming conventions for attachments to Grants.gov applications.

All applicants should be aware that adequate time must be factored into applicants’ schedules for delivery of their application. Applicants are advised that volume on Grants.gov may be extremely heavy on the deadline date.

The application must be both received and validated by Grants.gov. The application is “received” when Grants.gov provides the applicant a confirmation of receipt and an application tracking number. If an applicant does not see this confirmation and tracking number, the application has not been received. After the application has been received, it must still be validated. During this process, it may be “validated” or “rejected with errors.” To know whether the application was rejected with errors and the reasons why, the applicant must log in to Grants.gov, select “Applicants” from the top navigation, and select “Track my application” from the drop-down list. If the status is “rejected with errors,” the applicant may still seek to correct the errors and resubmit your application before the deadline. If the applicant does not correct the errors, the application will not be forwarded to NIST by Grants.gov.

Refer to important information in Section IV.5. Submission Dates and Times, of the Full Announcement/NOFO document to help ensure your Pre-Application is received on time.

5) Attachment of Required Documents

Items (1) and (2) in section 2) of this document, Required Pre-Application Forms and Documents, are part of the standard application package in Grants.gov and can be completed through the download application process.

Items (3) through (5) in section 2) of this document, Required Pre-Application Forms and Documents, must be completed and attached by clicking on “Add Attachments” found in item 15 of the SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance. This will create a zip file that allows for transmittal of the documents electronically via Grants.gov.

Applicants should carefully follow specific Grants.gov instructions at www.grants.gov to ensure the attachments will be accepted by the Grants.gov system. A receipt from Grants.gov indicates only that an application was transferred to a system. It does not provide details concerning whether all attachments (or how many attachments) transferred successfully. Applicants using Grants.gov will receive a series of e-mail messages over a period of up to two business days before learning whether a Federal agency’s electronic system has received its application.

6) Verifying the Submission and Tracking the Application

The Grants.gov Online Users Guide available at the Grants.gov site (http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh) provides vital information on application process. See especially the “Check My Application Status” option, found by clicking first on Applicants, and then by clicking on Applicant Actions. Use this feature to verify that all required attachments were present in the submission.

After submitting the application, follow the directions found in the Grants.gov Online Users Guide (http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh). Click first on Applicants; then click on Applicant Actions; go then to the “Check My Application Status” option, and choose Download Submitted Applications. Follow the directions found there. Remember, in order for this to work, don’t just visit Grants.gov. Log

in. And remember to click on the record found on the Check My Application Status screen in order to see the List of Forms and Files Received screen.

If any, or all, of the required attachments are absent from the submission, follow the attachment directions found in the Full Announcement/NOFO document, resubmit the application, and check again for the presence of the required attachments.

Applicants can track their submission in the Grants.gov system by following the procedures at the Grants.gov site (http://go.usa.gov/cjamz). It can take up to two business days for an application to fully move through the Grants.gov system to

NIST.

NIST uses the Tracking Numbers assigned by Grants.gov, and does not issue its own Agency Tracking Numbers.

7) Submission Date and Time

Required Pre-Applications must be received electronically through Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, December 29, 2017. Pre-Applications received after this date will not be reviewed or considered. NIST will consider the date and time recorded by www.grants.gov as the official submission time. Assessment of Pre- Applications, selection, and notification to applicants is expected to be complete on or http://www.grants.gov/ http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh http://go.usa.gov/cjaEh http://go.usa.gov/cjamz about January 26, 2018. Selected applicants will then be invited to submit a Full Application. Full Applications must be received electronically through Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, March 27, 2018. Applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed or considered.