Published May 19, 2025, via Research News
WashU continues to monitor federal actions impacting federally-funded research. The DOE, NSF and NIH have attempted to implement policies to cap indirect cost reimbursements for research grants at 15%. All are facing legal challenges which we continue to monitor along with numerous other pending lawsuits.
At this time, please adhere to the guidance listed below.
- If new or flow through awards are received with the 15% F&A rate, they will be placed on hold until the indirect cost rate is resolved.
- The university has paused Project Activation (PA) request approvals for:
- New Federal direct awards
- NIH Continuations with a foreign subaward
- FAR Contracts (JROC negotiated contracts)
- Federal Direct Contracts (JROC negotiated contracts)
- Subcontract Continuation out years (example: Year 1 is on PA and has expired, departments will not be able to place Year 2 on Project Activation).
- Reminder: Even if the NoA is received, WashU does not obtain money until the funds are spent and reimbursement is completed.
- NIH has temporarily disabled automatic No-Cost Extension (NCE) requests. At this time, all requests for NCEs must be submitted as a prior approval request in eRA Commons for NIH review and approval. See WashU’s NCE webpage for more guidance.
- NIH announced a restructuring of foreign subawards effective May 1, 2025.
- Summary of Updated NIH Policy on Foreign Subawards – Updated on 5/14/2025
- Please refer to the University definitions of subaward, vendor, and consultant if you are considering these changes to a foreign subaward.
- For existing NIH awards, spending on continuations will not be allowed on awards with foreign subawards until the NOA is received for the next increment of funding.
- Follow updated Guidance for Avoiding Misrepresentation in Grant Applications and RPPRs.
We recognize how disruptive these changes are to your research. We encourage you to visit the Federal Research Updates 2025 website for the most up-to-date guidance and resources as we navigate these changes.