NIH COMMONS System

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established COMMONS as a system of simplifying the circumspect exchange of crucial information between the NIH itself and grant-applicant organizations. COMMONS acts as a web-based resource in which the NIH and grantee organizations can manage their external research administration affairs electronically.

For those applying through the NIH, proposals are first submitted through Grants.gov - the federal portal for grants submissions - then, the proposal is retrieved through the COMMONS online interface where the applicants, granting agencies, and federal staff at the NIH can retrieve and communicate administrative information relating to a particular research grant. 

The ORSP acts as the Authorizing Official and Signing Officials for the institution, in this case, York College; while The Research Foundation (RF CUNY) utilizes the NIH COMMONS system to submit financial reports regarding the grant proposal.

COMMONS uses an applicant's personal profile information to correspond with a specific grant application. It is recommended that applicants enter this profile information as carefully as possible - making sure to accurately notate their address, phone, and other personal identifying information.

• It may be beneficial to digitally save or print out a copy of your COMMONS profile and keep it as a reference for filling out any further NIH forms.
• Note: Your COMMONS User ID is required and serves as a key element for your NIH biosketch form, as such, please choose a User ID that is easy to recollect and that can identify you.

COMMONS is also used as a post-award administration hub, where you can request any extensions as well as prepare the NIH progress report.

• The COMMONS account is used for submitting the sponsoring agencies' pre-award Just-in-Time documents, e.g., human subjects approval forms, and Current and Pending Support information forms.  More information about this process can be found on the NIH Just-In-Time Process webpage.