eReviewer Support Site for Scientific Review … Documents...eReviewer Support Site for Scientific Review Officers User Guide For SROs October 2016 ii © 2016 NIH/NIAID Guide Information

eReviewer Support Site

for

Scientific Review Officers

User Guide For SROs

October 2016

ii © 2016 NIH/NIAID

Guide Information

Date Description Author(s)

4/2016 Tracy Shahan, Lucy Dickson, Michael Mendoza, Zoe Hill

11/2015 Incorporates Version 4.05.0 Updates Lucy Dickson

6/2015 Changed to eRSS and updated Lucy Dickson

01/5/2015 Updated Lucy Dickson

4/14/2014 Version 1 published Patricia Metzger Jessica Keener

01/14/2014 Reviewed for Client Lucy Dickson Tracy Shahan

12/22/2013 Draft Train IT

© 2016 NIH\NIAID 3

Table of Contents

Guide Information ......................................................................................................................................... ii

About This Guide ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Audience ................................................................................................................................................... 6

Prerequisite ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Objectives ................................................................................................................................................. 6

eReviewer Support Site - eRSS ...................................................................................................................... 7

eRSS Workflow .......................................................................................................................................... 7

eRSS Benefits ............................................................................................................................................ 7

eRSS Navigation ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Set Up a Peer Review Meeting...................................................................................................................... 8

Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 8

Create New Review Meeting .................................................................................................................... 8

Meeting Dates ........................................................................................................................................... 9

Edit Meeting ............................................................................................................................................ 11

Meeting Status ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Delete a Meeting .................................................................................................................................... 11

Split a Meeting ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Adding Proposals ...................................................................................................................................... 144

Sync Proposals from eCPS ..................................................................................................................... 144

TIP ........................................................................................................................................................... 15

Managing Proposals ................................................................................................................................ 15

Add Proposals Manually ......................................................................................................................... 16

Managing Staff ............................................................................................................................................ 18

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 18

4 © 2016 NIH/NIAID

Add Admin Staff ...................................................................................................................................... 18

Staff Permissions ..................................................................................................................................... 19

Remove Staff ........................................................................................................................................... 20

Reassigning Staff Roles ........................................................................................................................... 20

Meeting Documents ................................................................................................................................... 21

Meeting Documents Folders ................................................................................................................... 21

Areas of Expertise ....................................................................................................................................... 23

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 23

Add Area of Expertise ............................................................................................................................. 23

Managing Reviewers ................................................................................................................................... 25

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 25

Select Potential Reviewers ...................................................................................................................... 25

Send Invitations ...................................................................................................................................... 27

Confirm Reviewers .................................................................................................................................. 28

Reviewer Statuses ................................................................................................................................... 30

Assign Chair ............................................................................................................................................. 30

Reviewer Calendar .................................................................................................................................. 31

Create TESS ................................................................................................................................................. 32

Create Technical Evaluation Score Sheet (TESS) ..................................................................................... 32

Add Criteria ............................................................................................................................................. 32

Criterion Scores ....................................................................................................................................... 33

Reviewer Assignments ................................................................................................................................ 34

Assign Reviewers ..................................................................................................................................... 34

Submit a TESS for a Reviewer ..................................................................................................................... 36

Submit TESS............................................................................................................................................. 36

© 2016 NIH\NIAID 5

Export COI and TESS Forms, Meeting Minutes ....................................................................................... 38

View All Reviewers’ Concatenated TESS Responses ............................................................................... 38

Appendix A: Bulk Upload for a Meeting ..................................................................................................... 41

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 41

Bulk Upload ............................................................................................................................................. 42

Appendix B: Logging into eRSS .................................................................................................................... 44

How to Request NIHeXT Account ........................................................................................................... 44

Appendix C: How reviewers Complete a Technical Evaluation Score Sheet (TESS) and View Other

Reviewers’ TESSs ......................................................................................................................................... 45

Go to the Web TESS Form ....................................................................................................................... 45

View Other Reviewers’ Completed TESSs ............................................................................................... 46

Appendix D: SRO Tips .................................................................................................................................. 48

Commons Account Info ........................................................................................................................... 48

6 © 2016 NIH/NIAID

About This Guide

Audience This guide is designed for Scientific Review Officers (SROs) who manage the scientific peer review of Research and Development contract proposals.

Prerequisite The following are prerequisites:

Experience with creating and managing scientific review meetings

Experience selecting reviewers

Objectives This guide is designed to connect NIH scientific review policy, NIAID scientific review process, and eReviewer Support Site (eRSS). Instructions in this guide will enable SROS to perform the following in eRSS:

Create and edit scientific review meetings

Select staff to support meetings

Import or upload proposals

Enter areas of expertise required for the review of meeting proposals

Enter potential reviewers

Select and invite potential scientific reviewers to complete the pre-review process

Upload meeting documents

Create Technical Evaluation Score Sheets (TESSs)

Submit a TESS for a reviewer

View reviewers’ scores and responses to the Technical Evaluation Criteria and Special Issues Questions for each proposal

View date and time the TESS was submitted for each proposal

SRO/Chairperson can submit Meeting Minutes

Print reviewers’ TESSs, download COI documents and meeting minutes

Create TER Package

© 2016 NIH\NIAID 7

eReviewer Support Site - eRSS

This guide does NOT cover grant application review meetings. eRSS does not provide support for grant application reviews. See eRA Commons Internet-Assisted Review (IAR).

eRSS Workflow

In general, this is the process for contract proposal review meetings:

eRSS Benefits

eRSS has the following benefits:

Single repository for all contract scientific review meeting documents

Gives the SRO control of expiration of documents

eRSS Navigation

Navigate eRSS by clicking on tabs:

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package

8 © 2016 NIH/NIAID

Set Up a Peer Review Meeting

Overview

The Lead SRO is responsible for the set up and management of peer review meetings.

The individual who creates a meeting is automatically assigned as the Lead SRO.

The meeting’s goal is the review of proposals in response to a solicitation.

Create New Review Meeting

To Set Up a Peer Review Meeting in eRSS

Go to eRSS: http://erss.nih.gov.

Log-in eRSS using your NIH Login and Password or PIV card.

Enter Information on the Create a New Meeting page (*= Required field):

Meeting Title*

Meeting Descriptor: (solicitation acronym, e.g., SBIR, etc.)

Meeting Dates Timeline

MeetingStart

Critique Submission

Meeting EndCritique Edit

Start Reviewer

Block ViewDelete After

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package

http://erss.nih.gov/

© 2016 NIH\NIAID 9

Meeting Setup

Supply the following (* Indicates required field):

Solicitation Title: A descriptive title helps users identify the meeting better.

Meeting Descriptor: Enter a brief identifier for the meeting (e.g., SBIR).

Unique Identifier: Enter an additional brief identifier, if needed.

Meeting Start Date*: Enter the first day of the meeting and the Meeting Start Time*.

Meeting End Date* and Meeting End Time*: Enter the Meeting End Date* and Meeting End Time*.

Post Review Edit Date/Time: Enter the date/time after which reviewers can no longer make edits to their TESSs. However, scores will be locked at the meeting end date/time.

Reviewer Block Date * and Reviewer Blocked view Time*: The date and time on which reviewers will no longer be able to access the meeting within eRSS or read any downloaded meeting proposals. This date defaults to seven days after Meeting Start Date.

Critique Submission Deadline Date and Time: The date and time by which reviewers must submit their TESSs.

Calendar Start Date* and Calendar End Date*: Enter a range of dates for reviewers to indicate their availability for the meeting.

10 © 2016 NIH/NIAID

Select Meeting Type* as “Contract”.

Select funding year in the Fiscal Year field.

Designate Solicitation.

For Organizations using eCPS:

Click Select eCPS Solicitations

Select solicitation(s) to include in this meeting

Click Confirm Selection and Close

For Organizations NOT using eCPS:

Click Enter Manually

Enter the solicitation number in the Solicitation No. field

Special Emphasis Panel Number: Enter SEP number.

Additional Identifier: Enter any additional meeting identifier, if needed.

Optional: Provide a message to be seen by all meeting reviewers in the Message for Reviewers field.

Click Save button to create the meeting.

eRSS opens the new meeting for editing.

© 2016 NIH\NIAID 11

Edit Meeting

A meeting can be modified after it has been created.

To Edit a Meeting:

Click Edit Meeting button at the top of the screen.

Make desired changes.

Click Save.

Meeting Status

The meeting Status tab displays in red a list of meeting tasks yet to be done and serves as a reminder for the SRO.

Delete a Meeting

To Delete a Meeting in eRSS:

Contact an eRSS Administrator to delete a meeting in the system.

Split a Meeting

After reviewers are chosen and all proposals have been submitted, you may need to split the review meeting.


To Split a Meeting:

Create a destination meeting.

Click My Meetings on top of screen

Click Create a New Meeting

Fill in dates and information regarding the destination meeting

Save destination meeting

Open the parent meeting to be split.

Click the Proposals tab.

Click Split this Meeting.

Select Destination Meeting from the drop-down list.

Select proposals to move to the selected destination meeting.

Select reviewers to move or copy to the selected destination meeting.

Click Submit.

Notes: Only official reviewers can be moved from the parent to the destination meeting.

After the meeting has been split, new reviewers added to the system will have to be added to the each individual meeting separately.

Only KP/KI and expertise will be moved to the destination meeting(s) and not the calendar entries.

SRO Split meeting rules:

1. SRO creates a new Meeting

2. SRO adds Proposals to Meeting:

Manually through eCPS Sync Bulk Upload (excel)

3. SRO invites all Reviewers for a Meeting

4. Reviewers complete Pre-Review Certification

5. SRO certifies Reviewers

STATUS: 1 meeting w/ all Proposals, all Reviewers 6. SRO determines that Meeting must be split to several destination meetings:

Considerations: Reviewer calendar availability Proposal count (too many for one meeting)

7. SRO creates split meeting(s), assigns Proposals and Reviewers to Destination Meetings

8. SRO completes split.

STATUS: 2+ meetings with Proposals and Reviewers in each


original Source meeting may be "empty" with no Proposals left original Source meeting may still be active with a smaller Proposal count

9. SRO can make split meeting changes:

Move Proposals and Reviewers between Destination Meetings

Move Proposals and Reviewers back to original Source Meeting


Adding Proposals

Overview

Offerors can submit their proposals via the Electronic Contract Proposal Submission system (eCPS). If not using eCPS, PDF images of the proposal can be uploaded manuallly.

SROs can upload proposals into eRSS meetings in one of three ways:

Sync from eCPS (p 14)

Input manually.

Bulk Upload Spreadsheet (p 41). This feature allows SROs to upload Proposals and proposal data into the system. SROs using this feature can upload the proposal data in the bulk upload template directly into the system. Proposals can either be manually uploaded or included in a zip file with the completed bulk upload template.

Sync Proposals from eCPS

After the solicitation’s closing date, the Acquisitions staff certify each proposal and then send the proposals to eRSS. The SRO can download the proposal and metadata by clicking Sync eCPS Proposals on the Proposals tab.

All electronically submitted proposals downloaded from eCPS appear as a list on the Proposals tab.

Below the proposals a list of Key Persons appears.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Important TIP

The SRO should check every technical proposal and rotate any landscape pages to portrait orientation and then re-upload the proposal to eRSS. FileOpen may cut off the right side of pages that are in landscape orientation on the eRSS Reviewer Site. To rotate a page in a PDF document, press Control-Shift-R.

It is also advisable for the SRO to include themselves as a reviewer to make sure that the their reviewers can view each of the proposals. To do this you must add yourself using an NIHeXT account and not your NIH employee account.

Managing Proposals

After proposals have been uploaded into eRSS, you can manage them using the following features:

Button Description

Edit Allows for editing of Proposal Title, Offeror, PI, and institution. Proposals can also be uploaded here.

Delete Deletes proposal from eRSS. Proposal remains uploaded to eCPS and upon re-sync will appear again in eRSS. Deleting a proposal from a meeting also deletes all its reviewers’ conflict of interest (COI) entries.

Deactivate Reviewers do not see deactivated proposals. COI input will be maintained and you will be able to reactivate the proposals, if needed.

Add Key Person

Add Key Persons associated with a proposal.

Add Key Institution

Add Key Institutions associated with a proposal.

Add Document

Add any document sent by Offerer associated with each proposal to system. Documents will be listed when viewing a proposal.

Add Document will only add the document to the selected proposal.

View TESS Creates a MS Word file showing selected proposal’s reviewer responses to the Technical Evaluation Criteria (TEC) excluding the Special Issue responses.

View Special Issues

Creates an MS Excel file showing only selected proposal’s Special Issues reviewers’ responses.


Add Proposals Manually

Late proposals can be added manually.

To Add a Proposal Manually:

From the Meeting’s Proposal tab

Click Create a New Proposal.

Fill in all required fields.

Click Save.

Key Institutions, Key Persons and other proposal information are added to the proposal listing.

Click Add Document to upload the Offeror’s proposal.

After uploading a new proposal, a notification icon is displayed after logging in the next time, showing that new key persons or institutions have been added.

If desired, notify reviewers of new proposal:

Select Reviewers tab.

Mark reviewers to be notified of new proposal.

Send Notifications button becomes active.


Click Send Notifications.

You can add Key Persons and Key Institutions; if you have many key persons and key institutions, add them to your Bulk Upload template for the meeting and re-upload.


Managing Staff

Overview

Add Admin Staff

After creating the meeting, the SRO has the option of adding additional SROs and support staff to the meeting. The creator of a meeting is assigned as the Lead SRO. This role can be reassigned on the Select Staff section of the Staff tab.

To Add Administrative Staff to Meeting:

Select the Staff tab.

Type part of the staff’s last name in the Search: box in the Select Staff section.

Note: To add a staff member that doesn’t appear on this list please ask your local admin.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Select one of the following:

Lead Scientific Review Officer: There can only be one Lead SRO for each meeting. If a new one is chosen, they will replace the current Lead SRO.

Scientific Review Officer: There can be as many SROs assigned to a meeting as needed.

Support 1: There can be as many people assigned to this role as needed.

Support 2: There can be as many people assigned to this role as needed.

CS (Contract Specialist): Acquisition staff role. The CS role has the same access as the SRO and Support roles. This role can also create meetings. [Note 1: Please note that if you are using eCPS, the acquisition staff and COR of record will automatically be added to your meeting. They can be deleted if you wish.]

COR (Contract Officers Representative): COR Role. This role only has access to the staff pre- and post-COI forms. The forms can be completed on line and are included in the TER package. [Please see Note 1 above.]

Select As Contact for at least one staff member to serve as the meeting contact for Reviewers.

Click Save.

Staff selected appear on meeting staff list:

Staff Permissions

eRSS Tasks SRO

Support 1 & 2

Admin CS COR

Create a meeting

Edit a meeting

Delete a meeting

Assign staff

Assign reviewers

Sync Proposals

Upload proposal documents


Upload meeting-specific documents

Grant access to Special Access

Folders and documents

Create post-review survey questions

Create TESS

Load standard documents

Upload Staff, SROs, system roles

Download TER Package

Complete pre & post COI forms

Remove Staff

To remove a staff member from a meeting, click next to the staff name.

Reassigning Staff Roles

To Change a Person’s Role:

Remove desired staff from the meeting.

Add staff and select appropriate role. (p 17)

To Change the Lead Scientific Review Officer:

Designate another individual as Lead SRO by adding him or her to the meeting with that role.

The original Lead SRO’s role will change to “SRO.”


Meeting Documents

Overview

eRSS has folders for all documents that are not parts of proposals on the Documents Tab. These folders are Standard Documents, Meeting Documents, and Special Access Documents. Adobe PDF documents are the preferred file type, but MOV, MP3, MPG, MPEG, AVI, and MP4 files are acceptable. The maximum file size that can be uploaded is 297 MB.

Click to add a document.

Meeting Documents Folders

Folder Description

Standard Documents eRSS populates this folder with documents common to all contract meetings(e.g., general instructions and NIH policy).

All reviewers (i.e., potential and official) assigned to the meeting can see these documents.

The default list of Standard Documents are managed by the eRSS Administrators.

Meeting Documents Documents related to the individual meeting (e.g., the meeting agenda, roster).

Only “Official Reviewers” for a meeting can see these documents.

Authorized users (e.g., the meeting’s SRO, SRS, and ESA) can upload/remove documents to/from this folder.

Special Access Documents

The documents are intended only for specially designated reviewers.

The meeting’s SRO and ESA can upload/remove documents to/from this folder and designate which reviewers are permitted to access it. Click (Grant access to this folder)

This folder may also be used to permit designated reviewers to access certain documents prior to the completion of the pre-review process.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Standard Documents

To make a Standard Document viewable by a reviewer, click on (include) after the file name.

To disable the reviewers from viewing a standard document, click on to the left of the document name.

The Standard Documents are managed by the local eRSS administrator.


Areas of Expertise

Overview

Add Area of Expertise

Add the areas of expertise needed to evaluate proposals. The reviewers will be able to rate their level of expertise and indicate whether they have published in each area. There are two ways to enter expertise data into eRSS, one at a time or by including them in the bulk upload template (see Appendix A).

Note: At least one area of expertise is required before you can invite reviewers.

To Add Areas of Expertise:

Click Expertise tab.

Type a category of expertise.

Each category can have two levels of sub-categories.

Click Save.

Expertise appears.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Click Add to add subcategories of expertise.

Up to 2 levels can be added.

Type name of subcategory expertise.

Click Save.

Add additional areas of expertise as needed.

Reviewers’ Expertise Summary Table:

Click Download Reviewer Expertise Report to view all reviewers’ expertise responses in one document.

Select Add icon to add a subcategory

Reviewers’ Expertise Summary

Table

Expertise Cont.


Managing Reviewers

Overview

After the areas of expertise have been added, the Lead SRO will need to add potential reviewers. The SRO will then send invitations through eRSS to the potential reviewers, who will receive an email notification. Reviewers will need to complete the pre-review process before the Lead SRO is able to change a potential reviewer to an “Official Reviewer” in eRSS.

Select Potential Reviewers

To Add Potential Reviewers:

Click Reviewers tab.

Click Add Reviewer.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Search for an existing DHHS Global, NIH, eRA Commons, or NIHeXT account user:

Type Name and email.

Click Search.

Look for reviewer’s name on the hit list that appears. Click (add reviewer).

Or

To add a new person:

Click Add a Reviewer That is Not in NED or NIHeXT.

Supply First and Last Name and email address.

Click Save.

New Name appears

Click Reviewers tab again to view all added potential reviewers.


Send Invitations

After selecting reviewers, send invitations. The reviewers will receive instructions in the email sent by eRSS.

To Invite Selected Reviewers:

After selecting reviewers:

Click Reviewers tab in meeting.

Click Invite Reviewers.

Select all reviewers you wish to invite.

Click Send Notifications.

Note: If your reviewer is not an NIH employee or doesn’t have an eRA Commons account, the reviewer must obtain an NIHeXT username and password. (See Appendix B).

After Reviewers are selected the Send Notifications button is

enabled.


Confirm Reviewers

After an invited reviewer completes the pre-review process you will see a notification icon in the eRSS meeting.

To Review COI:

Log into eRSS.

A notification icon appears next to the meeting name if a reviewer has submitted a COI declaration.

Click on the COI notification icon:

New pre-review process responses.

New Key Persons or Key Institutions not yet sent to reviewers.

When the SRO clicks on the envelope icon, the SRO is taken to that specific reviewer’s COI declarations. The SRO can access, then confirm or override the reviewer’s COI declarations.

To override any conflict of interest, click (override):

Type a comment related to the reason for override in the Comments box.

Click Override and Continue.

If the reviewer has indicated a COI with an Offeror, but the SRO determines it is not a

conflict, the SRO can override the conflict.


When you are finished entering your comments, click Confirm and Notify. The Confirm and Notify button must be clicked for any override to take place.

Screen refreshes and Confirm and Notify button is dimmed.

An automatic email notification will be sent to the reviewer informing them of their “Official Reviewer” status.

You are able to see a reviewer’s status in eRSS on the Reviewers tab in the Status column.


Reviewer Statuses

Assign Chair

eRSS Reviewer Status:

Reviewer Status Explanation

Potential Reviewer Default status when a reviewer is first added to a meeting.

Notified The initial “Invitation to Participate” email has been sent to the reviewer, but they have not yet completed any of the steps of the pre-review process.

This status will also be displayed when the SRO has re-notified a reviewer (e.g., of the addition of a new proposal that requires additional COI input).

Completed COI Reviewer has completed the pre-review process.

Official Reviewer The SRO has approved the reviewer’s participation in the meeting. The reviewer now has access to the proposal(s) as determined by the reviewer’s COIs. The reviewer cannot view any proposal with which the reviewer is in conflict.

Post-Review Notified

An invitation to complete the post-review survey has been sent to the reviewer.

Post-Review Complete

The reviewer has completed the post-review survey.

To indicate the Chairperson for the meeting, click that person’s radio button in the Chair column.

Note: The meeting minutes can’t be completed without choosing a chair.


Consolidated Reviewer Calendar

Click Calendar tab to view the availability of ALL reviewers for the meeting.

All potential reviewers are requested to mark the days that they are NOT available on the calendar.


Create TESS

Create Technical Evaluation Score Sheet (TESS)

SROs create the TESS for reviewers to critique the meeting’s proposals.

To create a TESS:

Select Create TESS tab.

Click Create TESS Form.

Select a Criterion Title from the drop-down box.

or

If your Criterion Title doesn’t exist on the list, create a new one. Click the here in the yellow box where it says, “Please click here to add a new criterion title if not found on drop-down above.” Enter the new technical evaluation criterion heading in the Criterion Title box. Click Save Criterion.

Add Criteria

Enter TEC here.

Select Criterion Title here.

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


Type or copy and paste the technical evaluation crierion in the TEC box. To copy you must use CTL-C and to paste use CTL-V.

Supply Possible Score for each technical evaluation criterion.

Click Save Criterion.

Click Add Criterion to add additional technical evalution criteria as need.

Criterion Scores

As reviewers input their criterion scores, staff can view the scores in real time for each TEC/proposal on the Scores tab.

To View Scores:

Select the Scores tab

Scores displayed here are updated as the reviewers update their criterion scores on their TESSs. The date and time is updated only when the reviewer has clicked Submit to SRO.

Staff can export scores for all proposals by clicking Export All. To export the scores from

each proposal click on button.

1. Click the Excel icon.

2. Select Open.

Scores open in a new Excel spreadsheet.

View a read-only preview of the

TESS

To Export the Evaluation Scores to Excel


Reviewer Assignments

Overview Proposals can be assigned to a reviewer only after the pre-review process has been completed and the reviewer has been made an “Official Reviewer” by the SRO.

Assign Reviewers

To Assign a Reviewer to a Proposal:

Select the Assignments tab.

2. Select Edit to start assigning reviewers to a proposal

3. Select the reviewer assignment number.

You may assign up

to ten reviewers per

proposal. Select Edit

to assign

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


4. Click Save Assignments.

The Assignments table appears with reviewer assignments.

If a reviewer is in conflict with any Key Person or Key Institution, the reviewer will NOT appear on the reviewer Assignments table for that proposal.

Change a Reviewer Assignment

To change a reviewer assignment, the staff can select a different reviewer position by selecting another position or none. If you have >10 assigned reviewers for a proposal you will have to create a paper assignment sheet. eRSS has a maximum of 10 reviewers/proposal.

From the Assignment Tab:

Select Edit to display the Assign Reviewers grid for a proposal.

Assign Reviewer grid appears

Select None or new reviewer assignment next to the reviewer’s name.

Click Save Assignments.

Select Edit

to change


Submit a TESS for a Reviewer

Submit TESS

If a reviewer is unable to submit a TESS in eRSS, they can send a Word TESS to the SRO. The SRO can submit a TESS for them by clicking on the Submit TESS tab.

To Submit a TESS for a Reviewer:

Select Submit TESS tab.

2. Select the reviewer from the drop-down list.

3. Select the Proposal/Offerors Name.

4. Click Fill TESS.

The evaluation form appears

Set Up Peer

Review Meeting

Add

Staff

Add Proposal

Information

Add Meeting

Documents

Add Areas of

Expertise

Manage Reviewers

Create TESS

Assign Proposals

Submit TESS

Download TER

Package


5. If you have a reviewers completed TESS, you can upload the TESS by clicking Import TESS Form. Alternatively, you can copy/paste strengths/weaknesses and scores into the corresponding boxes. For special issues, radio buttons will have to be selected and the descriptions can be cut/paste into the web form.

6. If submitting after the meeting start date/time, indicate whether the proposal is “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable” and type the reviewer’s name in the Reviewer’s Signature box.

7. Click Submit to SRO.


Export COI and TESS Forms, Meeting Minutes

To Export Reviewers’ TESSs:

Select the Completed TESS tab. In the TESS Submitted Date column, you can view the date and time a reviewer submitted their TESS:

2. In the TESS Export column, click on any active Export TESS button to export the individual’s TESS.

3. The Lead SRO can click View Meeting Minutes to open up the meeting minutes form. The SRO is required to sign, select division (if applicable), select location, and enter the total direct requested dollars for all proposed years. Please click save when done.

4. To download the completed Meeting Minutes, click Download Meeting Minutes.

5. To download all COI forms, TESS forms, and meeting minutes together click Download TER Package (COI Forms (staff and reviewers), TESS Forms, Meeting Minutes, TER front page).

View All Reviewers’ Concatenated TESS Responses

The SRO can view all reviewer concatenated responses to the Technical Evaluation Criteria and the Special Issues Questions for each proposal.

To View Concatenated Responses for a Proposal:

Go to the Proposals tab.

Select a proposal’s radio button.

Click View TESS.

Word opens with all reviewers’ concatenated strengths/weaknesses for each technical evaluation criterion.


6. To export the concatenated special issues responses click View Special Issues.

Excel opens with all special issues responses from all reviewers for the selected proposal.

Or, to view reviewers’ completed TESSs in their entirety, go to the Completed Docs tab and click on the appropriate Export TESS button in the TESS Export column:


View Completed COI/Meeting Minute Documents To determine if a reviewer has completed a specific stage in the meetings COI process, staff can look in the COI Status column. The possible messages are:

Pre-review incomplete-indicates that the reviewer hasn’t completed the pre-review process.

Pre-review complete-indicates that the reviewer has completed the pre-review process

Post-review complete-indicates that the reviewer has completed the post review COI form.

To view specific reviewer’s COI forms click on Export Completed COI . To look at all COI douments as well as the meeting minutes click Download TER Package.


Appendix A: Bulk Upload for a Meeting

Overview There are two options for inputting meeting data: You can upload information via an Excel workbook or manually fill in the web forms provided in the system.

The Bulk Upload workbook allows you to input the following information into eRSS:

Proposals/Offeror information

Key Persons

Key Institutions

Areas of Expertise

Potential Reviewers


Bulk Upload To Upload Information from the Bulk Upload Workbook:

To obtain a bulk upload template click Export Proposals/Download Template. If the proposals have been synced from eCPS, offeror data including the unique proposal ID number will be in the Bulk Upload workbook.

Open the Bulk Upload workbook. Save it to your desktop or network drive before working with it.

Proposal-specific data will be entered into the bulk upload workbook.

Proposal Tab

Key Persons Tab

Key Institutions Tab


The system differentiates data by assigning a unique proposal ID number to each proposal. Each KP and KI from a proposal must be identified with the specific proposal ID number.

If you are using eCPS, the proposal ID numbers will be created for you.

If you are not using eCPS, you will have to create your own proposal ID number for each proposal.

Import by clicking Import Completed Template.

Click Browse to select your Bulk Upload workbook from your desktop and then click Import File.

You can repeat this process as many times as needed to make any additions or data corrections.

The Bulk Upload page appears.


Appendix B: Logging into eRSS

Overview Reviewers without eRA Commons, DHHS, NIH, or an NIH eXT account can create an NIHeXT account to login to eRSS.

Reviewers must type in their username and password into the eRSS log-in page. If they copy and paste in this information, they may NOT be able to log-in.

How to Request NIHeXT Account

Instructions for Requesting a NIHeXT Account:

Open your browser and go to https://external.cit.nih.gov/selfservice/submit.aspx

Enter information in all fields.

3. The project name is NIAID_RSS-3.0.

4. When you enter your email address, use the same address to which your scientific review meeting invitation was sent.

5. Click Submit.

https://external.cit.nih.gov/selfservice/submit.aspx


Appendix C: How reviewers Complete a Technical Evaluation Score Sheet

(TESS) and View Other Reviewers’ TESSs

Go to the Web TESS Form

To Access a Blank TESS as a Reviewer:

Select Proposals tab.

Open any proposal:

Click on the Proposal PDF name in the PI column.

You will be prompted to open the PDF and install the “FileOpen” program the first time you download a proposal.

Once the FileOpen software is installed, you do not need to download/install it again.

The file will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader (www.adobe.com/reader).

To access a TESS, click on Fill Form

Required: Complete

before meeting

Optional: Complete during

meeting

http://www.adobe.com/reader


Complete your review on the web TESS form provided.

Respond to all technical evaluation criteria and score boxes, and complete the Special Issues section.

Scroll down.

Before the meeting start date the Determination of Technical Acceptability box is inactive. After the meeting start date/time, the box becomes active. Choose “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable” for the Technical Acceptability.

Type your name in the Reviewer’s Signature box.

Click Save to leave and finish at a later time.

OR

Click Submit to SRO. This will submit your TESS to the SRO through eRSS.

NOTE: When the reviewer’s TESS is open, the system will automatically save their TESS form 7 seconds after typing in a box on the TESS webform.

View Other Reviewers’ Completed TESSs

“Official Reviewers” are allowed to view other reviewers’ TESSs for a proposal, after they submit their own TESS.


To View Other Reviewers’ Completed TESSs:

Log into eRSS at http://erss.nih.gov.

Select the Proposals tab.

Click Fill Form link for any proposal.

Click View TESS to view other reviewers’ responses to the technical evaluation criteria for that proposal or click View Spec Issues to view how other reviewers responded to the Special Issues section of the TESS.

Reviewers’ Scores

A second way of viewing other reviewer’s critiques is by selecting a different reviewer from the Select Reviewer drop-down box. The selected reviewer’s responses will be shown in the TESS form, grayed out.

Note: Reviewers will not be able to edit other reviewers’ responses.

Reviewers can view each other’s scores by clicking on Score Comparison Chart.

http://erss.nih.gov/


Appendix D: SRO Tips

Commons Account Info

When Reviewers Have Problems Logging in with Commons Account:

If a reviewer cannot log in with a Commons account, ask the reviewer to login to eRA Commons to see if their Commons account has expired or is locked. Reviewers can unlock their eRA Commons account by clicking on the Forgot Password/Unlock Account? link on the eRA Commons page.

IMPORTANT: After unlocking their account, the reviewer must use the personalized web link received in the NIH eRSS Invitation email to enter eRSS.

Proposal PDF Issues:

Check all proposal PDFs for pages in landscape orientation. Sometimes Offerors include pages in landscape orientation with little or no margins and in some instances these pages are not displayed properly when the proposal PDF is downloaded from eRSS by a reviewer.

SOLUTION: Change the orientation of PDF pages in landscape format to portrait. Save and re-upload the proposal PDF to eRSS. To rotate a page, go to the page in the file and click on Control-Shift-R.

Also, check proposal PDFs for embedded fillable PDF forms. These will prevent proposals and meeting documents from downloading all at once by reviewers. To fix, change the proposal to a simple PDF using the instructions below and re-upload it to eRSS:

a) Open original PDF using the full version of Adobe Acrobat (NOT Acrobat Reader).

b) Save original PDF as a “.ps” file. Go to File>Save as Other>More Options>PostScript.

c) While the file from Step b is still open, go to File>Create>PDF from File.

d) Save file in Step c as a PDF locally and upload it back to the Proposals page.

Proposal

PDF

Issues