Common Questions to Grants.gov’s Support Team—EBiz POC Edition

In addition to the training and instructional resources available to aid with your grant search and application process, we have a support team ready to help you by phone (1-800-518-4726) or email.

Before you pick up the phone to call, though, we have answers to the most common questions asked by people who are the Electronic Business Point of Contact (EBiz POC) for their organization.

Wait, what’s an ‘EBiz POC’?

Grants.gov Support Center’s Top Questions: Workspace Edition

If you are a subscriber to this blog, you likely know about Grants.gov’s online resources. These resources include training videos and the online user guide.

Sometimes, though, talking on the phone with a real, live human can be crucial – especially when a user is stumped by a specific step in the application process or just feels overwhelmed. To this end, Grants.gov has a Support Center that can be reached 24/7 (except on federal holidays) by phone (1-800-518-4726) or email.

Below are the five most common questions the support team has received about Grants.gov Workspace. Here we provide basic answers, tips, and links to specific videos and help articles that walk users through the answers.

Help Your Community Learn & Grow: Participate in the Grants.gov Discussion Forum

Anyone who is new to federal grants may feel overwhelmed by the complex forms and the prospect of managing and reporting on the use of federal award funds. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place to ask questions and have them answered by more seasoned federal grants pros?

Good news: There is – in the Grants.gov Community Discussion Forum. In June, Grants.gov added the discussion forum (login required) so that applicants, grantors and others with a Grants.gov account have a place to gather online, ask questions, and share resources.

Connecting In the Discussion Forum | #GrantChat Highlights Part 5

Have you ever wanted to ask other grant applicants for help or resources? The new Discussion Forum is a place for Grants.gov users to do just that. We asked the grant professionals on #GrantChat how they think the forum could be useful to users.

In what ways does the #grantchat community think the forum could be beneficial to federal grant applicants?

Join Us on #GrantChat May 1st—Preview of Questions

Tuesday, May 1^st at noon EST, we will be guest hosts on #GrantChat on Twitter. Join the conversation with the grants community to meet peers, share resources, and learn about federal grants.

Here is a preview of the questions we will discuss, so bring your ideas, input, and follow-up questions to Twitter May 1^st at noon!

Chat Questions Preview

Questions and Answers from Grants.gov’s Town Hall Webinars

On December 5^th and 7^th Grants.gov held town hall-style webinars so that users could have their questions answered about Grants.gov Workspace and the upcoming retirement of the Legacy PDF application method.

What follows is a summary of the discussion during the two webinars.

In some cases, questions have been combined to minimize repetition. Also, we have added links to relevant training resources where applicable to shorten those answers.

The full video recording, available here and embedded below, is from the Dec. 7^th webinar.

Workspace Webinar Video and Recap – What You Missed

For those who missed Grants.gov’s live webinars on applying with Workspace, here is the webinar recording, along with a summary of the common questions we heard from the grants community.

Common Questions and the Answers

Conference Q&A: Your Workspace Questions Answered, Part 2

In case you missed us, here’s Part 2 of the question and answer session we had at the at the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Annual Conference. If you missed part 1 of the Conference Q&A, check out that blog post first.

If you have questions about Workspace, read this post and then go to the Grants.gov Online User Guide for more information.

Conference Q&A: Your Workspace Questions Answered, Part 1

On August 8, 2017, Grants.gov presented on Workspace at the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Annual Conference to approximately 175 of you in the grants community.

Growing up, our teachers always told us, “Don’t be afraid to ask questions.” Those who made it to the presentation did not disappoint! Our teachers also often followed up with the encouragement that someone else probably has the same question. In that spirit, we are going to share questions and answers from the presentation in case you could not make it.

Big-Picture Questions

Where can I train and play around with Workspace to learn the functionality?

For training, start with this blog post & video to get a basic understanding of Workspace.

Recent Comments & Replies from the Grants.gov Community Blog

This blog supports a growing community made up of applicants, grantors, and individuals who are exploring the world of federal grants – sometimes for the very first time. Here we share a few of the most recent questions and comments posed by community members and readers.

Grantors

Commenting on “It’s Going Away: The Legacy PDF Application Package Will Be Retired”

“As a Grantor, what does this mean for the application packages that we download and process? Our software expects to see a zip file containing the SF424, attachments, manifest, etc. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.” –Kevin

Hi Kevin, Thanks for the question! Nothing will change on your end. You will still get the same zip file containing the SF424, attachments, manifest, etc. –Grants.gov