As of 12:01 am, Saturday, December 22, 2018, Congress was unable to reach agreement on the federal budget and as a result, the United States federal government is partially shut down.  This shut down impacts nine federal departments and a number of independent agencies, causing them to stop some or all of their operations.  The nine departments impacted and links to their management plans during the shut down period are:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce (including NIST and NOAA)
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Justice (and the Office of Justice Programs)
• Department of State (and USAID)
• Department of Transportation
• Department of the Treasury

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has published a comprehensive list of Agency Contingency Plans and related FAQs.

Specific Agency Guidance includes:

• National Science Foundation: NSF has posted Information about the Government Shutdown for NSF Proposers and Grantees. During the shutdown: (1) no new funding opportunities will be issued; (2) no new grant or cooperative agreements will be awarded; (3) no new Continuing grant Increments (CGIs) will be awarded; and (4) no payments will be made during this lapse in appropriations.  In addition, the Information about the Government Shutdown for NSF Panelists and the Funding Hiatus Plan  issued on September 25, 2018 provides additional guidance as appropriate.  NSF has also issued a notice specific to certain named NSF Cooperative Agreements.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration: The revised NASA Shutdown plan that was posted on December 18, 2018 notes, “new contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, task orders, change orders, and other actions will not be issued during the funding hiatus, except those critical to meeting the requirements for excepted activities under this policy.”  The agency also released NASA Guidance during Showdown on 12/26/18.

The shut down does not affect a number of agencies as they are already fully funded for this federal fiscal year including:

• National Institutes of Health
• Department of Energy
• Department of Defense

Please note that all electronic proposal submission portals (i.e. Grants.gov, FastLane, Research.gov) remain operational at this time.  Help desks are also operational.  There have been no changes to deadline dates published.  Proposals, progress reports and the like should be submitted in accordance with the published dates.

Additionally, the University is not able to request payment reimbursements from NSF, NASA, DOC and other smaller sponsors.   At this time, Departments can continue to incur costs on their awards up to the obligated award amount and approve payments to subawards until such time that the University advises differently.  

The Office of the Dean for Research (DFR) and the Office of Research and Project Administration (ORPA), in partnership with Sponsored Research Accounting (SRA), are monitoring the situation closely.  This web-page will be periodically updated as more information becomes available. Any project-specific questions that arise can be directed to your ORPA representative.