October 16, 2025

Government Shutdown Policy Updates

Office of the Vice President for Research Affairs


Announcements


NIH Guidance for Researchers

The NIH has posted “Information for the NIH Extramural Community During the Lapse of Federal Government Funding” on the website: NOT-OD-26-004: Information for the NIH Extramural Community During the Lapse of Federal Government Funding.

Important takeaways include:

  • “For awards received prior to the lapse in funding, you may be able to continue drawing funds from prior awards during an appropriations lapse.  HHS’s Payment Management System will remain operational to continue processing those drawdown requests. The robust internal controls that currently exist will continue to ensure the integrity of grant drawdown requests and payments.  Please note, if you received your notice of grant award with restrictive terms and conditions, or if your drawdown request triggers one of the Payment Management System edit checks and/or the drawdown limit controls, you may not be able to drawdown funds.”
  • “For the duration of the funding lapse, the NIH will not be able to conduct initial peer review meetings – whether in-person or through teleconferences or other electronic media. Also, during this time, the NIH staff will not be able to send or receive email messages or update website information.”
  • “For any annual or final RPPRs due during the funding lapse, eRA Commons will be available.  Users must submit reports on time, and NIH staff will review reports after operations resume.”

Research Conflict of Interest Policy Updates

Due to a lapse in government funding, the Protocol Registration and Results Submission (PRS) website has currently limited the registration of new studies to applicable clinical trials (ACTs). ACTs are drug or device trials which are overseen by the FDA. All other types of studies (e.g. investigator-initiated, observational, etc.) are not currently being accepted for registration by ClinicalTrials.gov.

In addition, while investigators still can make updates to all types of study records on PRS, these updates may not be eligible for release unless these are ACT study records. You may receive an error message if you attempt to release an update on a non-ACT study.

Currently, it is uncertain when PRS will permanently return to full functioning. The website status changes often.

Because ICMJE policy requires prospective registration of studies as a prerequisite for publication, it is recommended that PIs wishing to publish results for non-ACTs keep a record of their attempts at registration during the lapse in funding. ICMJE has stated that their editors have discretion when considering exceptions to the policy. PIs may want to consider taking screenshots of any error messages they receive when attempting to register their non-ACT studies and submit this documentation for editorial consideration when submitting their manuscripts.

Please contact Jerri Mendivel, Research Compliance Manager, with any questions you may have regarding this announcement at:

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