Notices and Announcements

Important revisions have been made to the Resumption of Operations at NSF page on the NSF website, including identification of new deadline dates for specific solicitations and Dear Colleague Letters. This updated information will be of interest to your membership and we would appreciate your sharing with your colleagues as soon as possible. This page will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Policy-related questions regarding the resumption of operations at NSF may be addressed to policy@nsf.gov.

A Resumption of Operations at NSF page has been developed that includes Important Notice No. 145, Resumption of Operations at the National Science Foundation, dated January 28, 2019, as well as supplemental guidance that addresses grant and cooperative agreement-related policy and systems issues. This page will be of interest to your membership and we would appreciate your sharing this link as soon as possible. This page will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Policy-related questions regarding resumption of operations at NSF may be addressed to policy@nsf.gov.

Significant revisions to the “Common Rule” – a regulation that governs research involving human subjects conducted or sponsored by the Federal departments and agencies that have adopted those rules – are expected to take full effect on January 21, 2019.

This is the first revision to the Common Rule since its publication in 1991 and aims to strengthen the protection of research participants, while also reducing administrative burden for investigators.

The UD Institutional Review Board (IRB) will continue providing oversight of any studies reviewed and approved prior to January 21, 2019 under the version of the Common Rule under which the study was originally approved (pre-revisions). All new project submissions to the UD IRB beginning January 21, 2019 will be required to comply with the Revised Common Rule and will need to use the new templates as posted in IRBNet.

A new course on the “Revised Common Rule” is available under the University of Delaware training curriculum at www.citiprogram.org. Below is a summary of several key provisions and changes that will require compliance beginning January 21, 2019.

A partial government shutdown has continued into the new year. While NIH and the Department of Education are funded, others such as NSF, NASA, NOAA, USDA, NIST, and NEH are not. Agency Contingency Plans and FAQs can be found on the OMB website.

UD Financials PeopleSoft upgrade is now complete.

If you have any questions, please contact the Research Office

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, federal departments and agencies listed in this document made revisions to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same regulatory changes in a separate final rule published on September 18, 2017. The revised policy, reflected in both final rules, is described here as the “2018 Requirements.” The 2018 Requirements are scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of January 19, 2018 (with the exception of the revisions to the cooperative research provision).

This interim final rule delays the effective date and general compliance date of the 2018 Requirements to July 19, 2018. The federal departments and agencies listed in this document are in the process of developing a proposed rule to further delay implementation of the 2018 Requirements. The limited implementation delay accomplished by this interim final rule both provides additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements, and additional time for the departments and agencies listed in this document to seek input from interested stakeholders through a notice and comment rulemaking process that allows for public engagement on the proposal for a further implementation delay.

With the second major hurricane – Hurricane Irma – to strike the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and its staff remain strongly committed to supporting the people and institutions affected by these storms. Now that the consequences of these disasters are upon us, new science and engineering questions are being raised. Through this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF encourages the submission of proposals that seek to address the challenges related to Hurricane Irma.

The Proposal & Award Policy Newsletter is a quarterly publication designed to provide information about upcoming changes and clarifications to policies and procedures that affect how you prepare and submit proposals, and manage NSF awards.

The Research Office writes to inform the UD Research Community of several reforms and new initiatives the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be implementing in the upcoming weeks and months with the aim of enhancing clinical trials stewardship.