A message to the campus from Mike Malone and Andrew Mangels on 3/14/25
Dear Colleagues,
Our offices are carefully monitoring developments in Washington, DC, in anticipation of a possible government shutdown effective midnight tonight (Friday, March 14th). This shutdown, should it occur and continue into the work week, could have effects on Research & Administration activities across the university.
Similar to prior government shutdowns, researchers with active federally sponsored grants and contracts should continue to work unless instructed otherwise. Disruptions may occur if your grant involves significant involvement of federal employees, if it requires access to federal facilities, or if your contract contains a federal work order that gives the sponsor the right to order UMass to stop performing work. PIs may receive instructions from their program officers regarding work stoppage requirements; if you receive such information, please notify your school/college grants office, OPAM ([email protected]), and the VCRE office immediately ([email protected]).
The research projects and UMass employees who will be most directly impacted are those with the closest ties to a federal agency or federal employees. We anticipate that funding gaps could occur for UMass students or postdocs receiving direct stipends from the federal government. The department housing these individuals should evaluate locally available financial resources to determine how and whether these trainees can be paid from other fund sources. This assumes that such individuals can continue their work (i.e., that they have or do not need access to federal facilities/staff to do their work). Alternate fund sources could include unrestricted gift accounts or RTF. PIs and departments supporting these affected individuals can request temporary assistance from the newly announced ResCoE matching fund.
PIs should continue to meet all deadlines set forth in their awards and should be able to submit annual and final project reports. Unfortunately, start dates for newly awarded proposals (including grants and contracts where funds are disbursed annually throughout the lifetime of the grant) will likely be delayed.
At this time, we have not received sponsor-specific guidance on how a federal government shutdown may impact submission of new or competing renewal proposal submissions. Based on prior experience, we expect that some agencies will not be available to process proposal submissions, but that electronic submissions will be possible. PIs likely will also not receive responses to queries directed at federal agency staff. However, if you are preparing an application or progress report for an upcoming submission deadline, you should continue to prepare those documents for an on-time submission.
We will continue to provide you with additional information as it becomes available.
Sincerely,
Mike Malone
Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement
Andrew Mangels
Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance