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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University November 28, 2005 | Vol. 35 No. 12
 
HopkinsOne to Fast-Track Grants Segment

Schedule advanced one year in response to launch of Grants.gov initiative

By Jeanne Johnson
HopkinsOne

HopkinsOne, the multiyear project to modernize Johns Hopkins' business and administrative systems, has decided to fast-forward the new system's grants proposal segment. The proposal development component is now scheduled to go live in July 2006, rather than July 2007, as originally planned.

Johns Hopkins' leadership approved the move in response to the launch of Grants.gov, a government initiative that "will have an unparalleled impact on the grant community," said Tim Schleicher, Sponsored Projects team lead for HopkinsOne.

Grants.gov is focused on improving access to services via the Internet and is the single access point for more than 900 grant programs offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies that allow organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities, Schleicher said. As the single portal for grant applications, Grants.gov will replace the agency-specific proposal submission systems that have proliferated in recent years, most notably the National Science Foundation's FastLane system, the Department of Energy's IIPS and NASA's NSPIRES. Applications will be submitted electronically by institutions to the Grants.gov portal, and these applications will be forwarded to the respective agencies. Over time, Johns Hopkins will no longer apply directly to funding agencies.

In response, the university, in partnership with the HopkinsOne Sponsored Projects team, accelerated the implementation of Coeus, a cradle-to-grave award management tool included in the HopkinsOne system. Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Coeus includes a comprehensive proposal development module that allows departmental users to create a full proposal (including science and budget), route it internally to obtain proper approvals and then submit it to the sponsor, all online.

The changeover will be gradual, but once fully implemented at Johns Hopkins, researchers will be able to use Coeus' system-to-system interface with Grants.gov for proposal submissions to the federal government, Schleicher said. As of July 2006, Coeus will be available for departments to begin using the online proposal development functionality.

Beginning in April 2006, the various research administration offices, with support from the HopkinsOne Sponsored Projects team, will make a concerted effort to train administrators in how to use Coeus to develop proposals that meet impending Grants.gov deadlines. Most government agencies plan to gradually phase in the use of electronic submissions. Of notable interest is the Grants.gov submission requirement for all new and competing Research Project (R01) proposals to the National Institutes of Health, effective Oct. 1, 2006. During the transition phase, the individual research administration offices will work with investigators on proposal-specific solutions where there is a requirement to submit electronically prior to Coeus' availability.

Faculty or staff with specific questions about the Grants.gov initiative should contact divisional research administrative offices.

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