Grants.gov for Mac OS X

Grants.gov is the new unified clearinghouse for all federal grant opportunities from all federal agencies that manage grant funds. Grants.gov currently uses a Windows-only solution for electronic grant submission. The PureEdge viewer is required to complete grant application packages and, at this time, there is no native Macintosh PureEdge client.

IBM has acquired PureEdge, and now calls the product IBM Workplace Forms; IBM has added Mac support, and has made available a native Workplace Forms (PureEdge) Viewer for Mac OS X. Previously, Grants.gov, in conjunction with NIH, created a Citrix server solution that allowed Mac OS X users to complete their application packages and submit them electronically using Mac OS X.

The University of Wisconsin has created a single preconfigured package for Mac OS X users to access this solution. This package is provided to the community as a service by the University of Wisconsin, and is not an official product of Grants.gov. The University of Wisconsin cannot provide support for this solution. Please contact support@grants.gov for support.

Instructions

0. Be certain to follow all of the requirements of your institution for the grant submission process and usage of Grants.gov. (University of Wisconsin users, please go here.)

If you need to register your organization or institution, you do not neet to use this package to do so; follow the process for registering your organization with Grants.gov. Many organizations may already be registered - be sure to check with the grant or financial administrators in your organization.

1. Download Grants.gov for Mac OS X. This file and its contents only need to be downloaded to your computer once:

Download Grants.gov for Mac OS X 1.0.3 (3.0 MB .dmg) 02/22/2006 - Contains Citrix ICA Client 7.00.407. Requires Mac OS X 10.1 or higher.

2. Download the Grants.gov application package that is specific to the program to which you are applying. Each grant opportunity has a specific application package. Save the application package on your desktop. The file name must end in .xfd or the Citrix solution outlined here will not work correctly. Note: you may also need to shorten the name. Long names, or special characters such as '-' in the file name, can cause problems with this Citrix solution.

3. To run PureEdge for Mac, open the Grants.gov for Mac OS X disk image and double click Start Grants.gov PureEdge:

The first time you use Grants.gov for Mac OS X, you may be prompted to open Citrix ICA Client for the first time.

You may also be prompted to allow a "system setting" to be changed; for a description of what is being changed, see this document.

4. Wait while the connection is initiated:

5. Acknowledge the US Government computer system warning:

6. You are connected to the PureEdge server:

7. Next, use the file open button and navigate to the location of your saved Grants.gov application package on your computer. Your home directory, e.g., /Users/bbadger, will appear as the C: drive in the Citrix environment. Your Desktop is also available, but will appear as a folder called "Desktop" on the C: drive. Remember, the PureEdge file name must end in .xfd. In the example below, an application package called oppNOS-NCCOS-2006-2000366-cfda11.426-cid2016181.xfd is being opened from the Desktop.

Note: You may also need to shorten the name. Long names, or special characters such as '-' in the file name, can cause problems with this Citrix solution.

Note: If you receive a series of errors stating that PureEdgeAPI.ini cannot be found, you may need to download PureEdgeAPI.ini, place it in the same location as your .xfd file, then restart PureEdge and open your grant application package again. Only perform this step if you get errors.

8. Begin your Grants.gov application package.

9. Do not leave your Grants.gov session unattended, as the session may be locked after a period of inactivity. If the session is locked, you will not be able to continue your grant application unless it has been saved. Be sure to save frequently!

10. Be certain to follow all of the requirements of your institution for the grant submission process and usage of Grants.gov. (University of Wisconsin users, please go here.)

When complete, this package also allows you to submit your application package electronically.

About Grants.gov for Mac OS X

Grants.gov for Mac OS X uses the central Citrix server provided by Grants.gov and NIH. Grants.gov for Mac OS X is a single, self-contained Mac OS X disk image (.dmg) that includes:

• A read me file that redirects to this web page
• A one-step icon, Start Grants.gov PureEdge, to start using Grants.gov

This functionality is provided by:

• Citrix ICA Client
• A customized Citrix ICA Client file (PEClientCitrix.ica) preconfigured to properly access the Grants.gov Citrix server, set to a reasonable screen resolution (1024 x 768)

Version history

1.0 - First internal University of Wisconsin release.
1.0.1 - First general public release.
1.0.2 - Added ability to easily drag the Start icon to the Citrix Client in the event that the client file is not associated with the Citrix Client, and changed disk image compression to properly support older versions of Mac OS X.
1.0.3 - Updated to newest official Grants.gov Citrix client file.
1.0.3g - Official Grants.gov release (same as 1.0.3).

Comments or suggestions?

Email Dave Schroeder at das@doit.wisc.edu. The University of Wisconsin cannot provide support for this solution. Please contact support@grants.gov for support.

Document created by Dave Schroeder of DoIT (das@doit.wisc.edu) 02/26/2006.
Copyright 2005-2007 Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.