Attesting, Renewing, & Closing

Once approved, access to ICGC Controlled Data is granted for a period of two years. However, this access is conditional upon adherence to the terms and conditions outlined in the Data Access Agreement. To maintain access, the applicant is required to complete an annual attestation and a bi-annual renewal process. If the project team no longer requires access before the end of the two-year period, the application can be voluntarily closed, which will revoke access for all project members.

Application Progress Stages

Application Stage	Description	Application PDF
Attestation Required	The application requires an annual agreement in order to continue with the last year of access. If this is not completed by the annual date, access will be paused until you attest.	In this stage, you can still download the DACO signed PDF using the Approved PDF top button.
Expired	Access will expire 2 years after the date of approval. You will have up to 90 days after the expiry date to renew this application for an additional 2 years of access.	In this stage, you can still download the DACO signed PDF using the Approved PDF top button.
Expired Non-renewable	If you do not renew the application within 90 days after expiry, the application will be permanently expired, and you will need to submit a new application to regain access.	You can download the DACO signed PDF using the Approved PDF top button.
Renewal Application	Upon choosing to renew an application, a new draft application is generated, linked to the original application. This new draft must be completed for renewal. While the original application remains APPROVED, collaborators can be added or removed, and ethics documents can be appended.	A Draft PDF of the new application can be downloaded, which will display a watermark, useful for collaboration on the renewal process.
Closed	An application can be closed before being submitted or after being approved. If an application is closed after approval but before the expiry date, the project team will lose access and the application will be view-only.	If the application is approved and then closed, you can still download the DACO signed PDF using the Approved PDF top button.

Annual Attestation

Adherence to data access policies is critical for the ICGC-ARGO project. This is why the DACO mandates an annual attestation for all project teams.

45 days before reaching the 1-year anniversary of their approval, applicants will receive an email reminder to complete this attestation. Should the attestation not be completed by the 1-year mark, access to ICGC Controlled Data will be temporarily suspended for all members of the project team. Access will be reinstated for the remaining duration of the 2-year period once the applicant has successfully attested to the terms.

How to Complete an Annual Attestation

1. When you receive the email reminder for the annual attestation, log in to the DACO platform and navigate to your application.
2. At the top of the application page, a yellow banner will be displayed, containing terms that require your review. Please read these terms carefully.
3. After reviewing, if you agree with the terms, click the “I attest to the above terms” button.

Following your attestation, the application status will revert to the approved state. If access was previously paused, it will be reinstated for your project team.

Renewing an Application

The DACO approval expires after 2 years of access. An email reminder will be sent to the applicant 90 days and 45 days prior to the access expiry date, as well as on the date of expiry. If the project team is to remain active, the applicant may wish to renew beyond the 2 years. The option to renew the application will be available 90 days before the application expires, and up to 90 days after it expires.

How to Renew an Application

1. When the applicant receives the email reminder that the application is about to expire (or has expired), they can login and click the Renew button.

   

2. Upon clicking the Renew button, a new, separate draft renewal application is created. This draft is linked to the original application for reference only. The applicant must complete this new draft application for renewal.

   • Note: While the original application remains in the APPROVED state some fields can be edited. Collaborators can be added or removed, and ethics documents can be appended.

   

3. Following submission, the DACO Administrator will be notified that a renewal application is ready for review. If there are no issues and/or the application remains consistent with the previous version, the project team should be quickly approved for an additional 2 years.

Expired and Non-renewable

A signed copy of the renewal application must be sent to the ICGC DACO via the online application system. If a renewal is not submitted within 90 days of the original application's expiry date, the renewal will be permanently expired and you will need to submit a new application to regain access.

Closing an Application

1. The application can be closed by the Applicant or by a DACO Administrator at any time within the lifecycle of the application (before or after approval). A Close Application button is available from within the application header bar.

   

2. After clicking this button, a confirmation window will open. Following confirmation, an input field will appear and ask the user to manually enter their application ID to confirm the closure.

   

3. Once closed, the applicant and all collaborators will receive an email notification that the application has been closed, and access to ICGC Controlled Data will be removed within 24 hours. The expiry date will be updated to reflect the date that the application was closed. If the applicant wishes to regain access, a new application must be submitted for review.