Cayuse 424 FAQs

Cayuse 424 is a web-based software service that provides faculty researchers and support staff an easier, faster interface to Grants.gov for submitting research proposals to federal agencies.

With Cayuse 424, there is no need to log in directly to Grants.gov. Cayuse 424 collects all the necessary data and attachments, performs validity checks and makes an automated "system-to-system" submittal to Grants.gov. The system stores profile information on faculty and automatically populates the SF424 form along with the Virginia Tech institutional data, thus speeding up the process and eliminating some common typing errors.

A web link is available on either on the Electronic Research Administration page under the Research Administration Tools link in the right column, or under the Research Support section under Research Administration Tools > Sponsored Programs.

All Virginia Tech researchers and support staff will log in via the Virginia Tech Central Authentication Service (CAS) using their VT PID. Supported browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox (preferred). Supported versions as of December 2011 are IE7, IE8, and Firefox 3.0 through 3.6. Mac users should use Firefox. Chrome and Safari are not supported at this time.

Your pre-award administrator can answer questions and get you started using the system.  All Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) pre-award administrators have been trained and are authorized in the system. You may also contact era-help@vt.edu.

You may contact your OSP pre-award administrator directly for help.

All Grants.gov submissions are required to be entered through cayuse 424 after March 12, 2012.  Please contact your Pre-award administrator with questions.

Cayuse 424 stores institutional and faculty profile and biosketch information and populates the forms automatically, thus eliminating some common typing errors and making the entry of information quicker and easier. It also allows secure sharing of attachments with other departments or centers.

The system downloads packages from Grants.gov and knows which forms are required, and has a convenient interactive error-checking mechanism to clean up any mistakes, which virtually guarantees a clean submission. The system also has a transformation feature that allows you to quickly revise a previous proposal to submit to a new opportunity.

No, Virginia Tech submits all NSF submissions through Research.gov. You cannot use Cayuse 424 for NSF submissions at Virginia Tech.

Yes. Through Cayuse 424 users can download funding opportunities from Grants.gov, and there are search capabilities to find the package you need. Once you identify the opportunity, you can retrieve it in Cayuse 424 and begin entering proposal data immediately.

The system currently supports over 98% of the funding opportunities posted on Grants.gov. Each night Cayuse 424 checks for any changes to packages that have already been downloaded, and alerts users of any changes.

Cayuse 424 is part of the Cayuse Research Suite, a hosted solution offered by Cayuse, Inc., based in Beaverton, Oregon. The Suite has been available since 2006 and is used by over 100 research institutions, including many large universities and medical schools, including the University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, and Ohio State.

The system integrates with Virginia Tech's Central Authentication Service (CAS) using Shibboleth, and all communication is done using 128-bit SSL/TLS encryption. Administrative data entered in the system is the permanent property of Virginia Tech, and is released only to authorized individuals using approved protocols.

A proposal entered in the system is visible only to the person who created it (and central OSP staff) unless explicit permission is granted to other authorized users.

Cayuse 424 is fully compliant with the federal government "system-to-system" e-submission protocols, and has a track record of greater than 99% success in executing successful submissions through the funding network.

After logging into the system for the first time, you will check your professional profile to edit contact information, enter your degrees earned, and attach a biosketch. You may also set permissions and assign delegates if you have one or more staff members who will provide support in filling out the submission forms and routing them to OSP for final submission.

All of this setup information will be retained in the system and automatically filled in on future proposals to Grants.gov.

No. Cayuse 424 is strictly a replacement for Grants.gov Adobe forms.

Summit Proposals is still required, along with attachments for the budget, abstract, statement of work, etc.  You will continue to work with your OSP pre-award administrator to develop proposal budgets using the existing procedure.

No. If your proposal is not submitted through Grants.gov or Research.gov, you do NOT need to use Cayuse 424. Summit Proposals is still required for ALL submissions, regardless whether or not they use Cayuse 424.