Tracking Federal Updates Under the New Administration

 

Campus Updates

February 8, 2025 - Update

Dear colleagues, 

I’m reaching out to provide you with our latest guidance on the federal transition as it pertains to the UI research community.  

As you may have seen, NIH released new guidance regarding indirect rates on grants.

Overall, the federal transition continues to be a rapidly changing environment. We continue to work closely with our partners including AAU and APLU to monitor and interpret the latest updates and communicate with impacted investigators.  

We are actively engaging with our federal delegation as well to ensure they understand the profound impact this change would have on research at the University of Iowa. 

If you have project-specific questions, or receive communication directly from a federal agency, please continue to communicate with the Division of Sponsored Programs at dsp@uiowa.edu.  

 

Lois Geist 
Interim Vice President for Research

February 7, 2025 - Campus Announcement

Federal Transition Updates

 

Dear colleagues, 

I’m reaching out to provide you with our latest guidance on the federal transition as it pertains to the UI research community.  

As was reported in Science earlier this week, the NIH has begun hosting virtual study sections, including panels that include UI investigators. We are encouraged that this core function of the NIH funding programs is moving forward. 

Overall, the federal transition continues to be a rapidly changing environment. We are working closely with our partners to monitor and interpret the latest updates and communicate with impacted investigators.  

For the majority of our campus, researchers may continue work on their federal projects unless they are instructed not to by a federal agency (e.g. a stop work order).  

However, given the complexity of the Executive Orders and agency memos received this week, and their implementation, researchers and departments may wish to exert extra caution and defer starting new activities until we have more clarity. This is particularly true if the subject matter is closely related to impacted activities under one or more of the Executive Orders (DEI, gender ideology, etc). As we learn more, we may be in a better position to determine next steps. 

If you have project-specific questions, or receive communication directly from a federal agency, please continue to communicate with the Division of Sponsored Programs at dsp@uiowa.edu.  

We will continue to post updates, including this message, to our website Federal Updates 2025.   

Thank you for your continued patience. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at any time with questions. 

Lois Geist 
Interim Vice President for Research

January 31, 2025 - Campus Announcement (Updated Feb. 3)

Update – Feb 3: The UI received a Notice of Court Order effective immediately, that states “Federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the OMB Memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders... Agencies may exercise their own authority to pause awards or obligations, provided agencies do so purely based on their own discretion—not as a result of the OMB Memo or the President’s Executive Orders—and provided the pause complies with all notice and procedural requirements in the award, agreement, or other instrument relating to such a pause.” 

We are awaiting further guidance from agencies. Our recommendation for campus remains the same; researchers should continue work on their federal projects unless they are instructed not to by a federal agency (e.g. a stop work order). 

Federal Transition Updates

January 31, 2025

Dear colleagues, 

Thank you for your continued patience as we navigate a fast-changing federal landscape.  

In the coming days and weeks, we expect the White House and federal agencies to offer updated guidance about specific project components that are impacted by executive orders. We are linking to the most recent list of federal communications on our website, and are forwarding agency memos to funded investigators. Please note that if you receive an agency memo, it does not necessarily mean that your specific project is in non-compliance with the executive orders. In only a few cases, we have received stop work orders and have communicated those orders to impacted investigators. Compliance with the agency directives is mandatory. 

Our guidance for campus remains the same. Researchers may continue to conduct the research and scholarship funded by our federal agencies unless we are instructed to do otherwise. For the majority of our campus, research projects are continuing as usual. 

To have access to the best information we can provide, please visit the website Federal Updates 2025. The website includes new guidance for investigators who have questions for agency officials.  

If you have project-specific questions, or receive communication directly from a federal agency, please continue to communicate with the Division of Sponsored Programs at dsp@uiowa.edu. If you have specific questions about interpreting agency memos, please reach out to DSP or the Office of General Counsel at general-counsel@uiowa.edu or 319-335-3696.  

Thank you, 

Lois Geist 
Interim Vice President for Research 

January 29, 2025 - Campus Announcement (Updated 12:45pm)

Update – 12:45pm: OMB 25-13 was rescinded by the Office of Management and Budget after this message was distributed to campus. Our guidance for campus remains the same; researchers should continue work on their federal projects unless they have already been instructed not to by a federal agency. We will continue to monitor agency communications that impact federally-funded research, and will communicate with campus and investigators who are directly impacted by federal orders.

Federal transition updates 

January 29, 2025 - 9:00am

The university is continuing to collaborate with our partners to carefully track and ascertain the implications of a number of memos, agency directives, and executive orders that may have impacts for the research enterprise. As you may already be aware, a federal judge temporarily blocked the federal pauses outlined in OMB 25-13 yesterday afternoon. The judge’s order expires at 5:00pm on Feb. 3.

Earlier yesterday, the OMB also issued a Q&A which clarifies the scope of the OMB 25-13 memo. Any program not implicated by the President’s Executive Orders will not be subject to the pause. Financial aid is also not impacted. 

We understand that the uncertainties regarding recent directives have created a considerable amount of concern within our research community about current and future funding. My office is working closely with the Division of Sponsored Programs to communicate with investigators who are directly impacted by recent agency communications. We are in the process of reviewing the details of specific projects to determine which employees may be impacted and to what extent.

At this time, researchers may continue to conduct the research and scholarship funded by our federal agencies unless we are instructed to do otherwise.

We are committed to forging a path forward that includes working with stakeholders and listening to the research community. If you receive direct communication from a federal agency, please forward it to dsp@uiowa.edu, so that we can continue to track the impacts to our research enterprise.

We have launched a new website, Federal Updates 2025, where we will post regular updates and link to resources for the community. We will be in touch as soon as we have more clarity from the federal agencies about the impacts of recent directives.

Lois J. Geist 
Interim Vice President for Research
 

January 27, 2025 – OVPR Newsletter announcement

The university is continuing to monitor communications from federal agencies that may impact UI research, including the freeze at the National Institutes of Health. At this time, the freeze is set to lift after Feb. 1. We ask that researchers and administrators share all agency communications related to their sponsored projects with the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) at dsp@uiowa.edu. We will communicate important updates to campus as they become available.

January 23, 2025 – Campus Announcement

The university is aware that several federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, have paused some activities that may impact federally-funded research at the University of Iowa. 

Our UI teams (Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of Federal Relations, Collegiate Associate Deans for Research) are actively monitoring federal agency communications and are working with our professional associations to understand and track the implications of these directives. We will provide updates to campus via our website as soon as they become available.

In the meantime, we ask that researchers and administrators share all agency communications related to their sponsored projects with the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) at dsp@uiowa.edu.  

Lois J. Geist
Interim Vice President for Research

Information for Researchers

Proposals

Timelines for federal proposal reviews may be extended due to pauses on agency activities. We recommend that investigators check agency websites for updates to deadlines and changes to the proposal requirements or guidelines. 

The Division of Sponsored Programs will continue to submit to federal agency submission systems as they are available.

Awards

Many agencies have indicated that work on existing awards may continue as long as obligated funds are available. Please forward any agency communications related to sponsored projects, including information about continued funding, extensions, or potential stop work orders, to the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) at dsp@uiowa.eduCompliance with agency directives is required.

Agency questions

Given the pace of the changes in federal funding rules this week, many Program Officers (POs) are awaiting guidance from their agencies, and may not have full answers available. We also anticipate that in the coming weeks, agencies will have more direct guidance available that will clarify the scope of the changes.  

Some agencies have set up webforms to ask questions about the new orders. We suggest that you be strategic about communications with your PO while we wait for more specific guidance from the agencies. If you choose to communicate with your PO now about your grant or contract, please consider the following:   

  1. Respect their time – have specific questions prepared  

  2. Review your grant or contract agreement before the meeting  

  3. Be calm and factual in your questions and communications  

Federal Policy Updates

COGR – 2025 Administration Transition Information & Resources
COGR's website contains a comprehensive list of Executive Orders, Department/Agency Directives and Memos and relevant news articles for the research community. 

White House Presidential Actions

Overview of Executive Orders - Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (February 6, 2025)

Key Executive Actions and Directives – Association of American Universities (January 24, 2025) 

NASA Memo: Initial Guidance Regarding Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government Executive Order (February 6, 2025)

Questions?

Please contact vpr-office@uiowa.edu or dsp@uiowa.edu