Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,
Over these last few weeks, we have witnessed unprecedented changes to the landscape of federal research funding. These changes represent a significant threat to advancements in medicine, our basic sciences relevant to biomedical innovation and our clinical trials aimed at treating cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, mental health and other diseases. Our research is central to our mission and values, and we are committed to protecting this vital work.
On Friday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it has capped facilities and administrative (F&A or indirect costs) costs at 15 percent for existing and new grants. This reduced rate announced by NIH would replace Georgetown’s current negotiated and legally binding rates, which range from 26-56 percent depending on the location and nature of the work, for indirect costs.
This funding is critical and is directly applied to our research enterprise, which covers general maintenance of laboratories, facility operations, equipment costs, utilities and other government-mandated expenses such as regulatory and legal support. Georgetown does not profit from these funds. In fact, we supplement them with more than two times the amount in our own institutional funds.
Principal Investigators (PIs) do not, at this moment, need to take any action on their projects as a result of the NIH announcement. We are monitoring court activity. NIH implementation and enforcement of the announced F&A rate is, at present, suspended under a temporary restraining order issued earlier today. The Joint Office of Research Administration (JORA) will adjust F&A rates on grants, when and if that is necessary. If you have any questions, please contact the JORA at JORA@georgetown.edu.
Our work continues as we review other orders. Shortly after the first executive orders were issued to federal granting agencies, our research leaders, led by Anna Riegel, vice president for biomedical education and research, and Jeff Urbach, vice provost for research, formed a working group that continues to meet daily. We are evaluating all stop work orders, and applying for waivers from agencies that provide additional consideration for grants involving lifesaving medicines and services. We will communicate any necessary next steps directly with impacted PIs. Simultaneously, we are exploring pathways for ameliorating the impacts of the NIH’s drastic reduction in support of research infrastructure in the short term and preemptive planning for long-term changes in order to best preserve our research enterprise.
We recognize the uncertainty this has caused for so many of you who have dedicated your lives to fundamental research and bringing hope and healing to the communities we serve throughout our region and across the world. Your efforts have improved the health of so many communities. We remain steadfast in pursuit of our academic mission.
Sincerely,
Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., MD, MHS
Executive Vice President for Health Sciences
Executive Dean, School of Medicine
Soyica Diggs Colbert, PhD
Interim Provost