From the Manage Opportunities page, click the Create New Opportunity button to create a new opportunity. Creating and publishing a new opportunity involves both (1) filling in required Opportunity Details and (2) publishing (or saving as a draft) Opportunity Components.
On this first screen, you will fill in the Opportunity Details. These elements include the following (* denotes mandatory fields):
*Opportunity Number: The Opportunity Number is a number that you create in order to identify your grant opportunity within the Grants.gov system. You must enter a number into this section – the system will not automatically generate a number for you. You may use letters or numbers.
*Opportunity Title: This is the title of your grant opportunity. Your Opportunity Title should accurately reflect the nature of your funding opportunity.
*Opportunity Category: You need to select a category for this particular opportunity. The choices are Discretionary, Continuation, Mandatory, Earmark, or Other. If the opportunity falls in between one or more of these choices, please select the option that is closest to the description of the opportunity. Choose Other if the opportunity is not related to any of the category options, then provide a category explanation.
Opportunity Category Explanation (*If Opportunity Category is Other): In this field, please indicate the category and a brief explanation. This field is required if Other is selected as the Opportunity Category.
Note: There is a 255-character limit for the Category Explanation field. For System-to-System transfers, however, the limit is a maximum of 100 characters.
*CFDA Number(s): You can enter multiple Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers (also called "assistance listings") if your opportunity falls under different CFDA programs. This must be a valid CFDA number and published on beta.SAM.gov (formerly on CFDA.gov). If it is a new program number, you will need to wait for your program to be published to beta.SAM.gov before you will be able use the CFDA number.
After you have entered this information, you must select an Opportunity Component —either a forecast, synopsis, single-project package, or multi-project package – in order to save the grant opportunity.
Then click the Save and Continue button to proceed with creating this new opportunity. At this point, the new opportunity is saved as a Draft.
After you click the Save and Continue button, you will begin work on your selected component – either a forecast, synopsis, single-project package, or multi-project package.
At the bottom of the first component screen, you will have three choices:
Save Draft – Click this button if you have not completed all required fields, or if you are not ready to publish the opportunity.
Note: Clicking Save Draft will save the opportunity component as a draft, and you will not be able to add a second component until the first one has been published.
Publish – Click this button if you have completed all required fields and you are ready to publish the component with the opportunity.
Note: After the first component has been published, you may then add a second component.
Cancel – Click this button if you want to exit the component screen without saving any completed fields. When you click Cancel, only the Opportunity Details will be saved, and the opportunity will remain in Draft status.
Note: For mandatory funding opportunities (as opposed to competitive opportunities), Federal agencies may wish to post only a single-project or multi-project application package without a synopsis. In these cases, Federal agencies can then email the opportunity number directly to the defined applicant pool.