December 12, 2021: Expanding Requirement for eRA Commons IDs to All Senior/Key Personnel

Expanding Requirement for eRA Commons IDs to All Senior/Key Personnel

Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-109

Release Date: April 20, 2021

Related Announcements: PA-22-051 – AHRQ Mentored Career Enhancement Awards for Established Investigators in Patient-Centered Outcome Research (K18); PA-22-050 – AHRQ Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Mentored Clinical Scientist Career Development Award (K08); PA-22-049 – AHRQ Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01); RFA-EB-21-001-Technology Development to Reduce Health Disparities (R01 Clinical Trial Optional); RFA-HG-22-001-Supporting Talented Early Career Researchers in Genomics (R01 Clinical Trial Optional); PAR-22-068– Continuation or Revision of NIDCR Clinical Trial Implementation Cooperative Agreement (UH3 Clinical Trial Required); RFA-HD-23-020 – Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) Scientific Leadership Center (UM2 Clinical Trial Optional); RFA-HD-23-021 – Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) Operations and Collaborations Center (UM2 Clinical Trial Optional); PAR-21-356 – Limited Competition: Research Resource for the National Swine Resource and Research Center (U42 Clinical Trial Not Allowed); PA-22-047; PA-22-048; PA-21-265; PA-21-264; PA-21-266; NOT-OD-21-169.

Issued by: NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH); U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); Office of Research and Development (ORD); Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Purpose: Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, NIH, AHRQ, FDA, and ORD/VA will require all individuals listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form to have an eRA Commons username (Commons ID). Extension of the existing eRA Commons ID requirement to include all senior/key personnel will facilitate better data collection for individuals contributing to federally funded research as well as assist in disambiguating data on applications and facilitating the identification of conflicts of interest in peer review.

Background: eRA Commons IDs are already required as part of application submission for PD/PIs, multiple PD/PIs, sponsors on fellowship applications, component leads on multi-project applications, candidates for diversity supplement support, and the primary mentor identified on individual mentored career development applications. While it has always been strongly encouraged that all other senior/key personnel to obtain eRA Commons IDs, it has not been required. Without a unique personnel credential, it is difficult to correctly identify conflicts of interest in peer review as well as gather unambiguous data on personnel involved in federally funded research.

Implementation: Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, an eRA Commons ID must be entered in the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field for all Senior/Key Personnel (as defined in NIH GPS 1.2) listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form.  An eRA system validation will be implemented to check for a valid eRA Commons ID. For multi-project applications, this requirement also applies to the individual components of the application and not to just the Overall component. To facilitate awareness of this policy change, starting late April, applicants will encounter an eRA system validation if the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field is blank or does not contain a valid eRA Commons ID. This validation will be a warning for no less than 2 council rounds before being escalated to an error that must be corrected before the application can be submitted to the agency.

Reminder: Individuals needing scientific roles (Program Directors, Principal Investigators, Scientist, Post-Doc, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Project Personnel) should only have one eRA Commons ID for the life of their research career. Always check for an existing eRA Commons account prior to creating a new one. If a person already has an eRA Commons scientific account and is changing institutions, a Signing Official (SO) or an Account Administrator (AA) role at the new institution can affiliate that account with the new institution (see steps). If you find that you have more than one account please contact the eRA Service Desk at https://public.era.nih.gov/submithelp/ or 1-866-504-9552.

Resources: Understanding eRA Commons Accounts; eRA Register/Accounts webpage; How to Get a User ID for eRA Commons (Video)

Please direct all eRA technical inquiries to: eRA Service Desk