Federal Executive Orders Updates

Dear Colleague,

The West Virginia University Research Office would like to make you aware of some recent litigation regarding Executive Orders that might affect your DEI and gender-related aspects of grant activities.

DEI: On Friday, March 14, the Fourth Circuit granted the Government's Motion to Stay the Preliminary Injunction, meaning that DEI- and equity-related activities are paused once again. Some agencies have sent additional guidance, please forward any notification or directives that you receive from your sponsors to OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu.

Gender Ideology: Consistent with Executive Order 14168, federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology. This restriction is separate from the DEI- and equity-related executive orders.

Regards,
The WVU Research Office

Latest News on the potential of a Federal Shutdown

As of March 12, none of the FY 2025 appropriations bills have been signed into law. Without passage of a new continuing resolution or negotiated final bill/s by midnight Friday, March 14, a majority of the federal government will shut down until a resolution is reached by Congress. We will continue to share guidance with you as we receive updates.

Research Impact

We expect little to no immediate impact on research funding. Funds that are already awarded would likely not be affected. However, during a shutdown, agencies not currently funded will most likely not be able to issue new contracts or grants or renew existing projects.

General Expectations

• Generally speaking, a government shutdown will have little to no immediate impact on the ability of in-place federally funded research to continue, though the University will not be able to receive reimbursement. Absent notification to the contrary, researchers may presume that they can proceed as normal. However, it may be prudent to reduce expenses to the extent practical without significantly impacting the research.
• Agencies will be prohibited from issuing new grants/contracts or amendments, including those for continued funding increments, supplements, or no cost time extensions requiring explicit prior Federal awarding agency approval.
• Most agencies’ staff will not be working. Inquiries about upcoming deadlines, proposal preparation and applications, or actions requiring prior approval will likely go unanswered until the shutdown is resolved.
• The proposal review process will be delayed.
• Grant payments will be stalled.
• Principal Investigators (PIs) should continue to meet all deadlines set forth in their awards and should be able to submit annual and final project reports and Project Outcomes Reports via Research.gov.
• Once the shutdown is lifted, there will still be delays as the federal government resumes its operations. Do not expect grants and contracts to be issued immediately after the shutdown ends.
• Research projects that will be most directly impacted are those with the closest ties to a federal agency or federal employees. For example: cooperative agreements with a federal research partner; students receiving direct stipends from the federal government under training grants; employees who are working on-site at a federal facility.
• Contingency planning should take into account what resources are available to projects requiring access to Federal Facilities/Staff: For cooperative agreements, the PI should perform this analysis prior to the shutdown in consultation with the federal program manager and departmental leadership. If the work cannot continue without access to federal facilities/staff, the department should determine if persons working under the agreement can be redirected to other work and/or fund sources.
• Stop Work Orders

Some federal contracts contain a clause that gives the federal agency sponsor the right to order WVU to stop performing work. If an agency exercises this right under a specified contract, WVU would not be reimbursed for expenses incurred between the effective date of the Stop Work Order and when the order is rescinded. Researchers should promptly forward any Stop Work Orders (SWOs) or other correspondence related to a shutdown to OSP. As opposed to the scenarios above, expenses incurred during a Stop Work period are generally NOT reimbursable, even when the government resumes normal operations. Thus, if a campus receives a SWO from a federal agency, they must immediately implement a series of steps to stop work on the project.

Should you have questions please email OSP_help@mail.wvu.edu

Dear members of the WVU research community,

We have a few updates to share.

• NIH: On March 5, a federal judge granted a nationwide preliminary injunction (PDF) blocking the implementation of the NIH’s Rate Change Notice. The Court’s action follows a nationwide temporary restraining order issued February 10, in response to the lawsuit filed by the Association of American Medical Colleges, as well as others. WVU is covered under this injunction and may continue to charge its applicable rates (PDF).

Study sections at the NIH have resumed as notices have started to appear in the Federal Register as required in advance of study sections.

• DEI: On Friday, February 21, a Maryland federal court issued a nationwide injunction preventing the enforcement of the termination provisions of Executive Orders 14151 and 14173 targeting equity-related grants. The Trump Administration immediately appealed the court’s preliminary injunction, so this is an evolving situation. In the interim, if you ceased DEI efforts under a blanket directive from an agency, you may now proceed with those activities. Any Principal Investigators who received project-specific, stop-work orders directly from a sponsor is advised to contact OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu. All PIs are advised to not make long term or significant financial commitments, such as planning conferences or hiring new personnel as rulings may be reversed on short notice.
• DOGE: Lastly, a new Executive Order issued on Feb. 26, the Implementing DOGE Cost Efficiency Initiative , directs federal agencies to take particular actions over the next 30 days. Since this was directed at agencies, there are no specific actions that WVU or that you need to take at this time, but we are sharing the essence of the order for informational purposes. Under this order, agencies are required to establish systems to identify and justify, in writing, every payment that they make. Additionally, each agency will review all contracts and grants and may terminate or modify agreements to reduce or reallocate overall spending, depending on their assessment. Furthermore, agencies are ordered to assess their current contracting policies and procedures. There is still much to learn about how each agency will respond and what the specific implications might be for WVU, but we expect to see delays in payments. We are actively working with the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU), our peer institutions and officials in Washington, D.C., to better understand the potential impact.

We are committed to keeping you informed as more details become available, and we will continue to share updates on our website.

For questions and guidance, please contact OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu.

Thank you for your continued adaptability in navigating these evolving circumstances.

Sincerely,

The WVU Research Office

Dear Colleagues,

Recent federal directives and policy changes are impacting research across the country. The following information is provided as overall best practice, but a few key points are specific to recent activity related to sponsored awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

We are asking that Principal Investigators or designees work with your chief business officers (CBO) and research administration teams to complete the following steps in planning and managing your sponsored research activity, keeping in mind, that much of the following guidance is always good practice.

1. Proposal Submissions

   Please continue to plan and prepare your sponsored research proposals based on the most recent solicitations and posted funding mechanisms available. Be sure to sign up for any sponsor’s listservs, so you can remain aware of any changes in real time.

   For proposals due to NIH after February 10, submit the budget with the existing rates and include the following statement in the budget justification: “West Virginia University and West Virginia University Research Corporation will comply with applicable law and guidance governing indirect cost rates upon award.”

   Should the 15% cap persist, we are already developing guidance in those instances and details will be shared at that time. It is prudent to prepare backup budget scenarios in case a 15% indirect cost cap remains.

2. Award Management

   We advise careful financial management of all award activities. Principal Investigators should focus on planned expenditures and work closely with your CBO to ensure that award expenditures are posted in a timely manner. CBOs should review the monthly financial reports shared with principal investigators and grant support teams in their unit. If you are not receiving monthly reports, please contact the Shared Services Center to request them.

   It is critical to review encumbrances in addition to expenditures and compare them to budget. Encumbrances are amounts earmarked to be spent on the award. They are not expensed until a financial transaction occurs. For example, a payroll is processed, or contracts or equipment invoices are approved AND received upon in our WVU Mountaineer Marketplace system. If an encumbrance balance remains but it should have been cleared to become an expenditure, please work with your CBO to update the process.

3. No-cost Extensions

   It is critical to manage your project with the expectation that the period of performance at the time of the award will not be modified. Please do not assume that a no-cost extension will be granted by the sponsor.

4. Facilities and administrative costs requests

   Please be advised that the University will not consider requests for reduced or waived facilities and administration costs.

5. Awards within six months of completion

   Financial Management and Sponsored Project Accounting will send a list of open awards with periods of performance that have expired or will expire within six months to your unit’s dean and CBO this week. These awards should be prioritized to ensure that all transactions are completed within the budget period. The Financial Management and Sponsored Project Accounting Team will continue to work to ensure that transactions are posted, and timely invoicing and sponsor payments continue to flow during the final months of the awards. Principal Investigators or designees need to ensure that transactions are posted appropriately and as expected.

The Research Office has launched this webpage to provide updates and information regarding recent federal executive orders. If you have questions, please contact OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu. For financial transaction reporting or billing support, please contact SharedServices@mail.wvu.edu.

We understand that research is central to West Virginia University’s mission and our collective goal is that we continue to positively serve our students, state, and society.

WVU Research Office Leadership Team

Dear Colleagues,

On Friday, Feb. 7, the National Institutes of Health issued an announcement indicating its intent to reduce indirect cost recovery to a flat 15% from any previously negotiated rates. This affects new grants, as well as existing grants effective today (Feb. 10).

For West Virginia University, we project an annual loss of approximately $12 million, which would seriously inhibit our ability to perform research.

While direct costs cover researcher salaries, student stipends, supplies and some equipment, indirect costs cover the University’s expenses for heat and air, building maintenance, chemical and radiation safety and disposal, library access, IT access, cybersecurity, human subjects and animal welfare support, centralized research facilities such as the Health Sciences Center Cores, the Shared Research Facilities and High-Performance Computing, among others. These funds also support the administration and oversight of awards to ensure that funds are spent appropriately and responsibly.

WVU does not profit from indirect costs. Costs of Federal Research infographic.

Our leadership team and government liaisons are working with others to seek reconsideration. All universities have indirect costs, and our nation’s research universities cannot operate without this support. We are also aware that indirect rates for other federal agencies might also change.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we understand the concern it may generate.

We want you to know that we are swiftly engaging in local, peer and national conversations. We will update you as we learn more and as we have guidance regarding how these decisions may affect facets of work across the WVU System.

The Research Office has launched a webpage to provide updates and information regarding recent federal executive orders. If you have urgent questions, please contact OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu.

Best regards,

The WVU Research Office Leadership Team

We know there is a great deal of confusion and concern about recent developments and the impact on federal awards. Today’s rescinding of OMB-25-13 should NOT be interpreted as a total reversal. Agencies are still under the obligations imposed by previous Executive Orders (EOs) and are required to evaluate their programs compliance with those EOs.

Your award is a contractual obligation between WVU and the funding agency, therefore WVU will act in response to agency directives and WVU is bound by the most recent agency directive.

If you have been issued a stop work order for your particular award, you must stop work and await further guidance from your agency. Do not assume it has been lifted by today’s news. Please share any such orders with OSP at OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu.

If you have not been sent a stop work order, proceed as usual with the following exception.

• DEIA activities––since agencies have provided blanket statements calling for the cessation of those activities––please honor those statements until directed otherwise.

WVU is in contact with many other universities who are all in uncharted territory, the above course of action is shared by most of our counterparts.

We are here to help as best we can. Please let us know if you have any questions and we’ll try our best to answer. You can reach us at OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu.

A message from Vice President for Research Fred King and Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Kreider

The Department of Health and Human Services has instituted a pause pending administrative review on public communications for HHS employees including grant announcements, press releases and publication of documents, to name a few.

West Virginia University is closely monitoring the situation and will provide any pertinent updates if it may affect research activities. For context, previous new federal administrations have issued similar directives during the transition process.

We believe this pause is temporary and anticipate activities could resume as soon as Feb. 1. Separately, HHS staff have been instructed to suspend all work-related travel immediately and indefinitely. There is some precedent for travel suspensions in past administrations.

For now, we encourage you to remain focused on the important work and research you are conducting. We will continue to be in touch with information as it becomes available. If you have questions or need assistance, please email OSP_Help@mail.wvu.edu or provost@mail.wvu.edu.