January 16, 2024
Dept. of Commerce / NOAA Applications & RPPRs
If you are working on Dept. of Commerce or NOAA applications in Grants.gov or RPPRs in eRA Commons please review and share this information as needed. You may have also received this information from the GEMS PMO team.
Applications
Dept. of Commerce and NOAA proposals are now tracked in eRA Commons when the application is submitted, not only when the project is awarded. For error-free submission to eRA Commons, additional information is required in the SF-424 form beyond the Grants.gov validation requirements.
- In field “4. Applicant Identifier”, PD/PI eRA Commons User ID must be included.
- The applicant organization’s UEI is required in field 8c.
See: Dept. of Commerce Application Submission Process Guide
Research Performance Progress Reports – RPPRs
Many researchers may have been unable to submit their Dept. of Commerce RPPRs during the transition from GrantsOnline to eRA Commons, due to system downtime and subsequent migration issues.
For progress reports due between 8/31/2023 and 3/31/2024, Dept. of Commerce/NOAA has granted an extension until 4/30/2024 to submit without being considered late.
Because there was a long time period involved that impacted both Semi-Annual and Final reports, some researchers may have multiple RPPR tasks to complete. eRA Commons still requires each RPPR task be submitted, but the DOC will allow recipients to simplify the older RPPR and submit a comprehensive report for the latest RPPR due.
DOC suggests the following approach:
- The latest RPPR should present comprehensive project activity.
- A previous RPPR must be submitted but can include a simple statement referencing the RPPR report that contains the comprehensive activity (e.g., “Refer to RPPR ending in 06/30/2024 for an activity for this reporting period”).
Required fields must still be completed for successful submission of your RPPR. Omissions will lead to submission errors.