Updates on Specific Agencies

In compliance with USDA requirements stemming from EO 14292 on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research, WSU has completed a review of USDA-funded projects for dangerous gain-of-function research, as defined by EO 14292.

USDA’s updated Terms & Conditions reinforce core compliance expectations, including adherence to 2 CFR 200, strong internal controls, accurate financial processing, and proper SAM.gov/UEI management, along with ongoing subrecipient monitoring. Proposal and award setup now places greater emphasis on securing required prior approvals, maintaining compliant subaward documentation, and verifying procurement and indirect cost rates. Faculty should expect continued federal reporting requirements, including SF‑425 financial reports, performance updates, and timely project closeout submissions. The USDA terms also highlight key compliance coordination areas such as IRB/IACUC verification, foreign influence and FOCI documentation, RST training, export control checks, and executive compensation reporting.

Through a June 12 memorandum, the DoD sought to implement a 15 percent cap on indirect cost rates for all new financial assistance awards to institutions of higher education and to renogotiate the indirect cost rates on existing awards.

On July 18, 2025, a judge in the civil action against the policy brought by a group of universities and university associations (AAU v. DoD.; D. Mass., No. 25-cv-11740) issued a preliminary injunction, blocking implementation of the policy for parties to the lawsuit, including member universities of the plaintiff organizations. The preliminary injunction was later converted to a final judgment vacating the policy.

On May 15, 2025, the Department of Energy announced a new policy (PF 2025-28) to improve oversight and ensure responsible use of financial assistance funding. In a policy memorandum titled, “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance,” the Energy Secretary outlined a process for reviewing financial awards to verify that projects are financially viable, legally compliant, and aligned with national and economic security interests.

Key elements of the policy include:

• A review of 179 financial assistance awards totaling over $15 billion, with a focus on large-scale commercial projects in the initial phase.
• Evaluations will be conducted on a case-by-case basis to ensure effective use of taxpayer funds and to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse.
• Award recipients are required to submit timely, accurate, and complete information in response to DOE requests to support these reviews. While many financial assistance awards may incorporate the audit rights under 2 C.F.R. part 200, other forms of awards have different information gathering rights available at DOE.
• The DOE will keep responses confidential and may share relevant risk information with other government entities when appropriate.
• Projects that meet DOE standards will proceed, while those that do not may be modified or terminated. Failure to cooperate with the review process may also result in loss of funding.
• If a recipient of financial assistance fails to respond to information requests within the provided timeframe, does not respond to follow-up questions in a timely manner, or offers incomplete responses that do not reasonably facilitate DOE’s review, DOE may treat as the recipient’s refusal to cooperate as grounds for termination of the award or the withholding of funding.

If you receive communication directly from DOE regarding the status of your award, your first step should be to reach out to your research administrator and to the Office of Research Support and Operations (ORSO; orso@wsu.edu).

On April 11, 2025, the DOE announced Policy Flash 2025-22, which limited the indirect cost rate paid through DOE awards to 15 percent for institutions of higher education, replacing current negotiated rates.

On June 30, 2025, the U.S. District Court in the District of Massachusetts issued a judgment vacating Policy Flash 2025-22. A May preliminary injunction had previously enjoined DOE implementing the policy during the court case.

Via Policy Flash 2025-16, DOE rescinded several policies related to DEI including requiring, using, or enforcing Community Benefits Plans (CBP) and requiring, using, or enforcing Justice40 requirements. A March 14 memorandum rescinded the memorandum associated with PF 2025-16. Instead, CBPs, Justice40 requirements, and related elements of existing awards will be considered voluntary by the Department.

DOE is adopting Common Forms across SciENcv and the SF 424 framework, with DOE replacing résumés for all opportunities issued after December 3, 2025.

On May 5, 2025, the White House released the Executive Order on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research. NIH has provided the following guidance to the biomedical research community:

• Policies, actions, and definitions defined in this Executive Order supersede NIH’s implementation of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) May 2024 U.S. Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (DURC/PEPP Policy). Accordingly, NIH is rescinding NOT-OD-25-061.
• NIH will not accept competitive applications for grants and cooperative agreements submitted for due dates after May 7, 2025, and/or R&D contract proposals submitted to solicitations issued after May 7, 2025, for dangerous gain-of-function research, as defined in Section 8 of the Executive Order.
• Per NOT-OD-25-127, NIH will terminate funding for “dangerous gain-of-function research” conducted by foreign entities in “countries of concern or foreign countries where there is not adequate oversight” and suspend all other funding and other support for other projects meeting the definition of gain-of-function research.
• As required by NOT-OD-25-127 WSU is currently reviewing ongoing NIH-funded research activities meeting the definition of dangerous gain of function research.

A new policy, to be delivered within 120 days, will replace the proposed DURC/PEPP Policy set to take effect May 6, 2025. Until this new policy is in place, research meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research is to be paused. For the purposes of this Notice and, as defined in the Executive Order, dangerous gain-of-function research means scientific research on an infectious agent or toxin with the potential to cause disease by enhancing its pathogenicity or increasing its transmissibility. 

The current WSU policy to ensure Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) is identified and conducted pursuant to University research missions and applicable federal laws and policies is available online from WSU’s Institutional Biosafety Committee. While this executive order raises many questions, WSU remains committed to supporting our research community and will continue to provide timely updates and guidance.

On February 7, 2025 the National Institutes of Health issued a notice that, as of February 10, an indirect cost rate cap of 15% would be in place for new and existing grants. This seeks to replace previously negotiated rates with universities and research institutions. WSU’s current negotiated rate with the federal government is 53%.

This change in policy was enjoined by the courts and later blocked by congress through FFY26.

Contact us at orso@wsu.edu if you have any questions or if you are contacted by your NIH program officer regarding this policy.

A May 5, 2025, Executive Order directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to issue government-wide guidelines to limit collaborations with foreign entities of concern.

Starting no later than September 30, 2025, NIH will prohibit subawards to foreign entities for all new grants, cooperative agreements, and renewals. If a project cannot proceed without a foreign subaward, NIH may consider bilateral termination, taking into account factors such as patient safety and animal welfare.

NIH has accelerated implementation of the 2024 Public Access Policy. As of July 1, 2025, all Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAM) accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July 1, 2025, must be submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.

Some journals automatically submit AAMs to PMC, however it is the principal investigator/project director and institution’s responsibility to ensure that the requirement is met. It is important to confirm that the publication will submit the AAM, even if they or a related have done so in the past. If the publication does not automatically submit the AAM, it is the responsibility of the PI/PD to do so.

Review the NIH FAQ page on the policy for further details.

Following recent observations that a small number of Principal Investigators are submitting large numbers of proposals, possibly developed using AI tools, on July 17, 2025, NIH released a policy (NOT-OD-25-132) effective September 25 with the following provisions:

• Applications substantially developed by AI or containing sections substantially developed by AI will not be viewed by NIH as the original ideas of the applicants. If the improper use of AI is detected after an award is made, NIH may refer the matter for research integrity review and may take enforcement actions, potentially including termination of the award.
• NIH will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year.

Review the policy notice for further details and contact the Office of Research at orso@wsu.edu if you have any questions

NIH has implemented new requirements related to the federal prohibition on Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRPs), effective January 25, 2026 (NOT OD 26 018). Under this policy, anyone participating in an MFTRP is no longer eligible to serve as senior/key personnel on NIH grants or cooperative agreements. To comply, NIH now requires both institutional and individual certifications. The institutional certification is completed through the AOR’s signature on the SF424 R&R cover form, confirming all senior/key personnel have been informed of these requirements.

Faculty listed as senior/key personnel must also certify at the time of application, through the Common Form Biosketch, that they are not participating in an MFTRP. For active awards, faculty will complete an annual certification submitted with RPPRs filed on or after January 25, 2026, uploaded as a flattened PDF following NIH’s required naming convention. These updates introduce an ongoing requirement for faculty to affirm MFTRP non participation at proposal submission and annually for funded projects.

NIH has updated its guidance for the NIH Common Forms, including a revised disclosure table released on September 5, 2025. This table now combines prior NIH requirements with the NSPM‑33 activity categories to provide a unified reference for Biographical Sketch and Other Support disclosures.

A key change is the addition of Monetary Donations as a required disclosure category under Other Support. NIH has published examples to help distinguish these donations from unrestricted gifts, noting that the update responds to an HHS Office of the Inspector General report identifying gaps in how institutions have reported monetary donations that support research. Faculty should now disclose monetary donations that directly support their research as part of their Other Support.

NIH is implementing the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current & Pending (Other) Support, with a leniency period extended through May 2026 before validation warnings become errors. Updated resources, including the Biographical Sketch Common Form, CPOS Common Form, and FAQs, are now available to support this transition. MFTRP certification requirements tied to the Common Forms will resume in May 2026 and will require institutional certification, individual certification in the Biosketch, and annual RPPR certification. NIH has also added Monetary Donations as a new disclosure category under Other Support.

NSF has modified its Award Term and Condition 35, related to non-discrimination. In addition to compliance with a number of federal non-discrimination statutes, by accepting an award from NSF, the recipient institution certifies that:

• They do not, and will not during the award period, operate programs that promote or advance DEI/DEIA initiatives in ways deemed inconsistent with federal anti-discrimination laws; and
• They do not, and will not, participate in or support prohibited discriminatory boycotts.

This is an institutional-level certification. WSU is, and will remain, in full compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws.

NSF implemented a 15% cap on indirect costs (IDC) effective May 5. In response, several national organizations, including the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), filed a lawsuit on May 8. While previous legal challenges to similar IDC changes at NIH and the Department of Energy led to temporary restraining orders (TROs), no TRO decision has yet been issued in this case.

On June 20, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in No. 1:25-cv-11231-IT, vacated NSF’s 15% Indirect Cost Rate policy (NSF 25-034). In compliance with the court’s decision, NSF will not implement the policy at this time.

NSF is adopting the NSTC Common Forms across SciENcv and the SF‑424 framework, integrating updates through recent PAPPG supplements.

NASA has ordered contractors and grantees to immediately cease all DEIA-related activities, including training, reporting, and staffing considerations. DEIA requirements in contracts and grants will be terminated, with stop-work orders and modifications issued as needed. NASA has also removed DEIA-related policies from its websites. On Jan. 31, NASA sent a memo to a set of science committees directing them to pause their work while NASA determines if the groups’ activities comply with the DEIA executive orders.

Contractors and grantees are directed to cease any DEIA activities required by their contracts/grants. Further, contractors/grantees must notify their Grant/Contract officer if they identify such requirements in their grant/contract. Grant/Contract officers will begin to contact contractors or grantees directly regarding required modifications as additional guidance becomes available.