eRA Commons at WVU

National Institutes of Health

The Office of Sponsored Programs realizes how important it is for our research community to remain up-to-date on any and all policy changes with regards to extramural funding, and because of this we are providing the National Institutes of Health link, Grants Policy & Guidance, so that research may obtain the most recent policy changes available when writing their proposal.

Additional resources provided by NIH staff:

eRA Commons at West Virginia University

The NIH eRA Commons is the National Institutes of Health system for interactive electronic transactions for the receipt, review, monitoring, and administration of NIH grants. The WVU campus has joined the NIH Commons, and investigators at WVU are being asked to use RPPR, a component of the system, to submit progress reports online instead of submitting paper copies.

Account Activation

Principal investigators and departmental administrators must have an account to use the NIH Commons. Please follow instructions to request an account: NIH Commons Account Request

After the account is registered, you will receive email from NIH with a link to a web site where you can activate the account.

RPPR: NIH Non-Competing Progress Report Submission

NIH has introduced the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) as a new submission module for Streamlined Non-Competing Award Process (SNAP) progress reports in the eRA Commons. The RPPR has now been mandated for SNAP reporting and the eSNAP module has been eliminated. To access RPPR, navigate in the eRA Commons to the location where the “eSNAP” tab was previously located. That tab has now been replaced with an “RPPR” link. Please review the RPPR instruction guide.

Forms and instructions for non-competing progress reports can be found under PHS 2590 (Revised 08/2012). The information to be included in the progress report is specified in the PHS 2590 instructions, which also include alternate instructions for awards under the Streamlined Non-Competing Award Process (SNAP). Instructions for the use of the RPPR module (RPPR is used only for SNAP eligible grants at this time) are available with the RPPR Guide. Your Notice of Grant Award (NGA) will specify whether or not your award is subject to SNAP.

If your award is eligible for SNAP, you may file an electronic progress report 45 days before the grant anniversary date (RPPR). RPPR reporting requirements are the same as SNAP except:

RPPR reports are due 45 days before the grant anniversary date instead of 60 days for paper submissions
You can send citations by selecting/providing links to the online journal instead of sending in a hard-copy reprint

OSP will require the following documentation in order to process your non-competing renewal:

OSP Application Approval Sheet ("blue sheet" via the KC system)
Detailed budget for the next year of project funding (please refer to the recommended amount of funding for the next year in the Notice of Grant Award).
If your grant is SNAP eligible, the budget will be not be included with the RPPR but is still required internally as an attachment to the KC Blue Sheet.
If submitting via RPPR, all required documentation must be uploaded to the eRA Commons and routed to OSP.

Other NIH Commons Features for Investigators

Status of Applications and Awards: Principal investigators can review the current status of all their grant applications and review detailed information associated with their grants.
Personal Profile: This facility allows access to view and update account data maintained by the NIH such as degrees, addresses, and publications.
Internet Assisted Review: This facility allows a reviewer to submit critiques and preliminary scores for applications they are reviewing and view all critiques in preparation for the meeting. Allows principal investigators to see the reviewers' comments after the review is completed.
Grants Closeout: Allows a grantee to electronically file the information necessary to complete grant closeout requirements.