Are you a Signing Official (SO) planning to withdraw your grant application? Instead of contacting the NIH Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) directly, starting on Thursday, Sept. 8, you will be able to request the withdrawal electronically in eRA Commons.
As you may be aware, an SO can reject an application within the first two business days (the viewing window) after the application is submitted. After that two day window, if an application needs to be withdrawn, an SO must submit a request to DRR to have the application withdrawn.
The request to electronically withdraw a grant – the new capability in eRA Commons via the new Prior Approval tab – can be initiated by a Principal Investigator (PI) or SO, but can only be submitted by the SO. The request can be internally routed in Commons between the SO and PI for review before submission.
Once the SO submits the request, an email is sent to the submitting SO and the PI.
Once approved, DRR will notify the PI via email that the application was withdrawn. The SO will be able to see that the application status has changed, and also see the withdrawal confirmation in the Correspondence section of the Status Information screen in eRA Commons.
For details, see the Prior Approval section in the eRA Commons online help (also accessible via the question mark icons on the Prior Approval screen in eRA Commons).
Other processes going electronic in the coming year — submitting a prior approval request for an application with 500k or more in direct costs per budget period; submitting a prior approval request for a change of PI (and pre-award change of PI); no-cost extensions for institutions that have already submitted one; and more. Plus, in the future, eRA Commons will display the status of whether these requests were approved or denied.