Pm Pct/ 1 NIH released an important announcement regarding the Federal Shutdown and proposal submissions.  The announcement contains this language:  “The safest course is to wait to submit any application to NIH until after operations resume and a Notice in the NIH Guide concerning adjusted submission dates is posted.”

It might be useful to consider the following information as well:

•  RSP will not be able to determine if there are any errors in a proposal submission because there is no access to the NIH Commons.
• There is no way to determine if your proposal was received at the Commons.
•  It is not possible to reach NIH staff for any assistance.
• We encourage all PIs to continue completing your applications.  We have no information about a new deadline or how much time will be available once the government re-opens.
• You can continue to work on your application in Cayuse, as it is not a federally-supported software product.

• At this point, you can submit your proposal to the Dean’s Office or to RSP for submission to NIH once the shutdown is over or new submission guidance is provided by NIH.

I’m sure you are concerned about proposals planned for the deadline on October 5 and also on October 15.  You will find current information on all the Federal agencies at https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/shutdown.html.  That site is updated as soon as we receive new information.

The NIH Announcement, NOT-OD-13-126, is located at https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/shutdown/NIHshutdown.html . The section on proposal submission is excerpted below:

SUBMISSION OF GRANT APPLICATIONS

For the duration of the funding lapse, applicants are strongly encouraged not to submit paper or electronic grant applications to NIH during the period of the lapse.  Adjustments to application submission dates that occur during the funding lapse will be announced once operations resume.  For any applications submitted immediately prior to or during the funding lapse, here is what will happen.

1. For electronic submissions through Grants.gov: Grants.gov will be open and can accept electronic applications.  However, applications will not be processed by NIH until the eRA Systems are back on-line.  NIH will ensure that all applications submitted within the two business days before or during the funding lapse will receive the full viewing window once the systems are back on-line.
2. For electronic submission of multi-project applications through NIH’s ASSIST system: The ASISST system will not be available until NIH systems are back on-line.
3. Paper Submissions: Staff will not be available to receive paper applications during a funding lapse.

The safest course is to wait to submit any application to NIH until after operations resume and a Notice in the NIH Guide concerning adjusted submission dates is posted.

Kim Moreland, Assoc.
Vice Chancellor for Research Administration
Director, Research and Sponsored Programs
kmoreland@rsp.wisc.edu