Speed of processing: proposals submitted to Research.gov via the ASWS are validated by Research.gov and inserted into FastLane within about 5 minutes, as opposed to 2-4 hours for proposals submitted through Grants.gov.
Pre-validation: Cayuse 424 handles the NSF validations while you build the proposal, and does a final validation check before the actual submission. The result is that the proposal is received error-free in FastLane.
Fast proposal development: It's really fast to assemble proposals in Cayuse 424. There are lots of tools for auto-fill, budget building, one-click proposal copy, and more. There are plenty of advantages that make it easy for long-time loyal FastLane users to upgrade to Cayuse 424.
Central proposal repository: When NSF proposals are developed and submitted via Cayuse 424, it helps collect institutional proposal development into a single system, making it easier to manage, route, approve and report on pre-award activity.
No. Research.gov, Grants.gov and Cayuse 424 do not support these applications. The PI must still use FastLane to prepare these applications.
For reference:
Collaborative Proposals
b. Submission of a collaborative proposal from multiple organizations [Each organization submits via NSF FastLane and receives a separate award from NSF.] http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf11001/gpg_2.jsp#IID4