Many of you may have noticed that the SF-424 R&R forms expired on 6/30/2011 (fig. 1).
Federal forms for grant applications flow through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance process, which is designed to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act. OMB grants approval for the use of data collection forms by federal government agencies for a maximum period of 3 years. Thus, every three years, grant forms are reviewed, updated and go through the OMB clearance process. That process consists of a 60-day advance federal notice, a 30-day federal notice coincident with submission of the form(s) to OMB, and a 60-day OMB review period. If approved, a new OMB Control Number is assigned along with a new expiration date.
The SF-424 R&R form family is currently going through the OMB clearance process; public comments were collected through June 28, 2011. OMB has granted an extension for use of the current forms through 12/31/2011 to allow time for Grants.gov to complete the OMB clearance process for the updated forms. Changes were suggested to Grants.gov by an inter-agency task force and focus on the face page and the other project information page.