As expected, with no Congressional agreement on FY14 funding, and with too much Obamacare-related animosity for Congress even to agree to a temporary bill to fund at FY13 levels, the US federal government shut down at midnight last night. This morning the NIH released a notice to grantees concerning the government shutdown. Highlights include the following:
SUBMISSION OF GRANT APPLICATIONS: For the duration of the funding lapse, applicants are strongly encouraged not to submit paper or electronic grant applications to NIH during the period of the lapse. Adjustments to application submission dates that occur during the funding lapse will be announced once operations resume. For any applications submitted immediately prior to or during the funding lapse, here is what will happen.
- For electronic submissions through Grants.gov: Grants.gov will be open and can accept electronic applications. However, applications will not be processed by NIH until the eRA Systems are back on-line. NIH will ensure that all applications submitted within the two business days before or during the funding lapse will receive the full viewing window once the systems are back on-line.
- For electronic submission of multi-project applications through NIH’s ASSIST system: The ASISST system will not be available until NIH systems are back on-line.
- Paper Submissions: Staff will not be available to receive paper applications during a funding lapse.
The safest course is to wait to submit any application to NIH until after operations resume and a Notice in the NIH Guide concerning adjusted submission dates is posted.
CONTACT WITH NIH STAFF: For the duration of the funding lapse, NIH extramural employees will be prohibited from working (remotely or in the office).
PEER REVIEW AND COUNCIL MEETINGS: For the duration of the funding lapse, the NIH will not be able to conduct initial peer review meetings – whether in-person or through teleconferences or other electronic media. Also during this time, the NIH staff will not be able to send or receive email messages, or update website information, and NIH computer systems that support review functions will not be operational.
CURRENTLY ACTIVE GRANT AWARDS: For the duration of the funding lapse, all work and activities performed under currently active NIH grant awards may continue. However, see Notice for limits on performing many of the reporting requirements associated with NIH grant funding.
