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Dear Colleagues, Yesterday, three separate lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In the first matter, 22 state attorney generals filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of their states against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to request a temporary restraining order (TRO) from implementing a 15% cap on F&A for all existing and future NIH grants. The state of Michigan was a co-plaintiff in this suit, which included impact statements from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. The court granted the emergency motion for a TRO for the states involved in this lawsuit. A separate lawsuit was filed by the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), American Council on Education (ACE) and 12 universities seeking a nationwide TRO. Finally, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and other societies joined the lawsuit originally filed by the 22 state attorney generals. As a result, the TRO has been expanded to include institutions across all 50 states. Wayne State will continue to submit our grant applications to NIH using our federally negotiated F&A rate of 54% through at least Feb. 21, 2025, the date of the court scheduled court hearing. We will continue to track these legal proceedings and will adjust our Sponsored Program Administration’s (SPA) approach to pre- and post-award accordingly. As the legal process unfolds, we are also tracking statements about this NIH cut by lawmakers on appropriations committees. (incl., Senator Collins (R-MN) – Chair of Senate Appropriations, Senator Murray (D-WA) – Ranking Member of Senate Appropriations, and Congresswoman DeLauro (D-CT) – Ranking Member of House Appropriations.) Prior to the TRO court action, NIH grants management staff had advised our SPA team that additional NIH guidance was forthcoming on how to implement the 15% F&A cap on future grant submissions. They also confirmed that institutions could elect to submit their grant applications using their federally negotiated F&A rate and any needed F&A adjustments would be made at time of award. Our counterparts at other R1 institutions report they are using the same approach as ours. While it takes time to consider the rapid developments to make informed decisions, please know that we are here to support you and will provide guidance that is grounded in the convergence of information we are gathering in real time. Sincerely, Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D. |
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