ARC Research Management System (RMS)

The Research Management System (RMS) is the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) web-based platform for managing applications to its National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) from initial submission through to final reporting. Rather than a single application form, RMS is the system of record for the whole grant lifecycle: application preparation and submission, assessor assignment and assessment, applicant rejoinders to assessor comments, funding announcements, and — once a grant is awarded — the grant agreement itself, along with post-award activity such as project variations, annual and end-of-year reporting, and final reports. It is accessed at rms.arc.gov.au by registered users who log in with an email address and password.

What RMS is used for

For applicants, RMS is where an ARC Discovery Project, ARC Linkage Project, ARC Future Fellowship, ARC Industry Fellowship, or any other NCGP scheme application is drafted, attached with supporting documentation, and formally lodged before the scheme’s closing date. Once submitted, RMS is also the interface through which the ARC’s expert assessors record their evaluations, and through which applicants can view and respond (via a rejoinder) to assessor comments before a funding decision is finalised. After outcomes are announced, RMS continues to be the system used to accept an offer, execute the grant agreement, and — across the life of a multi-year grant — submit the variations, progress reports, and final report the ARC requires as a condition of funding.

Who uses it

Individual researchers do not typically submit directly to the ARC as private applicants. Instead, an Administering Organisation (AO) — the university or other eligible research institution that will hold and manage the grant on the researcher’s behalf — is generally required to submit NCGP applications through RMS, unless the ARC specifically advises otherwise for a given scheme. In practice this means a Chief Investigator prepares the application content in RMS, and the institution’s research office reviews and performs the final, binding submission through the same system. RMS documentation notes it is compatible with the latest versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and ARC provides a dedicated RMS Support channel for technical queries.

How it relates to the ARC and the NCGP

RMS is the operational mechanism behind the Australian Research Council (ARC)‘s National Competitive Grants Program — the ARC sets scheme rules, eligibility, and assessment criteria, while RMS is the software through which those rules are executed for a given funding round. It is comparable in function, though not in ownership or governance, to other national funder submission-and-post-award systems, such as the US NIH’s eRA Commons or the EU’s Funding & Tenders Portal — each is a national funder’s own system for administering its own grants, not an interoperable, shared standard. Institutions with active or pending ARC funding typically treat RMS access and internal RMS-submission workflows as a standing part of their research office’s grants-management operations, alongside — and often integrated with, at the reporting-data level — their broader Current Research Information System (CRIS).

Examples

• A Chief Investigator drafts an ARC Discovery Project application in RMS, and their university’s research office (as the Administering Organisation) reviews and formally submits it through the same system before the scheme’s closing date.
• After an ARC Linkage Project is funded, the Administering Organisation logs into RMS each year to submit the project’s end-of-year report and, later, its final report, rather than emailing documents to the ARC directly.

Counter-examples

• Australia’s GrantConnect listing service, which publicly advertises Commonwealth grant opportunities including ARC schemes, is not RMS — it is a discovery portal, not the system used to prepare, submit, or administer an actual application.
• eRA Commons, the equivalent submission and post-award system used by the US NIH, is not RMS — it serves a different funder under different national grant-administration rules, though it plays a structurally similar role for its own agency.

CASRAI takes no position on the technical merits of RMS relative to other national funder systems; this entry describes the platform’s role and terminology neutrally for research-administration audiences who encounter it when managing Australian ARC grants.

References

• Australian Research Council, ‘Research Management System (RMS) Information’ (arc.gov.au/manage-your-grant/research-management-system-rms-information).
• Australian Research Council, ‘RMS: How to use Grant Agreement functionality’ (arc.gov.au).
• Research Grants Services, ‘RMS User Guide — Submitting an Application in RMS’ (researchgrants.gov.au).