2025 Shutdown Guidance

The University of Minnesota is closely monitoring the federal government shutdown that began on October 1, 2025. The status of federal proposal and award management systems and the best way to handle prospective and current federal sponsored projects, as well as agency-specific guidance will be posted as soon as it is known. In the event of questions about a specific project, please contact the SPA grant and contract officer serving your unit.

Federal Shutdown October 1, 2025

Please check this page often as information is expected to be updated frequently.
Last update: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 9:45 AM

Guidance from University Officials

Spending on Active Awards

Existing federally funded grants and cooperative agreements may continue spending until such time as they run out of existing obligated funding. For contracts and other transaction agreements, spending may continue until obligated funding is exhausted unless a stop work order has been issued by the funding agency (which may occur under a shutdown). Please confer with your SPA grant and contract officer (GCO) if you receive such a stop work order. General announcements from an agency that the federal government is shutting down need not be shared.

Proposal Submissions

It is expected that federal electronic proposal submission systems will remain functional and available for submissions and that current deadlines will apply; however, help desks associated with those systems may be unavailable. This means that if there is a problem with a given submission, the University should be able to record a help ticket electronically (to show that an on-time submission was attempted) but may not receive a response until after the shutdown. New NOFOs (Notice of Funding Opportunities) are not expected to be released until after the shutdown is over.

Awards (Including Just-In-Time Requests)

Federal awards are not expected to be received during the shutdown. This includes new/renewal awards and continuation awards, supplements, and incremental funding. In addition, requests from agencies for pre-award or mid-award documents (e.g., revised budgets, just-in-time requests) are not expected to occur nor do we expect responses to ones already submitted.

Technical and Financial Reports

If an electronic reporting system for a given agency remains available (expected at most agencies), then all reports must still be submitted by their original deadline. The University's Sponsored Financial Reporting (SFR) will submit required financial reports. In the event of a failed technical report submission attempt, investigators should request a help ticket to showcase the attempt to file the report on time. These tickets will likely be able to be requested online even if the help desk itself is not being staffed. If a report is intended to be emailed, it too should be filed on time, though report “acceptance” by the agency may not occur until after the shutdown.

Prior Approvals

Agency systems that include the ability to submit prior approval requests are expected to remain functional, and prior approval requests may be submitted by SPA; however, responses from federal agencies will likely not be received until after the shutdown is over. SPA is often able to approve an initial, up-to-12-month-no-cost time extension on routine federal grants without prior approval (followed by notification to the agency in their systems). In these cases, SPA will continue to approve such requests. Other no cost time extensions (ones requiring agency prior approval) may be requested by SPA, but a response from a federal agency is unlikely to occur until after the shutdown.

Payments

The University is “working ahead” to submit invoices and draw-down requests for recorded expenses on its federal awards so that payments are received before October 1, 2025. It is not expected that the University will receive payments for expenses recorded after September 30 during the shutdown period, but payments for expenses legitimately incurred during the shutdown are expected to be reimbursed afterwards. In the interim, the University’s financial system will allow expenses to occur on the impacted project, creating an overall deficit until reimbursement is received from the federal agency. Payments on federally funded outgoing subawards will continue until further notice; however, the University will be monitoring expenditures closely and may temporarily suspend work on these subawards and payments in the event of an extended shutdown period. In this case, PIs will be notified.

Agency Visits to Campus/Study Sections/Meetings Involving Federal Officials

Agency visits and meetings with federal officials are not anticipated to take place during the shutdown period, nor will virtual or online peer review/study section meetings. Guidance will be provided about travel tickets already purchased for such events once more information from the agencies is known.

Exceptions

Some agency programs have multi-year appropriations that enable them to continue work, or deal with critical activities (e.g, for human health or public safety) that cannot safely be deferred. In these cases, certain agency officials may be deemed “essential” and able to continue working. This means that certain activities (such as prior approvals) may still be forthcoming for certain projects. It is also possible that the University will be awarded some funding on subawards if the prime recipient had received its own federal funding prior to the shutdown; this is at the discretion of the prime recipient.

If you have questions about a specific sponsored project or receive a stop work order, please contact your SPA grant and contract officer (GCO).