To: Faculty, Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Scholars and Staff
Dear Colleagues:
As you can imagine, the information that we receive from Washington, D.C. is in constant flux. Today, Sunday, we received two messages that are shared below. One is an excerpt of guidance that was delivered to Health and Human Services (HHS) employees.* The other message, with Q&A, was sent to all National Science Foundation (NSF) principal investigators (PIs).** Both are welcome news.
My office is maintaining two web pages as resources for you: 2025 Administration Transition and Recent News Articles: https://ora.research.ucla.edu/2025-administration-transition/; https://www3.research.ucla.edu/articles/news. The UC Office of the President (UCOP) also plans to launch a microsite this week with additional information related to federal policy actions.
I can assure you that UCLA and UCOP leaders are following the situation closely and are advocating on your behalf. The federal agencies are likely to issue new guidance in the near future and we will endeavor to keep you updated. We continue to recognize and thank you for your research and creative activities that are critical to UCLA’s success.
Sincerely,
Roger M. Wakimoto
Vice Chancellor for Research & Creative Activities
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*Guidance Sent to HHS Employees Regarding the Challenge to Efforts by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government (“the Defendants”) to Pause Grants:
“The Court has entered a temporary restraining order prohibiting certain actions by the Defendants in the case, which is effective immediately. All Defendants — including their employees, contractors, and grantees — must immediately comply with the Court’s Order.
“Agencies may exercise their own authority to pause awards or obligations, provided agencies do so purely based on their own discretion — not as a result of the OMB Memo or the President’s Executive Orders — and provided the pause complies with all notice and procedural requirements in the award, agreement, or other instrument relating to such a pause.”
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**Message to the NSF PI Community:
On Friday, January 31, 2025, a Federal Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) directing Federal grant-making agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), to “…not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate… awards and obligations to provide federal financial assistance to the States, and… not impede the States’ access to such awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.” Although the language of the TRO is directed at State institutions, the Department of Justice has determined that it applies to all NSF award recipients. You can review the TRO.
In order to comply with the TRO, the NSF Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) system is available for awardees to request payments as of 12:00 p.m. EST, February 2, 2025.
This message is also available on the Executive Order Implementation web page. Please check back regularly as we add frequently asked questions (FAQs) based on community feedback.
Sethuraman Panchanathan
Director, U.S. National Science Foundation
1. When will the Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) be restored to allow disbursements on active awards?
Access to ACM$ has been restored and the system is available to accept payment requests as of 12:00 p.m. ET on February 2, 2025.
2. On Friday, January 31, 2025, a Federal Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) directing Federal grant-making agencies, including the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), to "…not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate… awards and obligations." What is NSF doing to comply with this TRO?
NSF has restored access to the ACM$ system as of 12:00 p.m. ET on February 2, 2025 and is in compliance with the TRO.
3. I cannot access the ACM$ system. Why not?
If you cannot immediately access the ACM$ system, please try again. For technical assistance please contact your respective NSF Division of Financial Management representative. View ACM$ frequently asked questions.
4. I submitted a payment request last week, before ACM$ was shut down. Do I need to submit a new request?
Please log into your ACM$ account to verify whether your payment was accepted before submitting a new request. NSF executed a shut down of ACM$ last week due to extraordinarily high volumes of payments received after OMB Memorandum M-24-13 was released, which resulted in a cancellation of all payment requests received on January 28. However, payment requests submitted on January 27 prior to 8:00 p.m. have been retained and will be released for payment.
5. Will Fellows (GRFP [Graduate Research Fellowship Program], et al) receive their February stipend?
Fellows must log into ACM$ and verify their payment request has been accepted. Most Fellows will have to resubmit a request.
6. How long will it take to get my payment?
Due to the anticipated high volume of transaction requests, there could be delays in processing for brief periods of time over the next 24 to 48 hours. If you do not receive your payments promptly, please contact your respective NSF Division of Financial Management representative.
7. How does the TRO impact the award reviews NSF was conducting?
The TRO does not impact the ongoing review of our award portfolio to identify active grants in the context of recent Executive Orders. We will continue the comprehensive review of our award portfolio.
8. Can NSF terminate my award even if they are still reviewing all awards?
NSF can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with the Executive Orders. However, the TRO reserves the agency's right to take action for reasons not related to compliance with the executive orders, such as violations of law, regulation, or current NSF grant terms and conditions.
9. Are we still allowed to submit proposals on https://www.research.gov/research-web/?
Yes. Proposals may be submitted on https://www.research.gov/research-web/.
10. How will the executive orders affect due dates for proposal submission?
Due dates are subject to change. NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary.
11. I submitted a proposal recently. When can I expect it to be reviewed?
NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary and will communicate any updates to the research community via NSF's established communication processes. Our intent is to resume proposal processing and review activities for funding opportunities as soon as possible.
12. I was supposed to be on a panel last week and it was canceled. When will it be rescheduled?
NSF is rescheduling, as appropriate, virtual, hybrid, and in-person proposal review panels that were scheduled through February 7, 2025.
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