The Division of Research, including Sponsored Research Services, in collaboration with our System Members is closely monitoring developments in Washington, D.C. and evaluating the likelihood of a federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025. We have prepared the following information and guidance to assist the research community in case of a shutdown.
Proposals & Application Systems
Based on experience during previous government shutdowns, it is anticipated that proposal preparation systems will be available to accept proposal submissions. Proposals need to be submitted by the sponsor due date. The federal sponsors will not allow an extension of the deadline due to the shutdown, unless they have officially extended the deadline. It is expected that proposals will not be processed by sponsors until normal operations resume. However, it is also important to watch announcements from federal sponsors for extensions of deadline dates. There is a possibility that the Grants.gov Contact Center will remain available. However, it’s unclear if all Help Desk systems will remain functional.
Peer reviews/study sections are not expected to occur during the shutdown, which may impact faculty who are reviewers and cause potential delays for those whose proposals are awaiting review.
Award Management
Federal sponsors will not issue new awards or other actions during the shutdown. Most federal awards are issued on a cost reimbursable basis, meaning that the awardee spends the money and then receives reimbursement from the federal sponsor. During a government shutdown it is not possible to draw funds to receive reimbursement. Therefore, each System Member will need to determine availability of interim funding if a shutdown occurs. It is imperative that outstanding expenses are posted to the project so that a draw of funds from federal sponsors can take place just prior to the anticipated shutdown.
While each sponsor may articulate emergency contact procedures, as a rule, do not expect federal personnel to be available. Questions directed to contractual contacts, grant managers, and program managers will likely go unanswered until after the shutdown, and we expect delayed responses once normal operations resume.
Faculty working in federal labs/facilities and possibly on cooperative agreements and joint awards may be most immediately affected. They could receive notification that they are not permitted to work on associated awards during the shutdown.
Faculty working at a federal agency on an IPA agreement should contact the agency to determine next steps.
NSF postdoc fellows paid directly by NSF may not receive stipend payments.
Stop Work orders may be implemented, in which case those employees paid from the award can no longer be paid with federal funds.
Regarding awards that have already closed and are in the 120-day closeout period, final closeout procedures may not be able to be processed by the federal sponsor. PIs may consider submitting final deliverables prior to the anticipated shutdown date to be compliant with terms of the award.
If you have any questions, please contact your SRS administrator.