In order to create or add a forecast, you must have the Manage Forecasts role and create a grant opportunity. Follow the Create Grant Opportunities instructions to create a grant forecast.
Note: If you have already added a grant opportunity component that is not a forecast, make sure the other opportunity component is not in Draft status. See the Create Grant Opportunities help article to learn more.
When you are on the Create Forecast page, you will need to fill out the following fields under the General Information section (* denotes mandatory fields):
Version: The version number is automatically generated by the system.
*Funding Instrument Type: Select the particular type of funding that represents the grant opportunity. You can highlight more than one option by using either the SHIFT or the CTRL key.
*Category of Funding Activity: These are the high-level categories found in the Assistance Listings (previously known as CFDA). You can highlight as many categories as apply. If you select Other, you will need to add further information within the Category Explanation regarding your opportunity.
Category Explanation: In this field, indicate the category and a brief explanation. This field is required if Other is selected as the Category of Funding Activity.
Expected Number of Awards: List the number of grants to be awarded.
*Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: Select Yes or No.
*Post Date: This is the date when the opportunity will be posted to Grants.gov. If you set the date in the future, the opportunity will not get posted until that date. If you enter today’s date, then the opportunity will be automatically posted after you publish the opportunity. If you set the post date for the future, any changes and modifications you perform on the forecast will not be made public. Only after the forecast has been posted will modifications be made public.
Estimated Synopsis Post Date: This is the date when you plan to post the synopsis.
Estimated Application Due Date: This is the planned submission deadline for applicants.
Estimated Application Due Date Explanation: Use this field to add comments about the Estimated Application Due Date.
Estimated Award Date: This is the date the grantor plans to award the grant.
Estimated Project Start Date: This is the date by which the award recipient should launch the funded project.
*Fiscal Year: Select the fiscal year in which the project will funded and launched.
Archive Date: Enter the date for the automatic archive to occur.
Estimated Total Program Funding: If you know this information, please enter the total program funding. The field will only accept numbers – do not enter a dollar sign; it will be automatically inserted.
Award Ceiling: Either enter the dollar amount in numbers or leave the field blank. The dollar amount will be automatically formatted; therefore, you will not need to enter a dollar sign or format the number with commas. This field is required for the synopsis, but it is not required for the forecast.
Award Floor: Either enter the dollar amount in numbers or leave the field blank. The dollar amount will be automatically formatted; therefore, you will not need to enter a dollar sign or format the number with commas. This field is required for the synopsis, but it is not required for the forecast.
Next, you will need to fill out the following fields under the Eligibility section (* denotes mandatory fields):
*Eligible Applicants: Select the eligible groups for this forecast. Again, you can select more than one group by using the SHIFT or the CTRL key.
Additional Information on Eligibility: If you select “Other” as your eligible group, you will need to enter text into this field. Also, if you need to include additional information on the eligibility, you can use this text field to provide that further explanation.
Finally, you will need to fill out the following fields under the Additional Information section (* denotes mandatory fields):
*Description: Enter a description about the funding opportunity. Use the formatting tools available in Grants.gov to format the text in the description.
Link to Additional Information: Enter the full URL where the full announcement for this opportunity is located. If a URL is not provided and there are related documents or links, Grants.gov will automatically display a link to the Related Documents tab.
Link Description: If you enter an Announcement URL, you will need to enter text into this field. The text will appear as a hyperlink on Grants.gov, and the applicant can click on the text in order to view the Full Announcement.
*Grantor Contact: This information is pre-populated by the system based on the user information for whoever is currently logged into the system. Grantors are still able to edit the pre-populated Grantor Contact field.
*Grantor Contact Phone Number: This is also pre-populated by the system and can be overwritten.
*Grantor Contact E-Mail Address: This is also pre-populated by the system and can be overwritten.
*Grantor Contact E-Mail Description: Enter text which will be presented as a hyperlink to the email address provided. For example, if you entered “Help Desk”, then when the forecast is published and someone clicks on “Help Desk” it will open up an email with the email address already pre-populated in the “To” field.
After completing the required fields, click either the Save Draft button or the Publish button if you are ready to make this available to the public.
Selecting Save Draft will direct you to the Manage Opportunity (DRAFT) page where you may continue working on this opportunity at any time by clicking the Continue button.
Selecting the Publish button will navigate to the Create Forecast Confirm page. Review the information and click the Publish button at the bottom of the page. If you need to correct any information, click Modify to return to the previous page and make the changes. If you click Publish, you will be directed to the Forecast tab of the Manage Opportunity page, where you will see a success message.
If the post date you have entered is today’s date, then the forecast will appear on Grants.gov within several minutes. If the post date is in the future, you will still receive a confirmation message. However, the forecast will not be visible on Grants.gov until the actual post date you entered.
Note: You will be able to edit and modify the forecast until the post date without any of those edits being visible to the applicant.