Hints for S2S Submission

The following items are submission issues OSPA and the Streamlyne users have discovered about S2S submissions in our collective experience.  They aren’t necessarily evident to the PD preparer, and the warning and error checks within Streamlyne may not catch them.   This list will be updated as issues are discovered or resolved, or once their existence is addressed in long term resources.

1. Attachments must be uploaded as flattened PDFs, unless otherwise instructed/allowed by sponsor.
   1. PDFs are most easily flattened by Printing and selecting PDF as the printer and save the file. 
   2. Sponsors wanting fillable PDFs or other file types (most commonly Excel or PowerPoint) will indicate how the form is to be submitted (either attached to S2S form or emailed separately)  
2. Do not use symbols/special characters in the name of the uploaded document or in the description field of that document.  UTF-8 is the character set recognized by Grants.gov. Underscores are generally safe (_), but ampersands (&) and slashes (/) are problematic.
3. File names for attachments cannot be more than 50 characters for all Grants.gov submission.  Some specific sponsors have limits which are lower (e.g. USDA Capacity grants have a 45 character limit).
4. If the S2S Lobbying form is generated by the answers in the Questions tab (rather than this form being filled in and uploaded separately), the registrant and the identity of the individual performing the services will need to be NA, which can be found in the Streamlyne address book as ID# 106976.  This will need to be selected for both fields, or Grants.gov errors will be generated.

5. Some sponsors require a full nine-digit Post Code for the PI/Key Persons, and some may want a Fax number.  It is recommended that the Person Details are checked to ensure that these fields are complete.  These address items will be pulled into the SF424 form as well as the RR Senior/Key Person Profile.  (or other forms depending on the sponsor), and if the sponsor does not have the same requirements as Grant.gov, these errors may not be generated until after submission.

   6. Change/Corrected Application

When a copy of a PD is made for the purpose of submitting a Change/Corrected Application, Streamlyne will automatically change the Submission Type to Change/Corrected Application.  Check that this change has been made to the Submission Type in the Required Fields for Saving Document.

Also confirm that the Prev Grants.gov Tracking ID is also generated in the Sponsor & Program Information field.

A change will not automatically be generated into the SF 424_V4_0-4.0 (if this form is utilized).  Be sure to go to this form in the Webforms section of the PD and change this Type of Submission. This can be done by syncing this form, or changing to the form incomplete, and selecting this submission type.

1. The warning below is generated with NIH S2S submissions. It has been checked by Streamlyne, and does not cause submission issues. This warning can be ignored.

2. NIH S2S submissions require placeholders in attachment fields in order to route into Workflow.  They can be replaced at a later point once finalized

3. PHS Human Subjects form

If having trouble getting this form to autofill, first ensure that the Questions and Special Review section are completed. Next, navigate to the forms tab and then click Sync.  Once things fill in correctly, mark the form as complete.

4. The Data Management and Sharing Plan is required with all research proposals unless otherwise directed by the FOA.  This document is attached under PHS Research Plan Other Plans:

5. Effort for the PI must be entered for each budget year.

PIs must show effort in each budget year on NIH proposals.  For a 12-month appointment, the effort percentage must be entered as 0.05%, which will register as .01 Person Month (PM) effort.  A 9-month appointment PI can be entered as 0.06% to register as .01 PM.  To check whether the person-month effort is registering as the minimum PM effort required, click on Details under the Effort entry.

1. AFRI project type form must be uploaded as a fillable form (not flattened) which is an exception to the standard grants.gov rules.  To ensure you are uploading in the correct format, follow these steps:

• Download a fresh copy of form from Streamlyne by selecting and opening the AFRI Project Type form in the S2S  Forms Panel.  Or if necessary, download an up-to-date copy from Grants.gov (make sure versions between SL and G.gov match).

• Complete the form by selecting the appropriate boxes to match the project’s type.
• Save it to your computer without changing the name.
• Upload it to the User Attached forms section by selecting Choose File and selecting Add.  A description can be added.

2. USDA sometimes requires a different Grants.gov (R&R) budget form for subs than for the prime/lead organization.  Iowa State’s budget will pull from the Streamlyne budget, but the sub budgets are uploaded using the correct RR budget form, which is embedded in the Subrecipient Budget Attachment Form in the S2S Forms Panel.  Please refer to the Entering Sub Budgets in Streamlyne Tipsheet for step-by-step instructions. 

DOD Specific

1. In Streamlyne, both a Project Abstract and a Project Summary Attachment Type are available as Proposal Attachments. In addition, there may be alternative locations to attach a Project Abstract or Summary in these proposals, such as in the S2S section of the Questions Panel.  When the number of locations available for upload, or the labeling of the Attachment type doesn’t match the FOA, determining how to include this/these documents in a DOD S2S can be confusing.  This has been a known issue in DOD proposals, but could show up in other types of submissions.

You may need to test uploads in both the Abstract and Summary Attachment Type, and see how and where they are pulled into S2S proposal package.   

In one example, per the guidelines, the summary/abstract was instructed to be in Field 7 of the proposal.

When uploaded as “Abstract” the attachment shows in the proposal as a separate form attachment, but not listed in Field 7.  When uploaded as “Summary”, the document shows up listed if Field 7, but not in the form attachment.   

If significant notice is given, prior to the submission deadline, OSPA can help the Initiator and PI test which location most closely matches the FOA and can troubleshoot how to clearly address any discrepancies that may be part of the full submission.