AT07 Unavailable Evening April 30, 2009

Grants.gov will be conducting testing on AT07 from 5:30 PM EDT, April 30, 2009 through 12:00 AM EDT, May 1, 2009. Users are asked to not use AT07 during this period. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Grants.gov Submissions

Last evening, April 27, between 7:45 and 9:45 p.m. EDT submissions were not being processed through the system as a result of the SAN device capacity limitation. The SAN device is used for storing queued submissions, the device ran into an upper limit on UFS Solaris Operating System and halted submission acceptance. The system was unable to create new directories to accept incoming submissions. Corrective action has been taken.

From April 20 – 27 we processed over 28,000 applications. In this eight day period alone we surpassed the total monthly submissions for each month in FY 09, with the exception of March, when we processed 36,253 submissions. On April 27 we processed 8,392 applications, the largest one day submission total, surpassing the April 24 record high of 5,973.

On April 27 the Contact Center received 2,065 calls which was the third highest volume of calls we have received to date.

Form in Form submissions are taking greater then 48 hours to validate. We are working to validate all submissions within the 48 hour validation process.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Two Hour Gap in Accepting Submissions on Monday Evening

At approximately 7:45pm, April 27th, the portion of the Grants.Gov system that manages the intake of new applications suffered technical difficulties due to the unprecedented number of new applications received today.

The immediate result was that users could not submit grant applications through Grants.gov for about a two-hour period from 7:45 pm to 9:45 pm EST. Grant opportunity search capability, and processing of applications that had already been submitted before the failure, continued to function normally.

Users who were not able to submit their applications should try submitting again now that full functionality has been restored.

Grants.Gov Program Management Office

Intermittent Issues with Password Reset and Registration

There are currently intermittent issues with resetting a password and registration. We are currently working to resolve these intermittent issues. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you experience an issue with resetting your password or registration do not submit multiple requests, please call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

Expect Delays in Receiving the Application Submission Validation Email

There is currently a delay with the validation email that Grants.gov sends due to the unprecedented volume of application submissions. The validation email may take longer than Grants.gov’s standard 48 hours.

We appreciate your patience and encourage you to visit the Track My Application page (https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/checkApplStatus.faces) to check the status of your application submission. If you need further assistance please call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

Expect Delays in Receiving the Application Submission Validation Email

There is currently a delay with the validation email that Grants.gov sends due to the unprecedented volume of application submissions. The validation email may take longer than Grants.gov’s standard 48 hours.

We appreciate your patience and encourage you to visit the Track My Application page (https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/checkApplStatus.faces) to check the status of your application submission. If you need further assistance please call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

Intermittent Issues with Password Reset and Registration

There are currently intermittent issues with resetting a password and registration. We are currently working to resolve these intermittent issues. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you experience an issue with resetting your password or registration do not submit multiple requests, please call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or email support@grants.gov.

April 27, 2009: High Submission Volume

There are 29 Grant Opportunities closing on Monday, April 27, 2009, including a large Recovery Act opportunity for NIH that is expected to receive an unprecedented number of applications. The submissions for these opportunities have already begun and will continue to grow as we move towards April 27. The following agencies have closings on this date; ACF, AMS, CDC, CSREE, DOE, EPA, HRSA, NIH and USAID.

Please remember to click save and submit only one time to begin the submission process. Multiple clicks on Save and Submit will not help. This will only cause an additional resource drain on the system.

After receiving your confirmation page and/or submission receipt email, it may take up to 48 hours for Grants.gov to process your application, send the submission validation email and make the application available to the grantor agency. Please be patient and allow your submissions to work through the system.

The peak hours for submission are 2:00 – 6:00 PM EDT. If you can submit outside this timeframe that will increase the speed at which you can submit.

If you need assistance please call the Grants.gov Contact Center 1-800-518-4726. Right now the wait time for your call is 31 seconds.

Grants.gov April 18 - 19 Build Successfully Deployed

The build was successfully deployed. We have made configuration changes to the system as well as implemented new functionality for applicants to track up to five Grant Tracking #s without having to login to the system.

For more detailed information on the new functionality the build communication is on the site: http://www07.grants.gov/assets/TrackApplicationEnhancement2009-SCR8719.pdf

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Grants.gov Scheduled Maintenance April 18 - 19

We are conducting the scheduled maintenance on April 18 - 19 in preparation for several large closings on April 27. On that day there are 27 closings including an NIH closing where they expect a high volume of submissions.

Our efforts this weekend are to improve system performance to meet this demand. By introducing new "Track my Application" functionality this will reduce the number of people logged into the system which will improve performance. Once this functionality is in place users can track up to five Grant Tracking #s without logging into the system.

Moving forward we are executing monthly builds to continue to enhance the system. The next build is tentatively scheduled for May 30 - 31. Once we finalize these dates and the dates for the upcoming builds after that we will notify the community.

Stakeholder Webcast April 15

The Grants.gov Quarterly Stakeholder Webcast is April 15 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT. To view the webcast click here: http://www.hhs.gov/grants/webcast/index.html at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15.

*Please note you will need the Adobe Flash Player (http://www.adobe.com) installed on your computer in order to view the live video stream. You can test your ability to view the flash video stream starting at 10:00 a.m. EDT on the day of the webcast at the address listed above. If you are unable to view this live stream in the flash format, it will be available in flash video-on-demand shortly after the broadcast.

Grants.gov Scheduled System Maintenance

The Grants.gov site will be unavailable April 18 - 19 to conduct system maintenance. As part of this effort we will be introducing new functionality to "Track my Application" without login to the system. Once the system comes back online applicants will be able to enter up to 5 Grant Tracking #s to get a status without login to the system.

Upon submitting an application the receipt confirmation page will have a link at the bottom of the page for you to click and check the status of the Grant Tracking # on the Receipt Confirmation page. The receipt e-mail itself will also have a link in it to check the status of that Grant Tracking # as well.

For those of you who utilize AT07 the site will be intermittently offline this afternoon beginning at 1:00 PM EDT through COB today.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Grants.gov Submission Volume

Grants.gov processed 38,646 applications in March 2009 which was a 78% increase over the 21,651 applications processed in February.

For April 1 – 7 we processed 11,464 which is the largest weekly submission total to date for the 2007 Adobe system. April 6 was the largest one day total processed; 3,555.

In our efforts to continue to enhance system performance we are on target with the next build which will occur April 18 – 19. The system will be unavailable during this time. We are changing the system configuration to prioritize login requests. We are also adding the Track my application feature where applicants can track their application status without login to the system. This will further reduce the number of people who login to the system.

More information including the build communication will follow.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

NO Testing Allowed in Production

For our System-to-System (S2S) community, any testing in Production must be stopped immediately. There is no testing allowed in our Production environment.

Please use AT07 for all your testing.

Grants.gov PMO

Contact Center Call Volume

In December 2008 the Grants.gov Contact Center received 10,102 calls. In March 2009 the Center received 36,287 for a 259% increase over December 2008. This resulted in increased customer wait times.

Today, April 6, we have 77 Customer Support Representatives (CSRs) available to take calls. Today, we have started a new hire class of 25 Customer Support Representatives. When all 25 complete training we will have 102 CSRs on the phone April 20 to assist customers.

We appreciate your patience as we staff up to meet the unprecedented call volume.

If you need assistance; Grants.gov Contact Center 1-800-518-4726.

CORRECTED: Applicant Submission Issue

The issue has been resolved. Applicants are now able to submit without experiencing any issues. Last evening in our efforts to correct the 500 Error message applicants and Grantors were intermittently receiving these efforts triggered the slow submission time for applicants overnight and this morning.

Applicants, please note, if you cannot submit you should contact the Grants.gov Contact Center (800-518-4726) to create a customer service ticket. By trying to submit multiple times it creates an additional resource drain on the system further slowing down processing times. We appreciate your consideration in this matter.

ALERT: Application Processing

Applicants are currently experiencing issues submitting applications. Applications are getting processed but some applicants are having issues uploading. We will provide you with more information as it becomes available. We
appreciate your patience.

If you have a grant deadline today please contact the Grants.gov Contact Center 1-800-518-4726. The Center Staff starts in staggered shifts and will be fully staffed by 9:00 a.m.

Regards,

Grants.gov PMO

Application Upload Connectivity

Users may experience connectivity problems with Grants.gov during application submission. We are aware of the situation and working on a resolution.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO