As the government shutdown drags on, many scientists are waiting on grant reviews and payments from agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Federal grants fund years-long research projects at colleges and universities throughout Washington state. The grants rely on review panels for approval. And the shutdown has paused those reviews, which can take months to reschedule.
Mari Ostendorf, UW’s vice provost for research, said this time of year is usually busy for scientists across the university serving on federal grant review panels and submitting funding applications of their own. But that's been on pause since the shutdown began.
“The gap delays the research, and sometimes that could be a huge setback because of loss of people, or loss of opportunity,” Ostendorf said.
The university also submits millions of dollars in invoices for existing awards throughout the year, according to Ostendorf, and the shutdown had also delayed many of these research payments. For example, she said about a third of the roughly $1.8 billion in university research expenditures for the past fiscal year needed to be processed via paper or electronic invoice.
“As we do the work, we send invoices. But there's nobody in the office to read and approve the invoices,” she said.
Funding delays can also stall studies and lead to the loss of staff across the school. Ostendorf worries the university will have to furlough employees if that persists.
“When you have a long gap it's harder to maintain those valuable employees who are doing the research, know the context, have the expertise,” she said.
An Oct. 1 release from the National Institutes of Health recommends people and institutions still apply for federal awards, but that “applications will not be processed by NIH until operations resume."
