Typically, your GCA Specialist will have already created your 424 application for you, in response to your GCS request. The SF424 application has its own workspace, similar to how a funding proposal or budget has a workspace. You can navigate to the SF424 workspace by clicking the SF424 link on the funding proposal workspace as shown below. The SF424 workspace displays the proposal title and the SF424 ID. You do not need to remember the SF424 ID, since you can always navigate to the SF424 from the Funding Proposal.

You can follow the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the Funding Proposal.

Below that are the workspace tabs. The History tab shows all activities that are run on the SF424 workspace. The Change Log tab shows when changes are made to the SF424 application SmartForm. If you click on a change and then “View More Details”, it will show you which field was updated.

On the left side of the workspace, you can see the state of the SF424 application. The SF424 will always begin in PreSubmission State. You can use the Edit Grant Application button to open the SF424 SmartForm. When the application is in a read-only state, this button is labeled as “View Grant Application”.

Below these buttons, you will see the SF424 workspace activities.

• Validate Submission: This activity is used to check the application for completeness and accuracy. If it passes validation, the SF424 workspace will display as the “Valid for Submission” state. Please do not complete this function until your application has been internally approved, reviewed and is ready for submission. Validating the submission will cause the SF424 to be locked from future editing once any errors have been resolved.
• Generate PDF Version: Click this activity to generate a PDF version of your application. You can select if you would like it to include attachments or not, though typically you will want to include attachments. Once the activity is complete, the window will close, and the PDF version will appear in the center of the SF424 workspace in the PDF Version field. Click the “View” link to review the PDF.
• Log Comment: This activity should generally not be used; Comments to your reviewers and GCA should be logged on the funding proposal using the Add Comment activity. This activity will add a comment to the SF424 workspace instead.
• Import Subaward: This activity can be used to upload a R&R subaward forms into the application, however this activity will generally not be used as the forms can instead by mapped from the subaward budget SF424 Subaward Import. Review the Budget Guide and prior section for details.