Clinical Tools, Inc., was awarded an eRA-SBIR grant #1 R4418051-01 to create a system that provides members of the extramural research community a purely electronic means for writing and submitting proposals to the National Institutes of Health. CTI is developing, testing, refining, and deploying a web-based system with a public interface at http://www.HealthProposal.net. The system employs open source technologies, running custom-written Java servlets that leverage sophisticated applications of Extensible Markup Language (XML), Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), XSL for Formatting Objects (XSL:FO), and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) on Linux servers.

For the agency’s March 2004 submission deadline, the system demonstrated a successful implementation of its core functionality. Researchers from an internationally known facility used the system’s web interface to enter detailed proposal data and to upload files for the narrative sections of their proposal. The system automatically packaged the files and data for secure transmission, and, when the researchers were ready to submit the proposal, the National Institutes of Health immediately gained access to the complete proposal in electronic form. Performance and interface enhancements are in progress, and will be completed in advance of the June 2004 submission deadline.

Phase II of this contract will see an expansion and refinement in the features and capabilities of HealthProposal.net. A means to balance the load of a high volume of users across several servers is currently being tested. Plans are in place to provide configurable security settings by which the lead member of a research team can grant or deny other team members read/write access to sensitive areas of a proposal. Proposal-writing tutorials, proofreading services, and other value-added features will also be developed to complement the context-sensitive help features already built into the system.

Electronic proposal-writing offers great advantages over the paper-based process. It can expand possibilities for collaboration, eliminate redundant data-entry, and help to manage and track the assembly of highly complex proposals. Refinement and expansion of the system proceeds toward the goal of making HealthProposal.net the premier solution for writing and submitting proposals to the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers and research organizations need to acquire grant revenues, expend minimal effort in the application process, produce a logical and coherent grant proposal, utilize technology in the completion of grant projects, and organize their plans to achieve maximum effect. Research administrators need to retrain knowledge and control over administrative components of grant-funded work, ensure the policies are followed, and provide an environment that aids new and established investigators. We seek to impact researchers and administrators by providing web-based tools to make the process easier and more collaborative, and which support inquiry and creative processes. Via SBIR support, HealthProposal.net: http://www.healthproposal.net offers a secure and stable web service for electronically creating, managing, and submitting complete grant applications to the National Institutes of Health.

Our goal is to provide the health research community with a web service for grant conceptualization, creation, assembly, collaboration, submission, tracking, data sharing, dissemination, and closeout. The benefits of HealthProposal.net include: 1) Users can complete the process with a standard writing tool (Word) that generates PDFs and an Internet browser – it does not require forms, such as the PureEdge forms required by Grants.gov, special software, or investment in servers, 2) Support for Macintosh and Linux-based operating systems, 3) Two or more people can work on the proposal simultaneously anywhere there is Internet access, 4) PIs and Signatory Officials at Institutions are assured of immediate receipt of the grant as well as e-mail notifications of grant status.

Currently, NIH accepts applications that use the R01, R03, and R21 funding mechanisms; in the future SBIR proposals will be accepted. Our service will provide a front end to Grants.gov as well when NIH accepts R01/R03/R21 grants from Grants.gov. The HealthProposal.net submission service charges a $50 per proposal handling fee for each proposal submission. The basic proposal creation services we offer include data entry forms for PHS 398 items, PDF file upload or data entry sections A-I, link to NIH Commons for retrieval of information, PDF generation of entire proposal, electronic submission to NIH via our website for R01, R03, or R21 grant mechanisms, and online and e-mail technical support. Thus far we have completed over 74 electronic submissions from 19 institutions and 58 PIs (6 are repeat users).