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SR News: May 5, 2025

Interim Guidance on Support for Research

On May 1, the Vice President for Research and Chief Financial Officer shared Interim Guidance on Support for Research, which includes procedures for allowable and unallowable costs for grants that are under a stop-work order, pending a notice of award for subsequent year funding (non-competitive renewal), and for which federal reimbursements have not been received. (Currently, this includes all awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)).

As a result of this guidance, Sponsored Research has extended awards pending a notice of award for subsequent year funding with a budget end date through 4/30/25. These projects will be extended through 8/31/25.  If the NOA had already been received and questions were pending with the department, award end dates will not be extended until the issues are resolved. At risk requests should not be submitted. While the “Interim Guidance” process is in place, SR will continue to extend awards pending continuation funding near month end.

Questions can be sent to SponsoredResearch@northwestern.edu.

NSF 15% Indirect Cost Rate Announcement

On May 2 the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that effective May 5, 2025, an indirect cost rate of 15% will be applied to all new awards made on or after May 5. For now, budgets should still be prepared using the University's currently negotiated (full) F&A rate. Sponsored Research is closely monitoring this situation and will provide updated guidance as it becomes available. If you have an NSF proposal with a hard deadline before May 15, 2025, please contact Cathy Barrera at c-barrera@northwestern.edu.

New Subrecipient Commitment Forms Now Available

Subrecipient commitment forms / LOIs have been revised to include required research security and malign foreign talent certifications. These LOIs are available on the Sponsored Research website and should be used from this point forth for both incoming and outgoing subaward packages:

NIH Notices on Foreign Collaborations

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently posted two (2) notices related to foreign collaborations the community should be aware of:

  • NOT-OD-25-098: Reminder for all applications when the project involves activities outside of the United States or partnerships with international collaborators, a “Foreign Justification” must be attached in Field 12, Other Attachments. Applications that do not include this attachment will be withdrawn and will not be reviewed.
  • NOT-OD-25-104: NIH is developing a new award structure for foreign subawards and anticipates it will be ready by September 20, 2025. “Effective with the date of this notice and until the details of the new foreign collaboration award structure are released, NIH will not issue awards to domestic or foreign entities (new, renewal or non-competing continuation), that include a subaward to a foreign entity. Additionally, NIH will no longer accept prior approval requests to add a new foreign component or subaward to an ongoing project. In all cases, NIH will allow Institutes, Centers and Offices (ICOs) to renegotiate awards, whether new, renewal or non-competing, to remove subawards to foreign entities and, where the work can be performed domestically, allow the funds to be rebudgeted for use by the prime recipient (domestic or foreign) or a domestic subrecipient. If a project is no longer viable without the foreign subaward, NIH will work with the recipient to negotiate a bilateral termination of the project, taking into consideration any need to support patient safety and/or animal welfare.”

At this time, you should continue to include planned foreign subrecipients in outgoing proposals. SR is evaluating this notice and developing a process to address requests to modify foreign subcontracts. More information will be forthcoming. If a request is received in the meantime, please reach out to SponsoredResearch@northwestern.edu.

(Reminder) Federal Transition Q&A (May 12)

On Monday, May 12, 11:00am, Sponsored Research will partner with Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs, to host a webinar for the Northwestern community addressing questions related to the federal transition and impacts to research administration. Cathy Barrera (SR) and LaShawnda Hall (ASRSP) will host. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions in advance via this form.

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