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In an effort to make the Coeus budgeting process more accurate, we have made several changes to the available list of Coeus budget cost elements. Starting immediately, these changes include the removal of old cost elements and the addition of some new cost elements to make Coeus budget creation easier and more accurate. 

Removing University Cost Elements

VUMC Coeus no longer maintains fringe rates, indirect rates, or other financial information related to Vanderbilt University budget expenses. Therefore, the Coeus cost elements associated with the University have been disabled and will no longer appear in the budget selection list. This includes item such as 50200UF and 50600F for faculty academic and summer salaries. Budget items associated with Vanderbilt University expenses are typically captured in the subaward budget and do not need to appear in the VUMC budget detail. In situations where VU expenses must be captured directly in a VUMC budget, Coeus users are encouraged to use ‘TBD’ personnel lines or 61910 “Other Expenses,” including any clarifying information in the description field.

Coeus users copying an older budget containing now-deactivated university cost elements will receive a warning at the time of the copy. These budgets can still be copied, but the user will not be able to save edits to the budget until all inactive cost elements have been removed.

Adding “Other Expenses” for Training Grants

We have added cost element 61910T for “Training Other Expenses.” Currently, when Coeus users build budgets for training grants, they often include “Other Expenses” related to their project, but this 61910 cost element requires the user to manually adjust the expense from the default to its proper section on the training budget form. That manual adjustment is no longer required – simply choose the training-specific cost element, and it will be appropriately categorized on the training budget form.

Adding Non-Training Items

We have added two new tuition costs elements (64311NT and 64312NT) that allow users to select graduate tuition for non-training grants without having to manually move the expenses to a non-training budget category. Selecting these cost elements will place the expenses in “Section F. Other Direct Costs,” instead of “Section E. Participant/Trainee Support Costs.”

We have also added a cost element for non-training health insurance (64330NT). Selecting this cost element will also place the expenses in “Section F. Other Direct Costs,” instead of “Section E. Participant/Trainee Support Costs.”

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes including how it might apply to your proposal, please contact your OSP Specialist or coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org

VUMC’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) recognizes that foundations who sponsor VUMC projects may not award budgets inclusive of our full indirect costs. In such situations we accept either the foundation’s published policy or, in the absence of published policy, a minimum of 15% indirects on total direct costs. Pursuant to this approach, Coeus has added a new indirect cost rate option that will charge TDC 15% by default for foundations. Of course, users can override this rate to match the foundation’s published policy if needed. 

This might be a good time for a review:

Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC): VUMC and the federal government periodically negotiate indirect cost rates applicable to federally funded projects. Not all direct charges receive corresponding indirects. Equipment, patient care, and subcontract costs over $25,000 are excluded from MTDC. In Coeus, several indirect rate-types qualify as MTDC, including ‘Research,’ ‘Sponsored Training,’ and ‘Other Sponsored Activities.’ Coeus automatically excludes these costs for indirect calculations on any of these rate selections.

Total Direct Costs (TDC): Non-federal projects are not subject to VUMC’s rate agreement with the federal government; therefore, the exclusions for equipment, patient care, and subcontracts over $25k also do not apply. In these cases, VUMC is permitted to charge indirect costs on ALL budget items. In Coeus, several indirect rate-types qualify as TDC including ‘Industry Sponsored,’ ‘Service Grants & Contracts,’ and ‘TDC- Zero.’ Because the rate is applied to all line items, these rate-types should NOT be used for federal proposals, even if the rate is overridden to a different percentage. The selection of TDC can cause a Coeus budget to be out of compliance with our federally negotiated rate.

Under current conditions, users creating a foundation proposal budget do not have a clear choice when they are selecting a budget rate-type. Some choose ‘TDC- Zero’ and override the amount, while others attempt to select the type that fits their project activity, like research or training. The new foundation rate-type will facilitate more accurate reporting and hopefully provide greater clarity regarding which budget rate-type to use. As a rule of thumb, if the sponsor is a foundation – use the foundation rate-type and override if necessary! 

If you have any questions or concerns about this change or how it might apply to your proposal, please contact your OSP Specialist or coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org

Many Coeus users are familiar with the process for uploading subaward budgets into Coeus. Uploading such forms is required for detailed budget submissions to federal agencies through Grants.gov. We have several FAQs about uploading and translating subaward forms.

For situations that do not require an uploaded subaward form, Coeus users have often created the budget line items manually. 

But there is a easier way!

The Coeus subaward budget screen is used to translate forms, but it can also be used to create subaward line items without a form. Simply key the direct and indirect amounts for each budget year and Coeus will handle the rest.

Step 1: Make sure your subaward organization is listed on the proposal Organization tab:

Step 2: Confirm that all budget periods have been generated:

Step 3: Use the budget Sub Award Budget screen to create an entry for your sub:

Step 4: Use the Sub Award Details button to key the Direct and Indirect costs for each budget year:

Step 5: Click OK on the Detail Entry screen and the Sub Award Budget screen and review the budget line items:

Coeus will automatically create line items for Under $25K, Over $25K, and for Indirect Costs in each budget period.

If you have any questions or concerns about using this Coeus budget feature, please contact coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org

If your proposal will include the submission of subawards to Grants.gov, OSP recommends identifying the appropriate form early in the process and sending that form to your subaward contacts. That way, they can use the appropriate form for their budget and no one does extra work.

The sponsor selects which Grants.gov forms are accepted for each of their funding opportunities. All legitimate subaward budget forms can be uploaded into Coeus and translated into the budget. However, only the appropriate form will populate the Grants.gov funding opportunity without errors.

For example, if your application package includes the RR Budget V1-3 budget form for the main budget on the Grants.gov tab…

… then use the RR Budget V1-3 budget form to develop and upload your subaward budgets.

Another common method of finding the appropriate form is to use the table on the Coeus Help Subaward Forms page to find the corresponding subaward budget form:

You can download all subaward budget forms from our website on the Subaward Forms page.

Please contact your OSP Specialist or coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org with any questions about narratives or proposal roles.

Government sponsors have recently reissued several opportunities due to changes in program instructions. Before you route a Coeus proposal, double-check that your opportunity does not expire in the near future. To do this, check the Closing Date on the Grants.gov screen of your proposal:

If your opportunity expires before your chosen submission date you can find the new opportunity by searching the Grants.gov page: https://www.grants.gov

The page for the old opportunity should list the new opportunity under the VERSION HISTORY tab:

When changing opportunity numbers in Coeus, remember to use the Delete Opportunity button on the Coeus Grants.gov screen. Then save your proposal and input the new opportunity number:

Do not erase the opportunity number from the Funding Opportunity field:

If you have questions or encounter difficulty, please contact coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org

The Coeus Help team regularly fields questions about the following error message:

This message occurs when Coeus is unable to populate a Grants.gov form with the information provided.

For example, if the Coeus questionnaire has not been completed, there are questions on multiple Grants.gov forms that cannot be populated.

In order to get more specific information about your problem, try printing the individual Grants.gov forms:

Printing individual forms will reveal which form(s) cannot be displayed because of missing data. If clicking “Print” produces a PDF, that form had the required information. If clicking “Print” produces an error message, read the message carefully and contact Coeus Help for further assistance.

Common causes include incomplete questionnaires, an unchecked Modular Budget box, or an incorrect subaward budget form.

Coeus users preparing Human Subjects proposals will notice context help links have been added to nearly all fields within eCat. The links exist as blue question marks next to Section titles and questions. 

Each link connects to the relevant section of NIH documentation. The NIH documentation includes the most up-to-date definitions and instructions for form fields and attachments.

NOTE:  It is important that proposal creators review the instructions associated with their funding opportunity for any special instructions or deviations from the standard formset documentation.

The PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trial Information form includes text fields that can store thousands of characters. These fields have raised a number of questions for those creating and submitting proposals using the VUMC eCat tool. NIH recognizes the limitations of text fields and has created a page with instructions here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide/format-and-write/rules-for-text-fields.htm

The NIH instructions include this language:

• “Cutting and pasting text from [Microsoft] Word or another text editor into a text field is generally OK, but watch out for proprietary fonts or special characters. For example, some word processors like Word automatically convert straight quotation marks into “smart quotes” or “curly quotes” that are curved one way at the beginning of the quote and the other way at the end of a quote.
• Much of your original formatting (font, bolding, bullets, subscript, superscript) will be lost when you cut and paste.
• If your submission option supports application previewing before submission [Coeus does this on the Grants.gov screen], then use that feature to check your data entry. You can then make any necessary adjustments to your application to make it look the way you want it to.”

The Coeus team recommends specific actions for the following common problems…

Special Characters
Common word processing software and web browsers can support substantially more formatting than is supported by the PHS form. For example, bulleted lists, tab indents, bold text, italics, and smart quotation marks are not supported by the PHS form. Coeus and eCat users are strongly encouraged to type directly into the eCat text fields or copy and paste their text from a plain text document. See the instructions below for converting Microsoft Word documents into plain text. 

Character Counts
Coeus and eCat users should be aware that differences exist between the ways that various software count characters. For example, the Eligibility Criteria field in Section 2.2 of the PHS form allows up to 15,000 characters. Copying and pasting 15,000 characters directly from a Microsoft Word document is likely to include substantial hidden formatting that count as “characters” even though such formatting is not visible to the user. This will result in an eCat or Grants.gov validation error. To avoid losing too many characters to counting differences see the section below on saving Microsoft Word documents in plain text format. 

Saving Microsoft Word as Plain Text (.txt)
Copying and pasting text directly from Microsoft Word into eCat will likely cause problems at NIH Commons when the application is pulled from Grants.gov. The Coeus team highly recommends saving a Microsoft Word document as a Plain Text (.txt) file before using the copy and paste functions to move text into eCat. To make this change, use the File > Save Asmenu item in Microsoft Word and choose Plain Text as the Save as type:

After clicking the save button, another window will appear. Be sure to select the checkbox for “Allow character substitution” in order to replace troublesome formatting with simple characters that work with the PHS form.

This change will likely alter the formatting and characters within the document. Carefully review the text and make the necessary adjustments to the simplified text.

Please contact coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org with any specific questions or concerns.

The latest formsets require human subjects researchers to parse their human subjects information into numerous text fields, drop-down menus, and several new narrative attachments. 

NIH claims the new form set “Expands the use of discrete form fields to capture [human subject] information to provide the level of detail needed for peer review.” Also, this new format “presents key information to reviewers and agency staff in a consistent format” that “aligns with ClinicalTrials.gov (where possible) and positions the NIH for future data exchange with ClinicalTrials.gov.”

In other words – the new form set is intended to make peer review faster and more consistent. The new form set also allows NIH to use proposal information to create large comparable data sets that lend themselves to analysis.

However, the new form set may tempt proposal writers into using similar language in multiple text fields and attachments. This should be avoided!

According to NIH: “avoid redundancies [in human subjects proposal information]. Be especially careful to avoid redundancies with your research strategy.” 

“The PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form will capture detailed information at the study level. Although you are encouraged to refer to information in the PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form in your discussion of the Research Strategy, do not duplicate information between the Research Strategy attachment and the PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.”

NIH also warns: “Do not use the [human subjects attachments] to circumvent the page limits of the Research Strategy.”

Conclusion: Carefully read FOA instructions and NIH’s guidelines for the Human Subjects and Clinical Trial Information form. NIH has provided instructions for each question, data field, and attachment (marked with blue question marks in eCat.) Providing the requested information in the appropriate location will make the review process easier and improve chances of a positive review.

The narratives are a special part of the proposal package in Coeus and eCat. These documents contain the scientific substance of the proposal and may be edited until moments before the proposal is submitted to the sponsoring organization. The Vanderbilt Community is unique in providing researchers with the ability to exchange and edit narrative documents throughout the VUMC routing and approval process.

Coeus

Existing narratives can be exchanged for new versions during the routing and approval process, but users are NOT able to create entirely new narratives in Coeus or eCat. Those who create Coeus proposals should include placeholder documents for all anticipated narratives. Best practice is to label placeholders as “DRAFT” or another obvious indicator. 

Once a proposal is routing and has “Approval in Progress” status, the proposal is locked from editing, except for those narratives that have already been uploaded. To edit or replace such documents, go to the Narratives screen, highlight the appropriate narrative, and click the blue Edit button on the toolbar:

The Title field can be edited to remove any “DRAFT” or other comment, and the PDF itself can be replaced.

CoeusWeb

These same functions are also available in CoeusWeb. During routing and approval, users can open the proposal and go to the Upload Attachments menu. After selecting a specific attachment, a pop-up window allows users to change the description and replace the PDF file:

eCat

Since the January 2018 implementation of Forms-E, the human subject narratives for PHS proposals have moved to the VUMC eCat tool. Human subject narratives in eCat follow the same replacement rules as Coeus. Users can exchange existing narratives throughout the routing and approval process. To make such a change, open the proposal in the eCat tool and locate the narrative to be replaced. Click the Delete Attachment button and then click the Add Attachment button to upload a replacement:

then…

The Narrative Writer Role

Additional persons (including the PI) can be given the specific ability to upload and replace narratives by assigning them to the Narrative Writer role in the proposal record. This is accomplished by editing the proposal and going to the menu Edit > Proposal Roles… and clicking the Users button to search for the person. Finally, drag that person to the Narrative Writer role:

Please contact your OSP Specialist or coeushelp-vumc@vumc.org with any questions about narratives or proposal roles.

The latest formset applications involving the use of human specimens or data may not be considered to be human subjects research, depending on the details of the materials to be used. To help determine whether your research is classified as human subjects research, refer to the NIH Research Involving Private Information or Biological Specimens flowchart.

Forms-E proposals that don’t fit the definition of human subjects research, but use unidentifiable specimens or data, must include a narrative justification for the claim that no human subjects are involved. This narrative should ONLY be used if the project does NOT involve human subjects per the above guidance.

For proposals using data and/or specimens (not human subjects), the Coeus questionnaire should be answered “NO” to human subjects, and “YES” to the follow up question about specimens and/or data:

Per the NIH guidance, “If you answer ‘Yes’ to the ‘Does the proposed research involve human specimens and/or data?’ question, you must provide a justification for your claim that no human subjects are involved. This justification should include:

• information on who is providing the data/biological specimens and their role in the proposed research;
• a description of the identifiers that will be associated with the human specimens and data;
• a list of who has access to subjects’ identities; and
• information about the manner in which the privacy of research participants and confidentiality of data will be protected.”

The justification is uploaded into Coeus under the Narratives section using Narrative Type PHS_HumanSubjectsClinicalTrial_Explanation.

Proposals involving human specimens and/or data that are not considered human subjects research do not need to use the eCat tool or include a human subjects special review in Coeus.

As always, the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) may contain instructions that supersede the general guidance described above. Carefully review your FOA and consult your OSP specialist regarding any questions you may have.

Additional Resources:

1. If the investigator decides to answer “Yes” to human subjects, the eCat tool for human subjects data includes detailed guidance concerning each section and question.
2. For instructions on human subjects proposals utilizing Exemption 4 with the latest formsets, see our article on the topic.
3. For more detailed guidance concerning human subjects definitions, see the NIH Human Subjects FAQ.

NIH describes human subject research as “research involving a living individual about whom data is obtained through interaction/intervention or identifiable, private information.” However, NIH also recognizes three (3) situations where human subjects research can be exempt from federal regulations. The latest formsets set offers eight (8) exemptions. See NIH’s Exempt Human Subjects Research infographic.


eCat includes several questions and attachments that are optional for human subjects proposal that fit the definition of -only- Exemption 4.


1. All of “Section 2 – Study Population Characteristics” is optional 

2. The Recruitment and Retention Plan is optional 

3. The “Recruitment Status” question is optional 

4. The “Enrollment of First Subject” question is optional 

5. An Inclusion Enrollment Report is optional 

6. A Data and Safety Monitoring Plan is optional

7. The “Data Safety Monitoring Board” question is optional

8. The Overall Structure of the Study Team is optional


Additionally:
3.1 Protection of Human Subjects attachment
If you are claiming that your human subjects research falls under any exemptions, justify why the research meets the criteria for the exemption(s) that you have claimed. This justification should explain how the proposed research meets the criteria for the exemption claimed. Do not merely repeat the criteria or definitions themselves.

3.2 Is this a multi-site study that will use the same protocol to conduct non-exempt human subjects research at more than one domestic site?
Select “N/A” for studies that fit the definition of Exemption 4

Sections 4 and 5 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trial Information form should NOT be completed for projects that do not fit the definition of Clinical Trial.

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