New Administration
Federal Funding Updates

  Updates

 2/2/2025

 1/29/2025

1/28/2025

 1/23/2025

President Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025 and since then, the new administration has issued a number of Executive Orders that indicate a shift in previous federal funding priorities. As a result of these changes, your awarded projects and those awaiting funding from federal agencies and sponsors may be impacted.

As federal agencies and sponsors pivot and adapt to these significant developments, the Office of Research Services (ORS) will continue to provide guidance, updates and information to relevant and important resources to help our researches and staff successfully navigate this uncharted funding landscape.

As UH faculty and staff, if you are in receipt of any kind of stop-work order or related notice from a federal sponsor, please immediately forward the email to Victoria Rivera, Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Compliance at riveravg@hawaii.edu.

  Proposals

  • ORS will continue to submit proposals.
  • While federal agencies navigate any pauses in funding in specific areas, sponsor proposal review timelines may be extended.

How to Prepare:

  • Changes to proposal deadlines may occur. Please double check deadlines.
  • Make sure that funding announcements have not been changed or postponed. If available, signing up for alerts from the agency or sponsor is highly recommended.

  Awards

  • Changes to research compliance requirements are anticipated. The update may be implemented by the federal agency/sponsor or may require an amendment on a project-by-project basis. Any information will be shared with the PI. It is important to quickly ensure compliance, as it could jeopardize funding.
  • Changes to award reporting requirements are anticipated, either directly by the federal agency/sponsor or may require an amendment on a project-by-project basis. Failure to act promptly could jeopardize funding.
  • If specific programs are terminated or restructured, PIs may encounter difficulties accessing funds or meeting new criteria. Typically, federal agencies managing these programs will issue guidance on how to proceed.
  • If a program or initiative is reduced or defunded, there could be delays or pauses in payments for existing grants under those programs. While this is rare, it may occur if funding for a program is rescinded or redirected.
  • If specific programs are terminated or restructured, you may encounter difficulties accessing funds or meeting new criteria. Federal agencies managing these programs will typically issue guidance on how to proceed. We will pass this along promptly if/when received.

How to Prepare:

  • Review the Award Agreement. Ensure the terms are understood, especially clauses related to funding availability and reimbursement.
  • Closely monitor obligated budget balances to avoid deficits while awaiting future obligations. Anticipated future funding remains subject to availability of funds and should not be considered guaranteed.
  • Maintain communication as appropriate with the federal sponsor’s program officer and forward any important information to ORS.
  • Reports and Deliverables. Prioritize the submission of any technical reports or deliverables that may be past due.
  • Monitor Policy Updates. Look out for announcements from the federal agency overseeing your grant for any updates on funding or compliance requirements.

  Preparation for Stop-Work Orders

  • ORS is working on a list of potential grants and contracts that may be impacted by these executive orders. If you believe your program(s) could potentially be impacted, please contact Victoria Rivera.
  • Programs with active federal contracts may continue work unless the Principal Investigator (PI)/Project Director (PD) or UH receives a stop-work order.
  • ORS accounting will continue to submit draw-down requests for prior expenses incurred on any existing federally-funded programs.
  • For federally-funded programs that could be potentially impacted, consider fiscal restraints such as pausing the hiring of new employees, as well as the purchase of equipment or other significant expenditures.
  • Carefully consider the submission of new requests to ORS for Advance Accounts, as they will be more closely scrutinized and assessed based on potential risk.
  • For UH projects that are potentially at risk, consider pausing the release of new subcontract agreements.
  • Should your program receive or anticipate a stop-work order, work with ORS on the possible issuance of a stop-work order to any outgoing subcontracts.
  • Federal sponsoring agencies may take other actions including but not limited to suspending the acceptance of new grant proposals and the issuance of new awards.
  • Plan to continue to meet progress report deadlines for existing federal programs.
  • If an award is near closeout, continue to submit final reports as required.

  Presidential Actions

  Federal Agency Updates & Guidance

As federal agencies issue official guidance and updates, additional sections will be added below.

Message to the NSF principal investigator community

Feb 2, 2025

Access to the Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) has been restored and the system is available to accept payment requests as of 12:00 PM ET on February 2, 2025. See the FAQs below for more information.

Jan. 29, 2025

Our top priority is resuming our funding actions and services to the research community and our stakeholders. We are working expeditiously to conduct a comprehensive review of our projects, programs and activities to be compliant with the existing executive orders.

We will continue to try and communicate with you as these changes are happening in real time.

All NSF grantees must comply with these executive orders, and any other relevant executive orders issued, by ceasing all non-compliant grant and award activities. Executive orders are posted at whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions. In particular, this may include, but is not limited to conferences, trainings, workshops, considerations for staffing and participant selection, and any other grant activity that uses or promotes the use of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) principles and frameworks or violates federal anti-discrimination laws.

Please work with your institutional research office to assist you in complying with the executive orders. You can also direct your questions through this webform. We are receiving a large volume of submissions, and we will not be able to respond individually. As we collect your questions, we will compile and post frequently asked questions (FAQs) on this page. Please check back regularly to access these FAQs.

Thank you for your work advancing science, engineering, technology and innovation for our nation.

  Impact Survey

Please share information about the impacts your program is experiencing due to the federal funding freeze enacted in January 2025.

  Impacts of 2025 Federal Funding Freeze Survey 

  Contact

For any questions regarding proposals, awards and stop orders, please contact:

Victoria Rivera
Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Compliance
Email: riveravg@hawaii.edu