This blog post was originally published on November 1, 2023, and updated on February 1, 2024. The updates reflect progress made in the recent releases and the schedule based on user feedback.
Grants.gov now has a new look and improved features! Following the recent maintenance period, Grants.gov now provides an intuitive and responsive user experience aligned with United States Web Design System (USWDS) standards.
While our October release brought you a new look and feel, we are aware that some features still need attention. To address these issues and make your experience even better, we will be rolling out a series of releases over the next few months.
Pending Functionality Updates
As we work to enhance the user experience, some functionalities, and sections of the website, such as post-login pages, are awaiting updates. Additionally, certain features, like Chatbot, are not yet available on the new sections of the website.
Rest assured, these functionalities are a priority, and we are actively working to update them in subsequent releases. An estimated timeline for our highest priority fixes is outlined in the following table:
| Known Issues | Impact to Users | Target Fix Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Users do not see Subscribe button on View Grant Opportunity and View Grant Opportunity Forecast pages. | Applicants subscribe to opportunities to receive automatic email notifications when an agency updates Opportunity details. This does not affect current subscriptions. Users can subscribe to opportunities using the following steps: 1) Login 2) Hover over Connect tab 3) Click on Subscribe to Opportunities link 4) Click on Add Opportunity Subscription button 5) Follow the steps to complete the subscription | Issue Resolved |
| After a user signs in, pages with the new look continue to display the login link in the top right corner | Users who have signed in are confused when they see the login link on pages that don’t require logging in. | Issue Resolved |
| Agency filter on Search Grants page does not work properly | After a user selects an Agency in the search filter, the page shows a white screen. The user must then scroll back up to see search results. User must scroll through a list of subagencies or use their browser’s find function (CTRL/Command – F), if available. Some checkboxes do not properly filter search results. For example, the checkbox for the Department of Education does not work. | Issue Resolved |
| Search results do not prioritize opportunities with key words in the opportunity title | Search results include opportunities with key words in the title, but these may be buried among opportunities for which the key words are found in the description or related documents. | Issue Resolved |
| Apply button on View Grant Opportunity page is enabled even when a package is not available to apply | User receives an error message on the Apply Now Using Workspace page indicating that no open Opportunity package is found: | Issue Resolved |
| Apply button on NOFO View Grant Opportunity page is enabled even when the user has not been assigned a role with the system privilege necessary to create a workspace | User receives a “Bad request” error if the user does not have a system role with the Create Workspace privilege. See the Online Help article, Manage Roles for Applicant for instructions assigning and obtaining system roles in Grants.gov. | TBD |
| Session handling not synchronized between pages that do and do not require logging in | Logged in users are not notified of session timeout if they navigate to the pages that don’t require logging in. A user may have to sign in to access pages that they were using previously. | Issue Resolved |
| Save Search button is not available on the Search Grants page | Users are unable to save and subscribe to search criteria entered on Search Grants page. | First Quarter 2024 |
| On the Subscribe to Saved Searches page, Add, View, and Edit actions take user to the Grants.gov homepage | Users are unable to save or edit a set of saved search criteria or view their results. | First Quarter 2024 |
| Export Detailed Data link on Search Grants page is not available | Users are unable to download a .csv file of search results for a set of search criteria. See A Quick Guide to Importing Grants.gov Data into MS Excel with an XML Extract for instructions on importing Grants.gov opportunity data into Excel. | First Quarter 2024 |
| Chatbot is unavailable from the footer of updated pages | Chatbot is still available after logging into the system, but not on pages that do not require logging in. | Issue Resolved [Note: User may need to clear cached files] |
| Arrows in the top row of search results only sort the first page of results | Users must use the Sort By dropdown box (available above the opportunities results table) to obtain fully sorted results. | TBD |
| Pagination of search results on Search Grants page sometimes displays negative numbers | The users need to ignore the negative numbers and peruse the search results. | TBD |
| Search function for static site content is unavailable | Users will not be able to search for Grants.gov page content by keyword. However, users can use the tabs available on each page to find content. | TBD |
| RSS feed is unavailable | Users who use RSS feed to get the latest information on opportunity will have to visit the Grants.gov website to view the latest opportunities and modifications. | TBD |
| Search using the Opportunity Number field returns no results if data is entered in lowercase | If users want to search using Opportunity Number field under “Basic Search Criteria”, they should enter data in upper case. | TBD |
| Search For Opportunity Package: Message maybe misleading when the opportunity packages are closed | If user enters a package number or opportunity number on the Search for Opportunity Package page and the opportunity is closed, the system message says that the package has not been posted by the awarding agency on Grants.gov, instead of saying the package is closed. | TBD |
| Copy link function is not available on the View Opportunity page, Back to Results function is not available | Users have to copy the URL for an Opportunity detail page from their browser application. Users must use the back button in their browser application. | TBD |
| Print Synopsis Details function is not available on the View Opportunity page | Users must use the print option available in the browser or copy the information from the page and format it on their device as needed and print. | TBD |
Options for Support
We understand that during this period, you may encounter situations where you require assistance or have questions about the changes. We want to assure you that support is readily available. If you have any questions or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our dedicated support team.
To help shape our priorities for future improvements, we encourage users to actively engage with us by filling out our feedback form.
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