OMB’s proposed changes to federal science funding

Last week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a proposed revision to the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance. It runs 412 pages, and carries significant implications for federally funded science in the US.

Many of the proposed changes are concerning: the guidance would be classified as a binding regulation, requiring agencies to implement it directly unless changes are approved by OMB;

• a new pre-award review would require political appointees to assess awards to ensure they “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities”;

• discretionary termination clauses would become mandatory in all discretionary awards (unless prohibited by statute), making it easier for agencies to terminate grants on policy or topical grounds;

• and sweeping restrictions would be introduced on foreign collaborations, prohibiting the use of federal funds across all agencies to support collaboration with “covered foreign countries” likely including China, Russia, and Iran (the related Wolf Amendment has been around since 2011 but only applied to NASA and OSTP, and specifically restricted certain collaboration with China).

One positive note is that the document explicitly declines to propose changes to the indirect costs system – a possibility that we previously flagged. And one to keep an eye on is the proposed prohibition on publication costs, like article processing charges (APCs) and open access fees, unless expressly approved by the agency on a case-by-case basis (this could be a big deal, but it’s possible that including an APC line within the itemized budget of an approved grant would be sufficient). Instructions for commenting can be found here, and comments can be submitted at this link until July 13.