If you have not already clicked "Continue" on Step 6, please do so now. You should now be on Step 7 of the submission form. Step 7 (or Review & submit if you don't have 7 steps) is where we communicate the status of your request. In the large blue box, please note some instructions about the submission process.
Begin Validation
First we will check your request for errors and give you a chance to go back and correct any we find. Then, you'll actually submit to to the contracts office. Emails are fired off to the PI and Department Approver, prompting them to log into PEER and approve the request (this takes the place of the signatures you would have secured on the old paper transmittal form). Only once all the required approvals have been received will your request be sent through to GCM. First we need to validate the request. Click on the green "Validate" button.
Validation failure errors
As you can see in the above image, several errors were found with our reqeust. Usually these are going to be where you forgot to complete a required question/input field. It may also be due to improperly formatted dates, phone numbers or email addresses. Other erros may be logical errors, such as you selected a federal sponsor but did not indicate federal funds.
Errors revealed with highlighting
PEER will not let you submit to OCM until all errors have been fixed. The error message tells you which step each error is on. Use the step navigation on the left to return to each listed step and correct the errors present. Let's navigate to Step 1 now and see what that looks like. You'll notice in the image below that PEER highlights each error and prompts you to make a correction. To simplify the tutorial, the above shows only one highlighted error. In a real request, all the errors listed above for Step 1 would be highlighted in the same way.
As you can see, we forgot to make a choice on the question about GME residents/fellows. Just complete the field and then click Save & Continue in order to save your changes.
Validation Passed
Notice that validation runs at the top of each page. Since we corrected our only error, once we get to Step 2 after saving, we're going to get back a successful validation. Notice the link in the Green Validation Message. Since there are no other errrors to address, you can click the link to proceed directly back to Step 8 and finish the submission process. Click on the blue "Submit" button to fire off the approval emails and begin the submit process.
Status: Pending Approvals
Notice Status now says "Pending Approvals". The submission remains in a "limbo" state until the listed PI and Department approver log in and approve the submission. If VA or DOM approvals are required, the appropriate approvers are notified only after the PI and Dept have approved. Only after these approvals have been receved will the status change to "Submitted". OCM will not review your request until it has acheived "Submitted" status.
Also notice the "Withdraw" button that is now visible. After hitting the "Submit" button, the request is locked and cannot be edited by the submitter. If you need to make changes, click on the "Withdraw" button. This returns the submission to draft status and clears out any approvals you've already received. No data is deleted in the withdraw process, except for any completed approvals.
Status updated on My Contract Submissions view
OK, that's just about all for the submission demo. The next steps are for your PI and Dept approver to log in and give their approval. You will receive email notification after each of these events (or a single email if PI and Chair is the same person). Let's return to the all requests view to monitor the status of our request. From the main menu bar, click on "Contracts" then on "View All Requests"
Conclusion
This concludes the contract submission tutorial. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM HERE:
Once all approvers have logged in and approved, the request changes to "Submitted" status, which means it is in the OCM queue for review and assignment. OCM will review the request for completeness, and if OK will "accept" the request. You will receive an email notification of this step.
Once this happens, the request is converted into a new record in the Contract Management database in PEER, ad you are sent an acceptance email that includes the name of the OCM contract analyst assigned to review and negotiate the contract.