Updates as of February 9, 2025
SRS has received guidance from the Office of General Counsel to review stop work orders (SWOs) in order to assess how, or if, the temporary restraining orders (TROs) apply to each specific SWO issued for individual awards.
Stop Work Orders
SRS has received guidance from the Office of General Counsel to review stop work orders (SWOs) in order to assess how, or if, the temporary restraining orders (TROs) apply to each specific SWO issued for individual awards. This process requires careful examination due to the complexities involved in aligning the terms of the TROs with the details of the SWOs. As a result, this review takes time to ensure all considerations are thoroughly addressed.
The federal agencies listed below have issued some stop work orders (SWOs).
Not all Awards are Affected
Please note that these agencies have not issued SWOs for all agreements, meaning not all awards are affected. Investigators impacted by the SWOs have already been contacted by SRS.
- USAID
- EPA
- Department of Energy
- Department of Transportation
- DOE – Argonne National Laboratory
- DOD – Air Force Research Lab
- Department of State
- FEMA
Guidance
Specific Sponsor Updates
NSF
To date, SRS has not received SWO orders directly from NSF. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make independent decisions to pause awards.
Per NSF’s website dedicated to the implementation of Executive Orders, there is a section for FAQ’s, a few of those questions are listed below that may be of the most interest to the research community. The full listing of NSF Frequently Asked Question page found here.
NSF has restored access to the ACM$ system as of 12:00 PM ET on February 2, 2025 and is in compliance with the TRO.
The TRO does not impact the ongoing review of our award portfolio to identify active grants in the context of recent Executive Orders. We will continue the comprehensive review of our award portfolio.
NSF can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with the Executive Orders. However, the TRO reserves the agency’s right to take action for reasons not related to compliance with the executive orders, such as violations of law, regulation, or current NSF grant terms and conditions.
Yes. Proposals may be submitted on Research.gov.
Due dates are subject to change. NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary.
NSF will publish revised funding opportunities as necessary and will communicate any updates to the research community via NSF’s established communication processes. Our intent is to resume proposal processing and review activities for funding opportunities as soon as possible.
Consistent with the district court’s order, NSF awardees may continue activities consistent with the current terms and conditions of their NSF awards at this time.
Department of State
To date, SRS has received some SWO orders directly from Department of State. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make independent decisions to pause awards.
On January 24, you received a stop work order (SWO) from ISN/CTR suspending all awards funded by foreign assistance, in response to the President’s Executive Order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid” and subsequent State Department guidance. That SWO still stands, but we wanted to share with you the latest guidance in response to several questions we have received.
ISN/CTR has decided to completely cancel all events/engagements through April 19 which is the duration of the 90-day foreign assistance review period. They ask that any implementers that have pending (but paused) events through April 19 to cancel those engagements completely. Legitimate costs associated with the cancelation of these engagements can be billed. However, those require a higher level of approvals and will not be solely at the grants officer’s discretion to approve. Please direct any questions to ISN-CTR-BUDGET@state.gov.
There are very limited instances when some projects have been permitted to continue while the foreign assistance review takes place. These are very limited exceptions and if a project has been approved to restart within this 90-day period, ISN/CTR will reach out directly and provide guidance on what elements of a project have been approved to continue.
CDC
To date, SRS has not received SWO orders directly from CDC. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make decisions to pause awards.
CDC issued guidance found at the links below.
Department of Education
To date, SRS has not received SWO orders directly from Department of Education. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make independent decisions to pause awards.
The Department Education information can be found here:
Department of Transportation
To date, SRS has received some SWO orders directly from Department of Transportation for specific program. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make independent decisions to pause awards.
USDA
To date, SRS has received some SWO orders directly from USDA for specific programs. Pass thru entities (where TAMU is a subrecipient) can make independent decisions to pause awards.