Policy updates from federal sponsors as of May 7, 2025 

From the Sponsored Programs Administration


Table of contents

Updated policies and priorities from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 


No-cost extension process
NIH has removed the automatic no-cost extension (NCE) feature from their website. All NCEs must now be requested via the prior approval module. Read notice


Foreign subawards 
NIH is updating its policy and practice on issuing foreign subawards. 

  • The new policy will prohibit foreign subawards from being nested under the parent grant. 
  • This new award structure will allow NIH to track the project’s funds individually, while scientific progress will be reported collectively by the primary institution, under the Research Performance Progress Report. 
  • NIH anticipates implementing the new award structure by Sept. 30, 2025 (before fiscal year 2026).  

Effective May 1, 2025, and until the details of the new foreign collaboration award structure are released, NIH will not issue awards to domestic or foreign entities (new, renewal or non-competing continuation) that include a subaward to a foreign entity. 

Please note: PIs can eliminate the foreign subaward during this time, and funding will continue. 

Read notice  |  Read article


Effective date of NIH public access policy moved up to July 1, 2025
NIH announced the compliance date for the revised public access policy will move up by six months, from Dec. 31, 2025, to July 1, 2025. All other aspects of the 2024 public access policy remain the same. 

NIH Director Jay Bhbattacharya issued a statement detailing the benefits of the change.

Read notice 


NIH prioritizes human-based research technology
NIH announced its initiative to reduce the use of animals in NIH-funded research. This follows the FDA roadmap released in April, which discussed collaboration with the NIH.  

NIH Director Bhattacharya emphasized that innovations such as organoids, tissue chips and computational models allow for more accurate human-centric research, potentially improving health care outcomes and accelerating the development of treatments. 

As part of the initiative, the NIH will establish the Office of Research Innovation, Validation and Application (ORIVA) to oversee these efforts. ORIVA will focus on promoting non-animal research methods, increasing funding, and ensuring their integration into NIH's broader biomedical research programs.  

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NIH encourages early submission of Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs)
We have received communication from NIH requesting the early submission of RPPRs to allow for processing time of notice of awards. We encourage PIs to submit their RPPRs two months prior to the end date. 


Development of a government-sponsored universal vaccine platform
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the NIH have announced the development of a universal vaccine platform called Generation Gold Standard developed by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to create broad-spectrum vaccines targeting multiple pandemic-prone viruses like avian influenza (H5N1) and coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV). 

The initiative aims to improve pandemic preparedness and vaccine effectiveness by focusing on long-lasting, cross-strain protection, beyond current virus strains. Key components of this platform include: 

  • BPL-inactivated whole-virus vaccines that preserve the virus's structure while preventing infectivity, generating strong immune responses (B and T cells), and offering protection across various virus families
  • Intranasal formulation of the BPL-1357 vaccine, which is designed to block virus transmission and is currently in advanced clinical trials, on track for FDA review by 2029 
  • Increased government-led transparency and the elimination of commercial conflicts of interest  

The BPL platform could be adapted for future vaccines against other respiratory viruses. Clinical trials for universal influenza vaccines are set to begin in 2026, with FDA approval targeted for 2029.

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NIH inclusion of civil rights term and condition of award
NIH issued a notice that fund recipients must comply with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws material to the government’s payment decisions. This term applies prospectively to new, renewal, supplement or continuation awards issued on or after April 21, 2025. 

By accepting grant awards, recipients certify that: 

  • They do not, and will not during the term of the financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
  • They do not engage in and will not, during the term of the award, engage in a discriminatory prohibited boycott, as defined in the notice.  

The NIH reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients operate any program that violates federal anti-discriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott. 

Note: The notice applies only to grant award “recipients,” which the NIH defines as the entity that receives the NIH grant award. 

Read notice  
 

Updated policy from the National Science Foundation (NSF) 


NSF limits indirect costs to 15%
On May 2, 2025, NSF distributed a new policy limiting indirect costs to 15% (Mizzou’s current indirect rate for on-campus research is 56.5%). NIH and the Department of Energy also proposed similar caps, which were challenged in court and are currently restrained. A lawsuit of 18 parties has been filed to challenge this new policy. At this time, we will continue to utilize our federally negotiated rate for NSF proposals.

Read policy