This email was sent to all PIs and Co-PIs on federal grants and RIO staff and forwarded to to UMN associate deans for research, Sponsored Financial Reporting and Sponsored Projects Administration staff, the UMN Certified Approvers group, and the Grants Management User Network by the Research and Innovation Office.
Dear Colleagues,
As you saw in yesterday’s systemwide message, the University is fully engaged to monitor, assess and appropriately respond as several federal agencies have paused activities affecting federally funded research. A leadership team has been assembled on behalf of our university community.
Late Monday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum that temporarily suspends new federal funding obligations, disbursements on existing awards, and temporarily halts merit review panels and other activities related to open funding opportunity announcements. The memorandum instructs federal agency leaders to complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders, and report that to OMB no later than February 10th. Late yesterday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the suspension of funds to existing programs until 4 pm CT, Monday, February 3.
Given this rapidly changing landscape, we are compiling and updating information that we have gathered on the SPA website: z.umn.edu/fed-impacts. Where possible, we are in active communications with our key sponsoring agencies that may affect research operations. We remain in close communication with our federal relations team, peer institutions, and national associations to monitor new federal communications and guidance and to advocate for the needs of the University community.
In general, researchers should continue their proposal and award activities normally. Proposals should continue to be prepared and submitted so long as the opportunity is available in the federal system, and awards and subawards should be managed in accordance with normal business processes. Exceptions are outlined below.
Proposal Submission and Award Management
Some agencies have temporarily halted new funding opportunities or amended open opportunities. Please review the website linked above to see if proposal activities for a specific agency are known to be affected at this time. There is currently no indication that pauses on new awards will be permanent, so proposals should continue to be prepared and submitted in preparation for when merit review panels continue and award issuance is resumed. Unless you are informed by your program officer or by SPA that there is any change with your individual award, please continue to work normally.
As of now, the University is continuing to bill sponsors normally as well.
Risks Associated with Spending Prior to an Approved Award
At this time, we recommend extra caution when considering whether to expend funds prior to an award being accepted. As you know, the University typically permits colleges to authorize SPA to establish an account to begin spending in advance of receipt of an award (or while it is being negotiated) and that investigators often spend in anticipation of their next increment of funds arriving on a continuing award. While there are no global changes to those internal approval procedures, given uncertainty about the permanent FY2025 federal budget (federal funding is still happening under a temporary continuing resolution) as well as internal program reviews going on within agencies, we advise that investigators and units carefully scrutinize all requests to begin spending before an award has been received and accepted.
Who to Contact
If you have concerns related to the following areas, please note our recommended contacts:
- Department head, research associate dean, or pre-award specialist: specific questions you may have if a council decision is delayed for the foreseeable future.
- Associate Vice President Pamela Webb, [email protected]: Other questions related to sponsored projects.
- Assistant Vice President JoonHyung Cho, [email protected]: Other questions related to non-sponsored projects.
- UMN Federal Relations Director Brian Paro, [email protected]: Questions not directly related to research.
If you or your colleagues receive additional communications from federal agencies or information that could cause disruptions to your research activities on federal awards, please share those with us.
We appreciate your engagement on this important matter and will continue to provide updates as we learn more.
Best regards,
Pamela Webb
Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation
JoonHyung Cho
Assistant Vice President for Research and Innovation