Possible Government Shutdown Guidance

The Federal government has not yet passed appropriations bills to fund government operations for the new Federal fiscal year (starting on 10/1/23). A full or partial shutdown is possible. Each Federal agency may handle the shutdown and determination of essential personnel differently. 

Some proactive tips for September: 

• Identify federally funded grants that expire in October-December 2023 and request no cost extensions if needed.
• For awards expecting increments in the first quarter of FY 2024, you may request advanced spending authority to extend your ProjectID with necessary internal approvals.
• Resolve pending programmatic issues with your program officials before September 30, anticipating potential Federal office disruptions.
• Adhere to currently posted guidelines for grant submissions. Post-September 30 deadlines may be affected, monitor submission portals or agency websites for updates.
• Any prior approval requests for federal awards should be submitted as soon as practicable. 

What to expect if the government shuts down:

Should I stop work?

Researchers should continue work on grants that have been awarded. Contracts that do not receive a specific “stop work order” also should continue. However, Grants or Contracts that requires significant involvement of federal employees impacted by this shutdown may need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Researchers on grants and contracts that do NOT have obligated federal funds should also not continue work. This includes any "at risk" projects that are relying on 90-day pre-award spending or are being performed while awaiting an expected award. If you are uncertain about whether your grant or contract has obligated funds or is impacted by the scenarios above, please contact ogcs@uta.edu.

Researchers on grants and contracts that do NOT have obligated federal funds should also not continue work. This includes any "at risk" projects that are relying on 90-day pre-award spending or are being performed while awaiting an expected award. 

What if I need a change of personnel, a rebudget, or a no-cost extension?

During the federal government shutdown, federal personnel generally will not be available to oversee or administer grants and contracts. This means that, if your active project with obligated funding requires prior approval to make a change in budget or a change in key personnel, or other changes that do not fall within expanded authorities as authorized by your specific award, these changes may not take effect until after approval by the federal agency. This approval will need to take place after the federal government is funded by congress. We will hold these requests until the government is operational again and evaluate the associated risk accordingly.  

I have a proposal due!

Some agencies will continue to accept automated proposals during the shutdown but others will not. Please check the sponsor’s web site to be sure.  

Where’s my new or continuing award?

Across the board, no new non-essential federal grants or contracts will be issued until normal operations resume. UTA is not likely to see any new federal grant or contract awards during the shutdown. 

In addition, non-competing continuations will not be issued until normal federal operations resume. If your grant or contract period is ending and you have not received your renewal, you will be facing a hiatus and should work with any project personnel to redistribute their salary compensation to non-federal sources as of the end of the project period until the government resumes normal operations. 

Should you have any questions about your specific circumstances, please reach out to ogcs@uta.edu. 

OGCS will continue to provide updates as additional information becomes available.

This page was updated on September 21, 2023.

Limited Submission Opportunities

UTA research staff compiles a list of compiles a list of limited submissions along with dates that pre-proposals are due and when the sponsors require submissions

This page was updated on September 18, 2023.

Policy and Procedure Updates 

Updates to policies and procedures are published regularly in the monthly Research Newsletter published the last Wednesday of every month. Previous issues can be found on the Research News page. 

This page was updated on September 18, 2023.

Upcoming Events 

Upcoming events can be found on the main UTA Events Calendar. To ensure your event is included, please be sure to submit it to the calendar. It is always better to submit your events earlier rather than later to ensure maximum visibility.

This page was updated on September 18, 2023.