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Registration Requirements
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To apply for a SAMHSA grant, your organization is required to complete three (3) registration processes:
SAMHSA recommends that you begin the registration processes as soon as you know you want to apply for a grant. These registrations can take up to six weeks.
If you have already completed registrations for SAM and Grants.gov, ensure that your accounts are still active, and then register in eRA Commons. You must register in eRA Commons and receive a Commons Username to have access to electronic submission, receive notifications on the status of your application, and obtain award information.
If your organization is not registered and does not have an active eRA Commons PI/PD account by the deadline, the application will not be accepted. No exceptions will be made.
1. System for Award Management (SAM) Registration
SAM is the official U.S. Government system that aids in managing the federal awards process.
You must register your organization with the System for Award Management (SAM). A Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) will be assigned as part of the registration process. (The UEI replaced the Dun and Bradstreet Number (DUNS Number). If your organization is currently registered in SAM.gov, the UEI has already been assigned and is viewable in SAM.gov. This includes inactive registrations. The UEI is currently located below the DUNS Number on your entity registration record. You must be signed in to your SAM.gov account to view entity records. It takes 7-10 business days for a new SAM entity registration to become active. You will receive an email alerting you when your registration is active.
After you register with SAM, you must update the information there every 12 months for your account to remain active. You must maintain an active SAM registration (for both recipients and sub-recipients) with up-to-date information during the period your organization has an active federal award or an application under consideration by an agency (unless you are an individual or federal agency that is exempted from those requirements under 2 CFR § 25.110(b) or (c), has an exception approved by the agency under 2 CFR § 25.110(d)).
It is highly recommended that you renew your account before the expiration date. When you update your SAM record, it takes two to three days to complete the validation process. It may take an additional one to two days for Grants.gov to validate your SAM registration.
Grants.gov rejects electronic submissions from applicants with expired registrations. If your SAM account expires, the renewal process requires the same validation with IRS and DoD (Cage Code) as required for a new account.
2. Grants.gov Registration
Grants.gov is an online portal for submitting federal award applications. It requires a one-time registration to submit applications. eRA Commons registration is separate but can be done concurrently. Register to obtain a Grants.gov username and password.
If you have already completed Grants.gov registration and your Grants.gov and SAM accounts are up-to-date and/or renewed, go to the eRA Commons registration steps noted below. If this is your first time submitting an application through Grants.gov, registration information is in the “Applicants” tab.
The person submitting your application must be registered with Grants.gov as the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) for the specific UEI number cited on the SF-424 (first page). See the Organization Registration User Guide for details.
Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Status and E-Business Point of Contact
If your organization is registered with Grants.gov, check your AOR status before you apply for a grant. Make sure that the AOR registered with Grants.gov is still with your organization. If you need to assign a new AOR, do so promptly. Not having an active AOR may prevent your application from being accepted by Grants.gov. You may need to contact your organization’s E-Business Point of Contact, the person who can assign AOR roles.
3. eRA Commons Registration
eRA Commons is an online data platform managed by NIH that allows applicants, award recipients, and federal staff to securely share, manage, and process award-related information. Organizations applying for SAMHSA funding must register in eRA Commons. This is a one-time registration separate from the Grants.gov registration.
NOTE: Grants.gov and eRA Commons Registration may be completed concurrently. In addition to the organization registration, the Business Official (BO) named in the Authorized Representative section field on page 3 of the SF-424 and the Project Director details entered in the Applicant Information item f on page 1 of the SF-424 (Name and contact information of the person to be contacted on matters involving this application) must have accounts in eRA Commons and receive a Commons ID to have access to electronic submission and retrieval of application/award information. If your organization is not registered and does not have an active eRA Commons PI account by the deadline, the application will not be accepted.
For organizations registering with eRA Commons for the first time, the BO named in the Authorized Representative section of the SF-424 must complete the Register Institution online process. Instructions on how to complete the online Institution Registration Form are provided on the Register in eRA Commons page.
NOTE: You must have a valid and verifiable UEI number to complete the eRA Commons registration.
After the BO named as the Authorized Representative completes the online Institution Registration Form and clicks Submit, the eRA Commons will send an e-mail notification from era-notify@mail.nih.gov with the link to confirm the email address. Once the e-mail address is verified, the registration request will be reviewed and confirmed via email. If your request is denied, the representative will receive an email detailing the reason for the denial. If the request is approved, the BO will receive an email with an eRA Commons User ID for the Signing Official account (SO) role. The Authorized Representative will receive a separate email about the SO account containing a temporary password to be used for the first-time log-in. The Authorized Representative will need to log-in to eRA Commons with the temporary password, at which time the system will provide prompts to change the temporary password to one of their choosing. Once the BO/SO signs the registration request, the organization will be active in eRA Commons. The BO/SO can then create additional accounts for the organization as needed. Organizations can have multiple user accounts with the SO role, and any user with the SO role will be able to create and maintain additional accounts for the organization’s staff, including accounts for those designated as Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) and other Signing Officials.
Important: eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one BO/SO, who is the BO entered in the Authorized Representative section on the SF-424, and a PD/PI to submit an application. The primary BO/SO must create the account for the PD/PI listed as the person to contact regarding the application on page 1 of the SF-424 assigning that person the ‘PI’ role in eRA Commons. Note that you must also enter the PD/PI’s Commons Username into the ‘Applicant Identifier’ field of the SF-424 document (Line 4). The individual designated as the BO cannot also be a PD.