Michael Adeniyi

The National Scenic Byways Program (NSBP) 2009 grant application includes a grants.gov portion, the submission of the SF-424. Grants.gov has collected all of their applicant information and listed it in one place, Applicant Resources, http://grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jsp. Here you will find Frequently Asked Questions, User Guides, Tutorials, Troubleshooting Tips and more tools and documents to help you through the process.

Grants.gov has also updated the Applicant User Guide, which is available at http://grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jsp#guides - under “Applicant User Guide.” Sections 1.0 through 1.9 walk you through the entire registration process, from acquiring a DUNS number to assigning yourself or another as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR), which is where a number of applicants got held up last year. Remember you are registering as an organization, not as an individual. Registering as an individual will not allow you to submit your SF-424 form through grants.gov for the National Scenic Byways Program grant opportunity.

The Apply for Grants section, http://grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp, has also been updated and will help you as you download, submit and track your SF-424 form. You will be using Adobe Reader to fill out and submit the SF-424. If you are not sure if your current version of Adobe Reader is compatible, instructions for how to test compatibility are included in this section. Note: you will not use PureEdge to fill out and submit this form.

In lieu of the email notification system for notifying applicants of grant modifications, Grants.gov now uses an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. Please note: subscribing to this feed will keep you up to date on ALL modifications to grant opportunities for a specific agency or category, not for just this specific grant opportunity. For more information on Grants.gov’s RSS feed, visit http://grants.gov/help/rss.jsp.

As you are going through this process, here are 5 necessary pieces of info an applicant should make note of and keep in a safe place:

1. The DUNS number assigned to your organization
2. Your Trading Partner Identification Number (TPIN) assigned upon confirmation of Central Contractor Registry (CCR) registration, or the self-assigned user ID and password (if you’ve renewed or registered with CCR after December 21, 2008)
3. The name of your organization’s Electronic Business Point of Contact (the E-Biz POC) - For more information on the E-Biz POC, please refer to: http://www.bywaysonline.org/grants/articles/73747
4. The Marketing Personal Identification Number (MPIN) - you or your E-Biz POC should have this number as it was created during CCR registration
5. Your grants.gov login and password

CCR.gov recently updated the CCR Handbook. You can download the newly revised handbook at the CCR website, http://www.ccr.gov/handbook.aspx. Reading this handbook is beneficial for those new to this process as CCR asks for specific information. Applicants new to the CCR process should start the registration process at http://www.ccr.gov, and select “Start New Registration” from the left menu. For those in the community who have been through this process in prior years, please remember to update or renew your CCR registration once every 365 days to maintain an active status in the system. Start the update/renewal process by visiting http://www.ccr.gov and choosing “Update or Renew Registration” from the left menu.

Note: If you registered or renewed with CCR prior to December 21, 2008, you will need both the DUNS number and the Trading Partner Identification Number (TPIN) associated with your organization to log into the system. If you access the system using your TPIN after December 21, 2008, you will be prompted to submit a new password, which you will then use for logging into the CCR system. For more information on CCR login procedure changes, please visit http://www.bpn.gov/ReleaseNotes/.