Carefully Read and Understand the Instructions of Your Particular Grant Application
Although this seems intuitive, if you do not follow the specific format and content requirements of a given grant, your application may be discounted even prior to receiving consideration for its scientific merit. People often discuss "standard NIH formatting" of grants, but there is a great deal of heterogeneity even among grant applications at the NIH. Do not take anything for granted, and read the grant application and requirements several times to make sure that you understand every detail of what is expected in a successful application.
If there are any ambiguities or if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the program official or individual responsible for assisting applicants. It is their job to assist you in properly submitting your grant application; they ultimately want to fund grants with the most potential, and would rather not have to exclude any applications because of improper formatting or other logistical errors. Within grant applications, the majority of the forms and paperwork often have nothing to do with your research project or methodologies. Remember that these forms will include detailed summaries of direct and indirect budgetary information, individual salaries and benefits, and descriptions of the available physical, intellectual and human resources at your disposal.
