Government Shutdown Guidance

KENNESAW, Ga. | Sept. 27, 2023

Situation

Funding appropriations for most federal agencies are anticipated to expire at midnight on September 30, 2023, unless a budget deal is entered into or a continuing resolution is established to extend the deadline.

If Congress does not pass new spending legislation before that, effective October 1st a government shutdown will occur, with agencies suspending most operations. In that case, federally funded project administration, distributions, and funding will be impacted.

Assessment

Each federal agency may handle a potential shutdown differently following their own contingency plans for identifying essential personnel. The Office of Research will continue to monitor agency guidance and distribute updates to the research community.

At this time, we recommend principal investigators continue working on their projects as usual and continue to adhere to proposal and reporting deadlines. It is possible that some or all projects may receive stop work requests in the future but this will be monitored closely.

If there are any urgent prior approvals required or a no cost extension required for projects ending in the next 60 days, we recommend working with your Post Award Grant Manager to get the necessary requests submitted.

Potential Impacts

It is too early to know the full impact of a government shutdown. Based on prior experiences, this is what the Office of Research anticipates:

Proposal Submissions: We expect that federal submission systems, such as Grants.gov, will be maintained so that grants may be submitted. Proposal deadlines should be followed as posted. It is unclear, at this time, if Help Desk systems will remain functional.

New Awards: New award notices and modifications will likely be delayed until after the shutdown is over. Peer reviews and study sections are not expected to occur during a shutdown which will delay reviews of pending applications. As always, it is important for all researchers to avoid spending funds if an award document has not been received and executed, as all expenditures must occur within the period of performance.

Routine Administration of Grants and Contracts: Access to program officers and grant managers at the agencies may be limited or cut off entirely until a shutdown ends.

Reports: Technical reports, financial reports, and other reports as required by the sponsor should still be submitted on or before the due date to remain in compliance with the terms of the agreements.

Availability of Funds: For most federal awards, it is possible that KSU may not be able to draw down or invoice for expenditures until the shutdown ends. We are working to identify ways to expedite drawdowns prior to an anticipated shutdown.

Agency Resources

General Agency Contingency Plans can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/agency-contingency-plans/

Additional links to be updated as released.