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The Grants Application Tracking Information System (eGrATIS) is the mechanism for preparing, submitting, and tracking your annual grant budget application for the funding of state-based immunization programs. The Program Operations Branch of the Immunization Services Division of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases is the group responsible for the daily operations of managing and overseeing the grant application process. eGrATIS web site (NOTE: If you do not have a digital certificate installed in your current browser you will receive an error message and will not be able to enter the site). |
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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Q. The Webinar
presenter mentioned that project officers would approve objectives prior to
budget input and PGO submission. At which step in the process does
this happen and what is the procedure?
A. All objectives must be approved before the application may be submitted. This is an internal review by the grantee's program. If you are a Super User or User Level 1, the system allows you to approve objectives. For instance, your program may have a data entry person with User Level 2 role to enter objectives. However, someone with a Super User or User Level 1 role will need to go to the Review Module tab, review the entries and approve the objectives.
Q. Our state
reviewers ask us to provide them with a printed hard copy of the grant just
as it will be submitted and, in past years, this has included a complete
print out of all GRATIS-generated data and reports.
We also need to print in order to identify errors in both the narrative text
and, especially, the budget. Will it be possible to print out reports
that include all data input into eGrATIS?
A. Yes
Q. I am under the
impression that in addition to submitting portions of the workplan in eGrATIS,
we will also submit the narrative/workplan as we have in previous years,
which includes the staffing plan and resumes, prepared in Word and saved as
a PDF. This fulfills the Grants.Gov required submission of a narrative
in PDF form. Is this correct?
A. The workplan consists of your objectives and activities that are built within eGrATIS. Last year grantees responded to a five year project period and one year budget period competitive application which required submission of the abstract and staffing plan. Thus, these items (abstract and staffing plans) are not required for the 2009 application.
Q. Half of our
program is funded by the State of ______ and most of our objectives will be
achieved through a combination of state- and federally-funded staff.
My understanding is that the purpose of the staffing plan is to demonstrate
that the program has sufficient staffing capacity to achieve the proposed
objectives. In order for _____ to do so we must include the state
staff and this purpose is served by inclusion of the staffing plan in the
Word-prepared version.
Finally, the grant guidance in the past has included budget justification guidance that requires very specific information to be included for, say, contracts. During today's presentation, I did not see where the usual budget justification information fit into to eGrATIS. Did I miss something? A. Each budget category has its own set of information that must be provided based on PGO guidelines. Those sets of information are mandatory fields in eGrATIS as you enter a new allocation. The budget justification is under the detail sub-tab for the new funding allocation. You may also generate a budget justification report from eGrATIS based on budgetary information entered in the eGrATIS system.
Q. Can eGrATIS be
viewed and documents printed from eGrATIS after the August 30th
date?
A. Yes
Q. Can grantees print
reports in Word to share with health officials?
A. Yes
Q. If grantees have
state funded staff performing immunization activities can they
show these individuals in eGrATIS under the funding allocation
with budget justifications? Many states want grantees to account
for all staff working in the immunization program within the
grant application. If they can not, what recommendations do we
have for grantees to account for these individuals when
submitting their grant application?
A. The grantee will enter the personnel as line items. But set %FTE = 0 (or set Salary to 0). You can have $0 transactions in the budget. All the existing requirements will still be in force (Budget Justification, linkage to Goals, etc.).
Q. I'm not clear on how
the final submission should be done. In a POB conference call
later this morning, it was mentioned that eGratis should be sent
as an attachment to grants.gov. Does this mean that we convert
our objectives and activities, budget, justification, etc. to
Word or PDF files and send them as an attachment?
A. eGrATIS provides several system-generated standard reports which can be uploaded as part of your Grants.gov submission. When submitting attachments to POB via eGrATIS several file types are available for use. However, when submitting required documents to Grants.gov, applicants must submit all application attachments using a PDF file format. Use of file formats other than PDF may result in the file being unreadable by staff. Therefore, generate and save the required reports and documents in PDF after submission of the application in eGrATIS. When submitting to Grants.gov you will upload these required documents in the PDF format for submission.
As a
reminder, you will submit your application to POB and
PGO. The official submission is to PGO via Grants.gov.
When you complete the application and press the submit
button within the eGrATIS software system you are
submitting to POB. When submitting to PGO via
Grants.gov you will have to upload eGrATIS produced
required documents, workplan objectives, budget and
budget justifications. eGrATIS is the software
application system designed to allow grantees to prepare
their federal grant applications for immunization
funding. This system is not submitted as an attachment
to Grants.gov. Rather, your required documents are.
Q.
Where can I get support with submitting my
Recovery application?
A. Grantees’ first point of contact is the POB Project officers. Grantees can also send an email to: eGrATISsupport@cdc.gov. Question and Answer Guides and training materials will be posted to the eGrATIS website: www2.cdc.gov/NIP/eGrATIS
Q.
Which Type of
Submission and Type of Application should be selected in boxes 1
and 2 on the 424 form for the ARRA grants?
A. A) In Box 1, select Application as the Type of Submission. B) In Box 2, the choices are New, Continuation, and Revision. Select Revision. Enter the letter “A” for “increase” in the next box. Then, you will need to enter the federal award identifier (funding opportunity number) of the previous grant in box 5b. That number is IP08-803.
Q.
Can I submit all of the Funding Opportunity
Announcements (FOAs) at one time?
A. Each FOA has it own funding announcement number and must be submitted separately via eGrATIS and Grants.gov. Grants.gov is the official submission of the application. Please see the table below for additional information.
Q.
Is
it possible for grantees to expend or use ARRA funds that has
not been awarded?
A. ARRA funding can not be used until grantees have the Notice of Award—around September 1.
Q.
What is the time
period grantees should use for the work plan objectives and the
budget?
A. Grantees will have up to 28 months to complete objectives (September 1, 2009 through December 31, 2011). All workplan objectives must begin after September 1, 2009 and be finished and all dollars expended by December 31, 2011. The personnel line items default in eGrATIS to 12 months. However, grantees can change that to up to 28 months if staff will work up to December 31, 2011. The contractual line items default to 12 months (Jan-Dec 2009). However, this field is flexible - the max is December 31, 2013.
Q.
Are grantees required to enter completion dates
for activities?
A. End dates for objectives are required by eGrATIS but the system does not require end dates for activities. However, it is critical that grantees develop milestones based on their proposed project objectives. Entering estimated completion dates for activities will assist in preparing for monthly progress reporting on project-specific milestones (See Appendix A of the FOA).
Q.
Can grantees submit the same 2009 objectives as
Recovery Act funding objectives?
A. No. Grantees MUST create new objectives or enhance 2009 objectives.
Q.
Grantees are expected to receive 80 percent of
allocated operations funding in 2009 and 20 percent of the
remaining operating recovery funding in 2010. What percent of
Recovery Act funds will grantees apply for during this
supplemental request?
A. Grantees will apply for 100% of the non-competitive Recovery Act base funding now. Round 1 will be awarded in September, 2009 for approximately 80% of the full award. Round 2 will be in early 2010.
Q.
Can grantees get
a copy of the staffing plan that was submitted previously with
eGrATIS?
A. If grantees submitted a staffing plan with their original 2009 application, it is available for download within eGrATIS Application module. However, your grantee staffing plans for the Recovery Act supplemental funding request should reflect only those working on activities specific in the Recovery Act work plan objectives.
Q.
Should
contractors be considered in the tracking of jobs created or
maintained?
A. Yes. Jobs created or maintained with Recovery Act funds through contracts should be tracked and reported on quarterly reports. This includes Recovery Act funds utilized by local health departments through intra/inter-agency agreements.
Q.
If grantees have staff already allocated in the
2009 grant application at 100% and want to utilize the same
staff person to perform Recovery Act activities, how should this
be noted in eGrATIS?
A. Grantees can include the staff in the Recovery Act budget. Keep track of staff working on Recovery Act objectives that were originally funded in the 2009 application. During the clean-up phase for the 2009 application, adjustments can be made to these personnel line items in eGrATIS at that time.
Q.
Should grantees request Recovery Funds for Public
Health Advisors working on Recovery Act activities?
A. No. PHAs may be included on the staffing plans, but should not be included in the budget.
Q.
When should Recovery Act VACCINE budgets be
obligated and spent by grantees?
A. Grantees will not include 317 DA vaccine purchases in eGrATIS. VOFA is serving as the official request for Recovery Act vaccine. A VOFA patch went out in May that gave grantees the opportunity to create a Recovery Act (ARRA) spend plan for the current year ending September 30, 2009. The 2010 ARRA VOFA spend plans should have all Recovery Act funded vaccine orders expended by August 31, 2010.
Q.
When can we
start using the Recovery Act vaccine?
A. As soon as the Recovery Act dollars have been obligated to the federal contracts, an all-grantee message will be sent out notifying grantees that they can begin ordering the Recovery Act vaccine. We expect that to be by July 1, 2009. NCIRD will send another VOFA patch when the adult contracts are available.
Q.
What
evaluation/reporting activities will be required for the
Recovery Act funds?
A. Grantees must include as part of their application, a detailed plan for meeting the Recovery Act and OMB tracking and reporting requirements as outlined in FOA Section VI.3 Reporting Requirements and Section VI.4 Terms and Conditions, reporting on performance measures outlined in FOA Appendix A. This plan should be described and entered as a SMART objective within eGrATIS. As more information on reporting/evaluation becomes available, this information will be shared with grantees through all-grantee messages, AIM calls and specific subject calls if needed Sample Objective: Reporting Requirements - LINK TO PROGRAM REQUIREMENT 1.3. Estimated Start date: October 1, 2009 Estimated End date: December 31, 2011 Who will do the work: Jane Doe, Program Manager What is the primary action to be completed: implement What will be measured: a system to meet the reporting requirements to ensure proper ARRA compliance. Sample SMART Objective: By October 1, 2009, Immunization Program Staff will comply with ARRA reporting requirements as outlined in ARRA FOA Section VI.3 and VI.4 and Appendix A. Sample Activities and Timeline: · Program Staff will submit quarterly reports to HHS and post on Recovery.gov-10 days after end of each calendar quarter, starting October, 2009 · Program Staff will participate in monthly calls with CDC Project Officer-starting October, 2009 · Program staff will complete annual reports are required by Program Operations Branch and Recovery.gov. · Etc.
Q.
What will be
included in the monthly calls that project officers will make to
grantees?
A. Details of the format for these calls is not clear at this time. However, we do think that these items will be discussed: a. Vaccine drawdown for childhood and adult vaccines b. Operations budget drawdown c. Progress on objectives
Q.
Will a final FSR
and annual report be required for the Recovery Act funds at the
end of the budget period?
A. Yes. The FSR and annual report will be due 90 days after the close of the budget period which is December 31, 2011.
Q.
How can I copy
and paste text from my 2009 application?
A. Solution: One option is to copy/paste from the Budget Justification report in the 2009 application module. This is an example to copy and paste into a contract justification text box. Steps: 1. From the PAM module Go to the Home page tab. 2. Select the Application module. 3. Open the Budget Justification report (View Report will open another browser window). 4. Go back to the Home page by selecting the Home icon at the top-middle of the page. 5. Select the Post Award Management module. 6. Select the ARRA Request link you are working on. 7. Select the Budget tab 8. Select the Contractual budget category link. 9. Select "Add New Allocation" button. 10. Go to the Budget Justification report and scroll down to the Contractual section. 11. Copy information (e.g., Budget Justification) 12. Go back to the line item and paste the information.
Q.
How much total funding is available for
grantees applying for the IIS sentinel site project enhancement
funds?
A. There is a total of $1.2 million available to the eight eligible grantees for the 28 month project period ending December 31, 2011. The average award that should be budgeted by each grantee for the project period is $150,000 with an estimated floor of $125,000 and an estimated ceiling of $175,000. Please include total budgets, goals, objectives, activities, and timelines in your proposals based on a 28 month project period.
Q.
Will there be
additional guidance for grantees that are applying for the IIS
sentinel site funding?
A. There will be guidance on the evaluation processes during the two technical assistance conference calls. Dates and times of the calls are Wednesday June 3 at 2pm and Thursday June 4 at 10 a.m. Grantees should contact the program technical assistance contact in the FOA, Diana Bartlett at 404-639-1813 or dbartlett@cdc.gov. Questions about the IIS SS, Billables and School Assessment Competitive Grants: Change in procedure for competitive applications: Because these are competitive grants and will be reviewed by an objective review panel it is imperative that the applications address all requirements of the funding announcements and address the four criteria that the application will be evaluated against. Because the BCR report does not contain all competitive grant requirements, and because there are strict page limits for objective reviewers, please create your competitive applications outside of eGrATIS. You do not need to use eGrATIS for these applications.
Q.
The required documents in the funding
announcement, eGrATIS, and on Grants.gov are not exactly the
same. How can I determine exactly what I need to submit to apply
for these grants?
A. Please use the chart below as a guide for completing the applications via eGrATIS and Grants.gov: Please Note: The Initial Budget Change Report from eGrATIS must be attached twice in Grants.gov. This is because Grants.gov asks for a Budget Narrative and a Project Narrative separately, while eGrATIS combines the budget and project workplan into one report. Click here to se a chart guide for completing the applications via eGrATIS and Grants.gov
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Content Source: National Center for Immunization and
Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD)
Page last modified:
1/13/2010