4 things that could complicate Congress's efforts to avert shutdown (The Hill) Congress is staring down a deadline this month to prevent a government shutdown, as members on both sides of the aisle have made clear a stopgap of some kind will be needed to keep the lights on. Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to pass legislation to prevent a funding lapse. And while November's elections could make the chances of a shutdown less likely, leaders have their work cut out for them amid deep divides on spending. https://thehill.com/business/budget/4856504-congress-government-shutdown-complications/
Review of the Accuracy of Grants Information for Fiscal Year 2024 (NIH NOT-OD-24-167) As the fiscal year comes to an end on September 30, 2024, NIH encourages Recipient Organizations to verify the accuracy of their grant assignments to Departments or Components within Organizations of Higher Education in eRA Commons through the Grant Re-assign function. Any corrections to the data must be made by 8:00 PM EDT on Thursday, October 3, 2024, to be reflected in NIH annual reports. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-167.html
Protect the safety of researchers (Science, Editorial) An accommodating and supportive environment is essential to conducting scientific research. Yet, in almost every country, researchers can experience harassment, threats, prosecution, or even violence for opinions they express or for their work in relation to high-profile issues. Although many international and regional reports on this issue are patchy in terms of comprehensiveness and representation, they reveal clear and worrying trends-namely, that researchers working in politically charged fields such as public health, climate, and sexual and reproductive rights are prone to threats to their safety. The scientific community must heighten awareness and catalyze change if science is to remain a bedrock of societal well-being. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads6586
NSF Award Terms and Conditions have been updated to implement the revised 2 CFR published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024, by the Office of Management and Budget. As part of its implementation strategy, NSF has archived the Research Terms and Conditions (RTC), and the NSF Agency Specific Requirements . Unless otherwise specified, the Grant General Conditions (GC-1) apply to all recipients of NSF grant awards, including Institutions of Higher Education, non-profit, non-academic organizations, for-profit organizations (other than Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer recipients), State and local governments, and Tribal Nations.
House Plans Votes on Biosecure Act, Other Measures Hitting China (Bloomberg Law) House Republican leaders plan votes early next month on a series of measures targeting Chinese companies, including one that would bar federal contractors from doing business with five Chinese biotechnology firms…. Speaker Mike Johnson previewed some of the legislation in a speech last month, arguing that business relationships with Chinese biotech companies would leave federal contractors "beholden" to a US adversary and "endanger Americans' health care data." https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/house-plans-votes-on-biosecure-act-other-measures-hitting-china?context=search&index=6
Academic Publishers Threatened By Open-Access Expansion (Inside Higher Ed) Critics say a directive to make federally funded research immediately free to the public could violate authors' copyrights. It could also disrupt the $19 billion academic publishing industry. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2024/08/29/open-access-expansion-threatens-academic
New study looks at the experience of foreign postdocs and finds it lacking (The Chronicle) International postdoctoral scholars often earn less than their American counterparts and report having fewer opportunities to teach or be a co-investigator on research grants, especially if they earned their Ph.D.s. abroad. A new paper by Shulamit Kahn and Megan MacGarvie, both associate professors of markets, public policy, and law at Boston University, suggests that foreign postdocs have a different experience than do American scholars - one that can be subpar. https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/latitudes/2024-08-28
How the Supreme Court Chevron ruling could affect cybersecurity regulations (Federal News Network) When the Supreme Court earlier this summer overturned its 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, it threw into question how far agencies can go in writing new regulations. Several cybersecurity regulations now in the development stage are now in question, according to my next guest. The director of legal affairs at Huntress, Brian Arnold, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss this topic. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cybersecurity/2024/08/how-the-supreme-court-chevron-ruling-could-affect-cybersecurity-regulations/
FY 24 Revisions to 2 CFR Federal Agency Implementation (COFFA) This document provides additional supplementary information to assist Federal agencies with more consistently implementing the revisions made by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in April 2024. The supplementary information includes suggested approaches to address common scenarios that may arise when issuing Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), Federal awards, and amendments following the effective date of the 2024 Revisions. https://www.cfo.gov/assets/files/FY-2024-Revisions-to-2-CFR-Supplementary-Information-for-Federal-Agency-Implementation.pdf
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Gloria W. Greene, CRA, MA
SRAI President 2022-2024
SRAI Distinguished Faculty
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Assistant Vice President, Contracts and Grants and Research Compliance
Office of The Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Huntsville, A:L 35899
256-824-2657
greeneg@uah.edu------------------------------