Author: Paul Hudobenko

Sponsored Program Guidance during the Partial Federal Government Shutdown

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Updated: 12/27/2018 with additional agency specific guidance and information.

Effective Saturday, December 22nd at 12:00am, appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for approximately 25% of the federal government expired. Agencies who have full appropriations and are not currently impacted by the partial shutdown include Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services (including NIH). Agencies that are impacted by the partial shutdown include the National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Department of State, Department of Justice and NASA.

Interim guidance for agencies impacted by the partial shutdown is provided below. Additional guidance will be provided if the shutdown persists. If you have specific questions about a proposal or award, please contact Sponsored Program Services.

Proposals

  • If the electronic system for submission is operating, the proposal should be submitted by the deadline in the solicitation in accordance with standard practice.
  • If the electronic system for submission is not operational or offline, the proposal will not be submitted until further guidance is received from the federal sponsor. To be safe, SPS recommends that you prepare your proposal for submission as best you can by the published deadline, even if it cannot be submitted.
  • Currently Grants.gov and FastLane (NSF submissions) is available and operational.

Award Management

  • Current funded awards may continue regular activities and incur normal expenses (exception: NSF payments systems are not operational – contingency plans will need to be further discussed if the shutdown persists longer than a couple weeks).
  • Contact SPS prior to charging any major or capital expenses.
  • UConn may not receive new awards during the shutdown.
  • Sponsor required prior approval requests (i.e. No Cost Extension requests) may not be approved during the shutdown.
  • Please contact SPS with specific questions about your award.

 

Agency Specific Guidance during the Shutdown

NSF

https://www.nsf.gov/shutdown/grantees.jsp

  • No new funding opportunities will be issued.
  • FastLane and Research.gov is available for most functions but NSF will not process proposals or prior approval requests until normal operations resume.
  • Annual and final project reports should be submitted by the due date however they will not be processed and continuing grant increments will not be issued.
  • No new grants or cooperative agreements will be awarded.
  • No prior approvals and no payments will be made during the shutdown.

 

Additional Agency Specific Guidance and Information

UPDATE: Partial Federal Government Shutdown, 12/27/18

NASA

If your grant or cooperative agreement requires access to a NASA facility or participation from NASA personnel in order to perform the instrument’s stated research objectives, the guidance in paragraph (a) below is applicable.  If your grant or cooperative agreement does not require access to a NASA facility or participation of NASA personnel in order to perform the instrument’s stated research objectives, the guidance in paragraph (b) below is applicable.

 

    1. To the extent the grant or cooperative agreement includes work performed on-site at a NASA facility, the NASA facility will not be available for the performance of such work beginning on December 26, 2018.  You are instructed to commence an orderly shut-down of your onsite operations and you are to preserve resources and take all actions necessary to minimize costs incurred under the subject grant or cooperative agreement during this Government shutdown.  This includes notifying your employees immediately of this orderly shutdown. Contact Sponsored Program Services immediately if this applies to your award.

 

  1. Since your grant or cooperative agreement does not require access to a NASA installation, access to NASA IT resources and data, or participation of NASA personnel in order to perform the instrument’s stated research objectives, you are to continue to perform research under your grant or cooperative agreement as long you have available funding.  Special Condition 1260.53 Incremental Funding (for awards subject to 14 CFR Part 1260) or Term and Condition 1800.921 Incremental Funding (for awards subject to 2 CFR Part 1800) of your grant or cooperative agreement specifies the total amount of funding that has been allotted to your grant or cooperative agreement.  You are also reminded the Agency is not obligated to reimburse your institution for the expenditure of amounts in excess of the total funds allotted to this grant or cooperative agreement. Your institution is not authorized to continue performance beyond that period covered by the allotted funding and is cautioned to closely manage all available funding, as additional funding will not be provided while the Agency is without appropriations.  Any research performed during this time period should be carefully planned, taking into account that NASA technical and administrative personnel will not be available to support these activities during the Government shutdown. Expenses and work should not exceed the funding and time of the award even if additional funding and time is expected. Contact Sponsored Program Services if you have additional questions.

 

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

NEH is currently shut down. We expect that grant proposals may still be submitted via Grants.gov but per their website, NEH will not update information, process transactions or respond to inquiries until funding is resumed. We also do not expect NEH to issue awards during this period.

 

Department of Commerce

https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2018/12/shutdown-due-lapse-congressional-appropriations

The Department of Commerce includes the following bureaus which are all impacted by the partial shutdown (UConn Storrs and Regional Campuses has funding from agencies that are listed in bold):

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
U.S. Census Bureau
Economic Development Administration (EDA)
Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA)
International Trade Administration (ITA)
Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

The following services and activities will not be available during a lapse except to the extent funded by other than current annual appropriations:

  • Most research activities at NIST and NOAA (excluding real-time regular models on research computers used for hurricane and FAA flight planning)
  • Assistance and support to recipients of grant funding
  • Technical oversight of non-mission essential contracts
  • Services and activities provided by:
    • Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
    • Economic Development Administration (EDA)
    • Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA)
    • Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
    • U.S. Census Bureau with the exception of the support of the Decennial Census, which remains funded and activities funded by other agencies and non-Federal entities through reimbursable agreements.
  • Most services and activities provided by the International Trade Administration (ITA)

Additionally, electronic systems utilized by the Department of may not be functional (Grants Online which supports EDA and NOAA is not currently functioning).

 

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

NEA is currently shut down. We expect that grant proposals may still be submitted via Grants.gov but per their website, NEH will not post messages or respond. We also do not expect NEH to issue awards during this period.

 

Department of Transportation

No cooperative agreements, contracts, purchase orders, travel authorizations, or other documents obligating funds will be executed by the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration

 

USDA – NIFA

NIFA program activities will be suspended during a shutdown. The scope of the activities includes all NIFA extramural funding programs supporting research, education, extension or a combination of two or more of these functions. This includes agency activities associated with competitively awarded, noncompetitive Federal financial assistance payments, capacity and infrastructure, endowment, and all other NIFA grant programs.

 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

As a general rule, recipients of funded grants and cooperative agreements can continue work on their projects during any EPA shutdown. Grant recipients currently approved to utilize the Automated Standard Application Payment (ASAP) system may make drawdowns of authorized obligated levels during a shutdown. With the exception of grant recipients using ASAP, in the case of government shutdown no payment processing will be available for cost reimbursable or recipients with special award terms and conditions requiring EPA approval prior to payment disbursement (either by paper check, drawdown, or by ACT payment outside to the ASAP system). EPA staff will not be available to make payments until the shutdown ends. Recipients must stop work if they reach a point at which they require EPA involvement or approval.