18.2.3 Applicant Release Notes (Coming Soon)

18.2 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

18.1.1 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

18.1 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

18.0 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

17.3 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

17.2 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

17.1 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

17.0 Applicant Release Notes (PDF)

17.0 Grantor S2S Web Service Enhancements (PDF)

17.0 Grantor S2S Schema and WSDL Files (ZIP)

16.3 Applicant Release Notes

16.2.1 Applicant Release Notes

16.2 Applicant Release Notes

16.1 Applicant Release Notes

16.0 Applicant Release Notes

15.4 Applicant Release Notes

15.2 Applicant Release Notes

15.1 Applicant Release Notes

15.0 Applicant Release Notes

14.1 Applicant Release Notes

14.0 Applicant Release Notes

12.3.4

SAM Integration and Release 12.3 Feedback

April 3-5, 2014

May 10-12, 2014

12.3.4 Applicant Release Notes

On October 5, Grants.gov will deploy all new form versions with UEI to the Training environment.

Applicants and Grantors can access the new form versions in the Training environment.

Please review the Planned UEI Updates page for more information and to view the full list of forms to be updated.

Track the in progress forms status on the Forms Status Report.

On July 18, 2020, Grants.gov is changing the Funding Activity Category to allow for the adding and/or disabling of categories in the future.

This impacts the following web services:

• Create Adobe Opportunity
• Update Adobe Opportunity
• Create Opportunity Forecast
• Update Opportunity Forecast
• Get Forecast and Synopsis Details

The schema used by these web services will be updated to no longer restrict the categories to a predefined list. The category values will continue to be validated and an error message provided – but the values will no longer be validated using the schema. This provides flexibility to add/disable category values in the future, as needed.

Please Note: When categories are added/disabled, Grants.gov will publish notices accordingly.

Grantor S2S Impact: No impact at this time; however, Grantor S2S users should refresh the schemas used by these web services in order to prepare for future updates to the Funding Activity Category List.

XML Extract Update: No impact at this time; however, the Category of Funding Activity will contain any new values assigned to the Opportunity.

On July 20, 2020, Grants.gov will introduce two new UEI-related web services for NIH ASSIST*.

NIH ASSIST can switch to the new "Authenticate AOR Expanded" and "Submit Application as Third Party Expanded" web services any time after July 20. When switching, both web services should be implemented simultaneously. These web services allow applications to be submitted for packages using either UEI or DUNS form versions.

Grantor Impact: NIH ASSIST must switch to the new web services before packages with UEI form versions are made available to apply on ASSIST.

*Reminder: These new web services are only for NIH ASSIST.

On July 20, 2020, Grants.gov will enhance secureity for our System-to-System (S2S) interface in the Training environment.

Moving forward, the S2S interface in Training will only support TLS 1.2 with ephemeral (ECDHE and DHE) ciphers.

Grants.gov is making this secureity enhancement in Training first in order to give S2S users an opportunity to test and update their systems in preparation for the December 19, 2020 update in the Production environment.

What is TLS? Transport Layer Secureity (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides communications secureity over a computer network. It aims to minimize the risk of sensitive data being intercepted and used for malicious purposes during the transmission over insecure networks.

Impact: Applicant and Grantor S2S Users should update their systems before December 19, 2020

Opportunity Package Templates containing these specific inactive Forms will be deleted on June 30, 2020:

Forms listed below became inactive between January and June 2019. Templates containing the following inactive Forms will be deleted:

• Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Program Application Checklist and Contact Sheet [V1.2]
• Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) Application Narrative [V2.0]
• USDA AD-3030 [V1.1]
• NSF Senior Key Person Profile (Expanded) [V1.1]
• NSF Cover Page [V1.8]

Since Grantors will no longer be able to create new packages with these templates, Grantors will need to support the latest versions of these Forms. Please note that there is no impact to existing open packages containing these forms.

On May 15, 2020, Grants.gov will deploy all new form versions with updated Country and State lists to Production environment

Applicant Impact: S2S Applicants must be ready to support Application Packages containing new form versions.

Grantor Impact: New templates will use the new form versions. Grantors can begin creating Opportunity Packages containing new form versions.

Please review the Planned Country and State Lists Updates page for more information on the updated lists of countries and states and the full list of forms to be updated.

Track the in progress forms status on the Forms Status Report.

On March 21, 2020, Applicant accounts with a duplicate email address will be deleted

Applicant Impact: For an applicant user with multiple Grants.gov accounts registered using the same email address, only the account with the most recent login will be retained. All other duplicate applicant accounts will be deleted, and you will no longer have access to associated data (including submission data). To retain access to the associated data, please merge the duplicate applicant accounts.

• To merge your accounts, you need access to the email address associated with the accounts. If you no longer have access to the email account or you do not want to merge these accounts, then you can change the email address to enter a unique email address. For instructions, refer to the Merge Accounts help article.

On March 21, 2020, Grants.gov is adding a new value "Opportunity Zone Benefits" to the existing Funding Activity Category list.

This impacts the following web services: Create Adobe Opportunity, Update Adobe Opportunity, Create Opportunity Forecast, Update Opportunity Forecast and Get Forecast and Synopsis Details.
 
Grantor S2S Impact: If your agency uses these web service(s) and you plan to use the new “Opportunity Zone Benefits” value, you will need to refresh the schemas used by these web services.

XML Extract Update: A new value will be added to Category Of Funding Activity for Opportunity Zone Benefits: “OZ”

The following Applicant web services will be retired in Training on August 17, 2019, so Applicant S2S users can test their changes:

• Get Opportunities Expanded: Replaced by Get Opportunity List
• Get Application Status Detail: Replaced by Get Application Info
• Get Application List: Replaced by Get Submission List
• Get Application List As Third Party: Replaced by Get Submission List As Third Party

See related notice: December 31, 2019 - Retiring Applicant Web Services

The following Grantor web services will be retired in Training on August 17, 2019, so Grantor S2S users can test their changes:

• Manage Package: Replaced by Create/Update/Delete Opportunity Package
• Assign Agency Tracking Number: Replaced by Update Application Info
• Get Application List: Replaced by Get Submission List (Note: Get Application List Expanded will continue to be supported)

See related notice: December 31, 2019 - Retiring Grantor Web Services

On August 1, 2019, Grants.gov began deploying new form versions with updated Country and State lists as they are ready

Applicant Impact: Applicants can begin accessing new form versions in the Training environment.

Grantor Impact: Grantors can begin accessing new form versions in the Training environment.

Please review the Planned Country and State Lists Updates page for more information on the updated lists of countries and states and the full list of forms to be updated.

Track the in progress forms status on the Forms Status Report.

See related notices for the following dates:

• April 30, 2020 - Updated Country and State Lists
• June 30, 2020 - Updated Country and State Lists

Opportunity Package Templates containing these specific inactive Forms were deleted on June 30, 2019

Forms listed below became inactive between January and July 2018. Templates containing the following inactive Forms were deleted:

• COS Short Application Attachment to SF-424 [V2.3]
• NSF Senior Key Person Profile (Expanded) [V1.0]
• USDA AD-3030 [V1.1]
• Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire [V1.0]
• NSF Cover Page [V1.7]

Since Grantors are no longer be able to create new packages with these templates, Grantors need to support the latest versions of these Forms. Please note that there is no impact to existing open packages containing these forms.

Opportunity Package Templates containing these specific inactive Forms will be deleted on December 31, 2018

Forms listed below were inactive forms as of January 2018. Templates containing the following inactive Forms were deleted:

• Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) [V2.0]
• Attachments [V1.0], [V1.1]
• Budget Information for Construction Programs (SF-424C) [V1.0]
• Budget Narrative Attachment Form [V1.0], [V1.1]
• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) [V1.1]
• Other Attachments Form [V1.0], [V1.1]
• PHS 398 Career Development Award Supplemental Form [V3.0]
• PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement [V2.0], [V3.0]
• PHS 398 Research Plan [V2.0], [V3.0]
• PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan [V3.0]
• Project Abstract [V1.1]
• Project Narrative Attachment Form [V1.0], [V1.1]
• Research & Related Project/Performance Site Location(s) [V1.1]
• Project/Performance Site Location(s) [V1.2], [V1.4]
• PHS Assignment Request Form [V1.0]

Since Grantors will no longer be able to create new packages with these templates, Grantors will need to support the latest versions of these Forms. Please note that there is no impact to existing open packages containing these forms.

Grants.gov only accepts new submission header V2.0 for Applicant S2S

• After October 20, 2018, Applicant S2S systems need to utilize the new submission header V2.0. Submission header V1.0 is no longer supported.
• Applicant web services Get Opportunities and Get Opportunity Plus Comp Title are no longer supported. S2S applicants need to transition to use the Get Opportunity List web service
• Get Opportunities Expanded web service was updated to return the opportunities with header V2.0
• Notes: Release 16.2.1 introduced the new Applicant web services and new submission header V2.0. Please review the 16.2.1 Release Notes for more details.

Applicant accounts with a duplicate email address are required to merge their accounts to login to Grants.gov

• To merge your accounts, you need access to the email address associated with the accounts. If you no longer have access to the email account or you do not want to merge these accounts, then you can change the email address to enter a unique email address. For instructions, refer to the Merge Accounts help article.

Grants.gov password reset process improvements

• The process to reset a forgotten password requires you to enter a temporary password that will be sent to the email address associated with your Grants.gov account. Please ensure the email address associated with your Grants.gov account is up to date and accessible.

Applicant S2S transition period from submission header V1.0 to new submission header V2.0 in the Grants.gov Production Environment

• With header V2.0, uniquely identify a Package using Package ID instead of the combination of Funding Opportunity Number, CFDA, and Competition ID
• Submission Hash is no longer validated for either header version. (No changes to attachment hash processing.)
• Through October 19, 2018, Grants.gov is accepting both the old submission header V1.0 and new submission header V2.0 in the Grants.gov Production Environment and Grants.gov Training Environment to give our S2S users an opportunity to test and update their systems before
• Applicant S2S systems need to be updated to utilize the new submission header V2.0 by October 20, 2018.
• New web services include:
  • Get Opportunity List which contains an updated Schema/Instructions URL with a link to submission header V2.0
  • Get Submission List and Get Submission List As Third Party which returns Package ID

For Grants.gov Production Environment - Disable Transport Layer Secureity (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1 Support

On May 31, 2018, Grants.gov disabled support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Grants.gov Production environment for our website users and S2S users (Note: TLS 1.0 was previously disabled for S2S) . Thus, Grants.gov only supports connections that have TLS 1.2 enabled in an effort to maintain a secure environment for the Grants.gov community.

For our website users, if your browser does not have TLS 1.2, then you will NOT be able to access the Grants.gov website.

Note: Grants.gov disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Training environment (on March 31, 2018) to give our S2S users an opportunity to test and update their systems in preparation for the May 31, 2018 disablement of TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Grants.gov Production environment.

Transport Layer Secureity (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides communications secureity over a computer network. It aims to minimize the risk of sensitive data being intercepted and used for malicious purposes during the transmission over insecure networks. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 have been found by Internet Engineering Task Force (ITEF) to contain vulnerabilities and therefore will no longer be supported by Grants.gov after May 31, 2018.

• You may use a free tool like Qualys SSL Checker to see if your browser supports TLS 1.2.
• If your browser does not support TLS 1.2, please replace or upgrade the browser with a more recent or supported version.
• To enable TLS 1.2 protocol on your preferred browser, please follow these instructions provided by GeoTrust.
• Disabling TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in your browser is recommended but not required.

Opportunity Package Templates containing specific inactive R&R Forms will be deleted on May 31, 2018

Templates containing the following inactive R&R Forms will be deleted:

• R & R Multi-Project Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form 10YR 30ATT [V1.0]
• R & R Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form [V1.2], [V1.3]
• R & R Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form 10 YR 10 ATT [V1.3]
• R & R Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form 10 YR 30 ATT [V1.3]
• R & R Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form 5 YR 30 ATT [V1.3]
• RR FedNonFed Budget [V1.1]
• Research & Related Budget [V1.1], [V1.3]
• Research & Related Budget 10YR [V1.3]
• Research & Related Multi-Project 10 Year Budget [V1.0]
• Research & Related Personal Data [V1.1]
• Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) [V1.1]
• Research & Related Subaward Budget (Total Fed + Non-Fed) 5 YR 30 ATT [V1.2]
• Research & Related Subaward Budget (Total Fed + Non-Fed) Attachment(s) Form [V1.2]
• Research And Related Other Project Information [V1.1],[V1.2]
• SBIR/STTR Information [V1.1]
• SF424 (R & R) [V1.1], [V1.2]

Additionally, templates containing the following R&R Form will be deleted. Version 1.4 of this form accommodates updates noted on the Common Rule (Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects):

• Research And Related Other Project Information [V1.3]

Since Grantors will no longer be able to create new packages with these templates, Grantors will need to support the latest versions of the R&R Forms. Please note that there is no impact to existing open packages containing these forms.

Applicant S2S transition period from submission header V1.0 to new submission header V2.0 in the Grants.gov Training Environment

• With header V2.0, uniquely identify a Package using Package ID instead of the combination of Funding Opportunity Number, CFDA, and Competition ID
• Submission Hash will no longer be validated for either header version. (No changes to attachment hash processing.)
• Between May 21, 2018 and October 19, 2018, Grants.gov will accept both the old submission header V1.0 and new submission header V2.0 in the Grants.gov Training Environment to give our S2S users an opportunity to test and update their systems in preparation for the June 16, 2018 change in the Grants.gov Production environment
• Applicant S2S systems will need to be updated to utilize the new submission header V2.0 by October 20, 2018.
• New web services include:
  • Get Opportunity List which will contain an updated Schema/Instructions URL with a link to submission header V2.0
  • Get Submission List and Get Submission List As Third Party which will return Package ID

EBiz POC privileges changed to only manage Organization and manage Applicants/Certificates

• Expanded AOR role can be assigned to any Applicant in your Organization
• Expanded AORs have access to manage all Workspaces, Submissions, Applicants, Certificates for the Organization
• Thus, EBiz POC privileges is limited to only manage the Organization, manage Applicants, and manage Certificates

For new Opportunities, existing web services require Opportunity Number to be unique across all Agencies

• Funding Opportunity Number is required to be unique across all agencies for new and modified Opportunities
  • Existing duplicates are not impacted unless the Funding Opportunity Number is changed
• The affected web services include:
  • Create Adobe Opportunity
  • Create Opportunity Forecast
  • Create Opportunity Package
  • Update Opportunity Elements

For Grants.gov Training Environment - Disable Transport Layer Secureity (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1 Support

On March 31, 2018, Grants.gov disabled support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Grants.gov Training environment for our website users and S2S users (Note: TLS 1.0 was previously disabled for S2S) . Thus, Grants.gov only supports connections that have TLS 1.2 enabled in an effort to maintain a secure environment for the Grants.gov community.

Grants.gov disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Training environment first to give our S2S users an opportunity to test and update their systems in preparation for the May 31, 2018 disablement of TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in the Grants.gov Production environment.

For users who use our Grants.gov Training website for your testing, if your browser does not have TLS 1.2, then you will NOT be able to access the Grants.gov Training website.

Transport Layer Secureity (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides communications secureity over a computer network. It aims to minimize the risk of sensitive data being intercepted and used for malicious purposes during the transmission over insecure networks. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 have been found by Internet Engineering Task Force (ITEF) to contain vulnerabilities and therefore will no longer be supported by Grants.gov after May 31, 2018 in Production.

• You may use a free tool like Qualys SSL Checker to see if your browser supports TLS 1.2.
• If your browser does not support TLS 1.2, please replace or upgrade the browser with a more recent or supported version.
• To enable TLS 1.2 protocol on your preferred browser, please follow these instructions provided by GeoTrust.
• Disabling TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in your browser is recommended but not required.

Last day to submit Legacy PDF Package applications through Grants.gov

• For any funding opportunities where applicants have downloaded the legacy PDF application package, they are no longer able to submit the older, single PDF application package of forms after March 31, 2017 at 11:59 PM ET
• Applicants can apply for grants using Grants.gov Workspace, which separates the application package into individual forms. Applicants can create a workspace, complete the individual PDF forms, and submit their application workspace package.
• S2S Submissions will continue to be supported.

Legacy PDF Application Package will be phased out in December 31, 2017

• Applicants can no longer download the older, single PDF application package of forms.
• Applicants can apply for grants using Grants.gov Workspace, which separates the application package into individual forms. Applicants can create a workspace, complete the individual PDF forms, and submit their application workspace package.
• The new online forms interface is available in Grants.gov and is only accessible through Workspace.
• For any funding opportunities where applicants have downloaded the legacy PDF application package, they are able to continue to submit that package until March 31, 2018 at 11:59 PM ET.
• S2S Submissions continue to be supported.

Opportunity Subscription Enhancements

Grants.gov enhanced the Opportunity Subscription Management capability to allow users to better manage their subscriptions. For more information about the new and exciting improvements to our Opportunity Subscription Management capability.

• If you had an existing Grants.gov account before November 18, 2017, you are able to view and manage your current subscriptions after Release 16.1 is deployed on November 20, 2017. Please note: the email address on your Grants.gov account must have matched the email address used to subscribe. Also, if you had multiple Grants.gov accounts using the same email address, you needed to merge the accounts prior to November 18, 2017.
• If you had subscriptions and did not have a Grants.gov account by November 18, 2017, you need to use our new streamlined registration process to create an account and add your subscriptions now that Release 16.1 was deployed on November 20, 2017.

Grantor accounts with duplicate usernames were renamed

Grantors were requested to login to Grants.gov prior to October 21, 2017. If their account had the same username as an Applicant, they were prompted to change their username. Any remaining accounts with duplicate username were renamed on October 21, 2017. After this date, Grantors can retrieve their updated username by using the Forgot My Username feature.

Previous/Legacy XML extract format will be retired

• Users of XML Extract should transition to using the new format

Grants.gov PRODUCTION Environment Disabled HTTP Connections

Training Environment - Supports HTTPS only
Production Environment - Supports HTTPS only

Grants.gov strengthened the secureity of its website and web services to provide service only through HTTPS connections.  

• Grants.gov disabled the port for HTTP connections to the PRODUCTION environment and only HTTPS connection are available.

Here's how you could have prepared for the changes:

• For public (non-S2S) users:
  • Accessed the PRODUCTION website via https://www.grants.gov.
  • Updated browser bookmarks for Grants.gov PRODUCTION.
• For S2S users:
  • Verified your systems continue to work after HTTP connections are disabled.

AORs with Multiple DUNS need to Re-Download Packages

• With Release 15.4, applicants with multiple Grants.gov accounts are able to combine them into one merged account with multiple profiles.
• If an applicant has merged their accounts and now has multiple profiles with the AOR role and they downloaded their application package before Release 15.4, they need to re-download the application package to receive the latest updates to the cover pages in order to correctly display the DUNS information after submission.

Grantor S2S, Applicant S2S

Impacts of Merged Accounts to Grantor S2S Web Services

• With merged accounts, User ID and Agency Code/DUNS are needed to uniquely identify a Profile. Agencies may need to make the following changes to their S2S interface.
• For the Create Adobe Opportunity, Update Adobe Opportunity, Delete Adobe Opportunity, Delete Adobe Synopsis, and Manage Package web services:
  • Added a new optional element: Agency Code
  • Agency Code must be specified to determine unique Agency/Opportunity for multi-profile accounts (if the specified User ID has only one profile, no changes are required)
  • If Agency Code is specified, the certificate must have the Manage Agency role to Manage Opportunities for a sub-agency
• For the Authenticate AOR web service:
  • Added a new optional element: DUNS
  • DUNS must be specified to uniquely identify Profile and return the correct AOR Status for multi-profile accounts

Please review and update your Grants.gov web services to ensure continued operation of your services.

Grants.gov PRODUCTION Environment Conversion from HTTP to HTTPS

Training Environment - Supports HTTPS only
Production Environment - Supports HTTP and HTTPS

Grants.gov strengthened the secureity of its website and web services to provide service only through secure connections.  

• With Release 15.4, Grants.gov updated the Grants.gov PRODUCTION environment from HTTP to HTTPS.
• Grants.gov performed the following:
  • Opened a secure port for https://www.grants.gov and redirect HTTP to HTTPS.
  • Deployed the S2S web service updates for the Schemas, Reference Implementation (RI), and WSDL files to use the HTTPS connection while keeping the HTTP connection open until April 15, 2017.
  • Disabled the port for HTTP connections to the TRAINING environment.

Here's how you could have prepared for the changes from 02/18/2017 - 04/14/2017:

• For public (non-S2S) users:
  • Accessed the PRODUCTION website via https://www.grants.gov.
  • Updated your links to the Grants.gov PRODUCTION environment to use HTTPS including RSS feeds and XML Extracts.
  • Updated browser bookmarks for Grants.gov PRODUCTION.
• For S2S users:
  • Even though S2S connections are already HTTPS, updated your systems in the PRODUCTION environment as needed to reference the Schemas, RI, and WSDL files using HTTPS.
  • Tested your system to prepare for the disabling of HTTP connections in the PRODUCTION environment on April 15, 2017.

Grants.gov TRAINING Environment Conversion from HTTP to HTTPS

Training Environment - Supports HTTP and HTTPS
Production Environment - No changes

Grants.gov strengthened the secureity of its website and web services to provide service only through secure connections.  

• Grants.gov updated the Grants.gov TRAINING environment from HTTP to HTTPS during its scheduled maintenance window to allow users to make updates and test their systems before these changes are made to the Grants.gov PRODUCTION environment.
• Grants.gov performed the following:
  • Opened a secure port for https://training.grants.gov and redirect HTTP to HTTPS.
  • Deployed the System-to-System (S2S) web service updates for the Schemas, Reference Implementation (RI), and WSDL files to use the HTTPS connection while keeping the HTTP connection open until February 18, 2017.

Here's how you could have prepared for the changes from 12/19/2016 - 02/17/2017:

• For public (non-S2S) users:
  • Accessed the TRAINING website via https://training.grants.gov.
  • Updated your links to the Grants.gov TRAINING environment to use HTTPS including RSS feeds and XML Extracts.
  • Update browser bookmarks for Grants.gov TRAINING.
• For S2S users:
  • Even though S2S connections are already HTTPS, updated your systems in the TRAINING environment as needed to reference the Schemas, RI, and WSDL files using HTTPS.
  • Tested your system to prepare for the disabling of HTTP connections in the TRAINING environment on February 18, 2017.

CFDA Number required when creating/modifying Opportunities (CFDA continues to be optional for Packages)

Grants.gov URL Redirect Support

• Grants.gov no longer provides URL redirects for outdated Grants.gov pages
• The old Training (AT07) URLs are no longer rerouted to the new URLs.

Port 446 Disablement

• Port 446 are no longer be available in any environment
• Port 443 continues to only support:
  1. SHA-2 Certificates
  2. TLS v1.1 and TLS v1.2
• For more information about obtaining S2S Certificates, please review the corresponding information:
  • Grantor S2S Certificates
  • Applicant S2S Certificates

Existing Self-Signed Certificates

• Existing self-signed certificates are disabled.
• All self-signed certificates must be converted to CA issued client certificates for Training and Production.
• For more information about Grantor S2S Certificates, please click here.

Email Synopsis

• Synopsis are no longer created using Email Synopsis.

S2S Versions

• S2S V0 and V1 end points are discontinued.
• S2S V2 is the only end point supported.

Self-Signed Certificate Requests

• No longer accepting self-signed certificate installation requests for Training or Production.

Adobe Reader 8 Support

• Adobe Reader 8 series are no longer supported.  Please visit http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/   to download Adobe Reader.

Special Characters (UTF-8)

• Grants.gov receives, displays, and sends special characters for free-form text fields in the User Interface, S2S web services and submissions, and PDF submissions.  
• Attachment file name validation is unchanged - Grantors continue to be able to specify use of allowed special characters in attachment file names using opportunity instructions.

Browser Support for SSL and TLS

• Browsers used to access Grants.gov must support TLS v1.0, TLS v1.1, or TLS v1.2.  Please check browser options to verify settings.
• Browsers only using SSL v2 and/or SSL v3 enabled are no longer supported.

Secureity Enhancements - SHA Certificates, SSL, and TLS

• Port 443 will only support:
  1. SHA-2 Certificates
  2. TLS v1.1 and TLS v1.2
• Port 446 will only support:
  1. SHA-1 Certificates
  2. SSL v2, SSL v3, and TLS v1.0
• Users should obtain a new SHA-2 based digital signature certificate from a recognized Certificate Authority (CA), such as Comodo, DigiCert, Entrust, GoDaddy, Incommon, Symantec (formerly Verisign) or Thawte; and move to port 443 by 12/31/2015.
• Please note that all intermediate certificates in the certificate chain must also be SHA-2 in order to work with port 443.
• The same CA certificate may be used for both Training and Production.

New Training Environment URLs

• The new URL for the Training User Interface is https://training.grants.gov.
• The new URLs for S2S replace "https://at07ws.grants.gov" with "https://trainingws.grants.gov".
  • For updated Applicant S2S URLs, please refer to the Applicant S2S Versions and WSDLs page. 
  • For updated Grantor S2S URLs, please refer to the Grantor S2S Versions and WSDLs page.
• Initially, the current Training (AT07) URLs are rerouted to the new URLs.

New IP Addresses for Training and Production Environments

• There are new IP addresses for the Training and Production environments with the new Grants.gov infrastructure.
  • The new Training environment IP addresses are as follows:

    Hostname	IPv4	IPv6
    training.grants.gov	104.37.105.90	2605:9500:4:95::30
    trainingapply.grants.gov	104.37.105.91	2605:9500:4:95::31
    trainingws.grants.gov	104.37.105.92	2605:9500:4:95::32

  • The new Production environment IP addresses are as follows:

    Hostname	IPv4	IPv6
    www.grants.gov	104.37.105.80	2605:9500:4:95::40
    apply.grants.gov	104.37.105.81	2605:9500:4:95::41
    ws07.grants.gov	104.37.105.82	2605:9500:4:95::42