Executive Actions and Federal Agency Updates
Specific Agency Guidance & Recommendations for Researchers
Recent presidential actions, including executive orders (EO), proclamations, and memorandums, may indicate changes in federal priorities, potentially affecting your current and pending projects and upcoming deadlines/programs funded by federal agencies or other sponsors.
As federal agencies and sponsors adjust to these changes, we will keep you informed.
Recommendations:
1. Review your award agreements
- Carefully examine your award terms and conditions and make sure you understand the terms, particularly those concerning funding availability and reimbursement.
2. Award Performance
- Performance should continue as long as funding is available, unless a stop-work order or official agency communication has been issued.
- Please continue to follow all stop-work orders and project-specific sponsor notices and directives.
- For active federal awards, OSP has been reaching out to PIs directly to provide additional
information and discuss project impacts.
- Unlike with a stop work order, receiving an agency memo does not necessarily mean that your project is impacted.
- Temporary Restraining Orders, even if your project is implicated all work may continue as normal. UPDATE: Per the
- If you reach out to your sponsor for clarification, please be patient given the pace of the changes.
3. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)
- Temporary Restraining Orders, any implicated federal award with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities may continue to work on DEIA activities. UPDATE: Per the
- Expect that any DEI-related aspects will be removed from solicitations or not reviewed as part of the selection process.
4. Monitor budget balances:
- Keep a close watch on your budget balances to prevent deficits while waiting for future funding. Remember, anticipated funding is not guaranteed and depends on fund availability.
- Be sure that all billing and invoicing is current, including that of subrecipients.
- Anticipated future funding remains subject to availability of funds and should not be considered guaranteed. Researchers requesting preliminary projects and preliminary extensions should proceed with caution.
- UPDATE: Funds allocated for DEIA activities can continue being spent.
5. Travel
- Concerns that travel in some federal awards may be immediately suspended have significantly lessened.
- The NIH began hosting virtual study sections but some NIH-sponsored meetings may still be canceled. Other federally sponsored scientific meetings, study sections, and panels may also be affected. Please verify before traveling.
6. Submit reports and deliverables:
- Make it a priority to submit any technical reports or deliverables that are overdue or nearing their due date.
7. Stay updated on sponsor announcements:
- Stay alert for any updates from your award sponsors, and check the information below, regarding funding or compliance requirements.
- If you receive an agency memo, it does not necessarily mean that your specific project is in non-compliance with the executive orders.
8. Proposals
- Cayuse has confirmed that the Grants.gov submission service is still operational. Please contine preparing and submitting applications to any posted opportunities.
- Exercise discretion when pursing new federal opportunities, as submission dates may change, or the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) could be withdrawn and revised.
FEDERAL AGENCY SPECIFIC UPDATES & GUIDELINES
UPDATE: Per the January 31, 2025, Temporary Restraining Order, any implicated federal award may continue to work as normal unless instructed not to via a stop work order. Given the complexity of the executive actions and orders, researchers may wish to proceed with caution and defer starting new activities until there is more clarity especially if the work is closely related to impacted activities (DEIA, environmental justice, gender ideology, etc.). If you receive project-specific sponsor directives or stop-work orders, please bring them to the attention of your OSP officer.
Cease DEI Activities on CDC Awards
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a January 29, 2025notification requiring DEI Activities cease on CDC Awards.
According to the letter the University must :
Immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award. Any vestige, remnant or renamed piece of any DEI programs funded by the U.S. government under this award are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated.
No additional costs must be incurred that would be used to support any DEI programs, personnel, or activities.
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Cease Gender Ideology Activities on CDC Awards
The CDC has issued a letter, received January 31, 2025, immediately terminating award activities that "promote or inculcate gender ideology".
The USDA has issued a January 21, 2025memorandum to all agency and office heads placing a moratorium on the obligation of funds through grants, cooperative agreements,
and contracts.
According to the memo:
In order to ensure that grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts entered into on January 21,
2025, and thereafter conform to all applicable laws and policies of the new Administration, a short-
term moratorium on the execution of such documents is effective immediately. In addition, no
action shall be taken to issue new requests for proposals and no notices of funding availability shall
be issued.Actions that will be taken regarding grants, cooperative agreements and contracts submitted to
your agency or office for execution are temporarily suspended in order for the Office of Budget and
Program Analysis and the Office of the General Counsel to determine if the agency may refrain from
execution of the document without incurring any liability.
The January 23, 2025NIFA Notice states that all NIFA Requests for Applications and Funding Opportunities are under review.
The DOD has issued a January 28, 2025 Release Department of Defense Statement Clarifying Defense Contracting.
The DOD has stated they will "expeditiously analyze [their] financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President's executive orders."
The DOE has issued a January 27, 2025Memorandum for all DOE Funding Agreements or Awards and a follow-up January 31, 2025 letter suspending the following activities in all sponsored projects:
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and activities involving or relating to DEI objectives and principles; and
- Community Benefits Plans (CBP);
- Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plans; and
- Justice40 Requirements, conditions, or principles
Per the memo, "Recipients who have DEI and CBP activities in their awards will be contacted by their Grants Officer to initiate award modifications consistent with this Order."
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On January 20, 2025, the DOE issued guidance indicating that, until further notice, there will be delays in any funding actions.
We recommend closely monitoring your project’s budget to ensure that work aligns with available funds.
NETL has issued a January 28, 2025Memorandum for all DOE Funding Agreements or Awards suspending the following activities in all sponsored projects:
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and activities involving or relating to DEI objectives and principles; and
- Community Benefits Plans (CBP); and
- Justice40 Requirements, conditions, or principles
Per the memo, "Recipients who have DEI and CBP activities in their awards will be contacted by their Grants Officer to initiate award modifications consistent with this Order."
The U.S. Department of State has issued the following NOTICE OF SUSPENSION for FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AWARDS:
NOTICE OF SUSPENSION
January 24, 2025
Dear Recipient:
The U.S. Department of State hereby notifies the recipient that all foreign assistance awards are immediately suspended. As of January 24, 2025, this award no longer effectuates agency priorities and is suspended in accordance with the U.S. Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions.
This suspension may be further codified through an amendment to the award reflecting the termination date, if appropriate.
Effective immediately upon receipt of this Notice of Suspension the Recipient must stop all work on the program and not incur any new costs after the effective date cited above. The Recipient must cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible.
Sincerely,
Wanda Howell
/obo Ruta Chagnon
Grants Officer
Recipients of these foreign assistance awards should immediately follow the Stop Work Orders Procedure.
NASA has issued a February 6, 2025 Memorandum for NASA Contractor and Grantee Community re: "Gender Ideology".
Per the memo, NASA will be discussing necessary contract or grant modifications required to comply. If researchers are asked to remove gender ideology activities as it pertains to their contract or grant requirement, please share this information with OSP.
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NASA has issued a January 23, 2025Memorandum re: Initial Guidance Regarding Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility (DEIA) Executive Orders terminating all DEIA activities required of their contracts or grants.
This include, but is not limited to, the following activities:
- DEIA plan requirements, training, reporting, considerations for staffing or any other direct or indirect activity
PIs who have these requirements/activities in thier awards should actively engage their Contracting Officer or Grants Officer re: the removal of DEIA activities.
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NASA has also issued Amendment 109: Removing DEIA Requirements from ROSES-2024.
NASA is "in the process of amending open Program Elements in Roses-2024 to end the Inclusion Plan Pilot Study, remove requirements for Inclusion Plans and the evaluation factors associated with them, and adjust the content of some other Program Elements to remove references to NASA's DEIA programs."
Program elements that have already received proposals will not be amended, but if they required Inclusion Plans, those plans will not be reviewed and will not impact the selection of proposals.
As of February 4, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has removed the ability to request 1st time automatic no-cost extensions.
Since each project is unique, we encourage you to reach out to your Senior Leadership or OSP Officer for guidance and next steps. The eRA Commons prior approval module may still be available for 2nd and 3rd NCEs. At this point, OSP expects all NCE requests to receive higher levels of scrutiny.
This makes federal (and federal flow-through) preliminary extensions more precarious than in the past, and as we continue to note in the recommendations at the top of the page “preliminary extensions should proceed with caution”.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued the following January 28, 2025 MESSAGE to the NSF PI Community:
MESSAGE to the NSF PI Community,
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-25-13, issued on January 27, 2025, directs all Federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of their financial assistance programs to determine programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by the recent Executive Orders. Therefore, all review panels, new awards, and all payments of funds under open awards will be paused as the agency conducts the required reviews and analysis.
NSF has created an Executive Order Implementation webpage to ensure the widest dissemination of information and updates. We will continue to communicate with you as we receive additional guidance.
All NSF grantees must comply with these Executive Orders, and any other relevant Executive Orders issued, by ceasing all non-compliant grant and award activities. Executive Orders are posted at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/. In particular, this may include, but is not limited to conferences, trainings, workshops, considerations for staffing and participant selection, and any other grant activity that uses or promotes the use of DEIA principles and frameworks or violates Federal anti-discrimination laws. Please work with your institutional research office to assist you in complying with the Executive Orders. You can also direct your questions through the form on this NSF webpage.
Thank you for your work advancing science, engineering, technology and innovation for our nation.
Sethuraman Panchanathan
Director
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On January 28, 2025, NSF released a statement that, "all review panels, new awards, and all payments
of funds under open awards will be paused as the agency conducts the required reviews
and analysis" outlined by the OMB memo. They have also created an executive order implementation webpage for information and updates.
For questions or feedback, please contact:
Brent Brown
Director, Office of Sponsored Projects
801-581-3003
brent.brown@osp.utah.edu
Todd Bjorklund
Associate Director, Office of Sponsored Projects
801-585-6946
todd.bjorklund@osp.utah.edu
VPR Office Hours: Friday Research Administration Q&A
The Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) is hosting weekly Q&A sessions each Friday in February via Zoom.
Date: Friday, February 7, 14, 21 & 28, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm MT
zoom link
VPR Town Hall: Federal Funding Updates & Research Strategy Visioning Meeting
On Tuesday, February 11th, the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) invites all faculty, staff, post-docs, and students to a visioning meeting via Zoom to discuss opportunities where we can advance critical technologies and science to support our national security.
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm MT
Information & Registration
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Resources
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
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Executive Order: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
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Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
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Undocumented People
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Executive Order: Protecting the American People Against Invasion
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