Request for Information
Request for Information (RFI)
Scientific Community Responds in Force to OMB Proposed Rule
More than 340,000Ā public commentsĀ have been submitted in response to the proposed rule,Ā Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, that seeks to make major changes to theĀ Uniform GuidanceĀ governing federal financial assistance, including federal research grants. The deadline for comments was July 13. Organizations and individuals used their comments to register deep concerns about the proposed changes and their potential impacts on the U.S. research enterprise and our diminishing global competitiveness. COSSAās comments, which have not yet been posted officially to regulations.gov, is available here. According to the proposed rule, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set an implementation date of…
Resources for Commenting on OMB Proposed Rule
As previously reported, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule in late May that would make major changes to the Uniform Guidance governing federal financial assistance, including federal research grants. The rule seeks to implement proposals made by the Trump Administration through various executive orders and other actions taken since January 2025, many of great concern to the research community. Public comments are being accepted through July 13. COSSA is holding a members-only webinar on July 1 at 2:00 pm ET to provide guidance to members planning to comment. As of this writing, more than 70,000 public comments have been submitted. Many scientific…
NSF Seeks Comment on Grant Policy Revisions, Due Aug. 24
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking public comment on proposed revisions to its grant policies. The changes are intended to bring NSFās policy in line with the White House Office of Management and Budgetās sweeping proposed revisions to federal grant regulations released in late May (see related article). The draft would revise grant termination provisions, prohibit charging publication costs to awards, and eliminate references to fixed-price awards. It also clarifies that recovery of indirect costs on NSF awards is subject to the availability of funds, meaning organizations may not be able to recover their full negotiated indirect cost rates if award…
Research Community Organizing Around OMB Proposed Rule
As previously reported, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule in late May that would make major changes to the Uniform Guidance governing federal financial assistance, including federal research grants. The rule seeks to implement proposals made by the Trump Administration through various executive orders and other actions taken since January 2025. Public comments will be accepted through July 13; public requests that the 45-day comment period be extended have been denied by OMB. As the research community prepares to respond, scientific and higher education groups are providing guidance to help make sense of the more than 400-page proposed…
White House Proposes Sweeping Changes to Federal Grant Rules ā Comments Due July 13
At the end of May, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule, Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, that would make major changes to the Uniform Guidance governing federal financial assistance, including federal research grants. The rule would implement proposals made by the Trump Administration through various executive orders over the last year, including the Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking order and Restoring Gold Standard Science order, among others. Among the changes are, but not limited to: Proposed changes to the Uniform Guidance have been anticipated for several months. Still the sweeping nature of the changes, if implemented, would fundamentally alter the…
NIH Requesting Comments on Strategic Plan
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a request for information (RFI) asking for stakeholder comments on the proposed framework for the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2027-2031 slated for an FY 2027 release. Rather than focus on specific research opportunities or institute initiatives, NIH releases a strategic plan every five years to highlight the achievements of the agency and set broader priorities. The proposed framework for the new strategic plan highlights several goals, including improving foundational knowledge of human health and disease, addressing public health challenges across the lifespan, developing and advancing interventions, treatments, and cures, improving infrastructure and…
NIH Requests Public Input on New Human Data Protection Policies
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking public comment on a proposed update to its human research data policies, including a new NIH Controlled-Access Data Policy and revisions to the NIH Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy. According to the request for information (RFI), the goal is to strengthen privacy and security protections, clarify requirements, and reduce duplicative burdens across NIH programs. The proposed Controlled-Access Data Policy would define which human participant data must be shared through controlled-access systems, including personal identifiers, genomic and other āomicsā data, health and financial information, facial imaging, and individual-level clinical trial data. It would also establish consistent security and…
NSF Seeks Input on New Tech Labs InitiativeāDue January 20
The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate, has launched a new initiative aimed at accelerating āpractical research with real-world applications.ā Tech Labs will support research, development and innovation (RDI) teams āfocused on overcoming persistent barriers to the commercialization of emerging technologies.ā According to the announcement, these teams āwill focus on technical challenges and bottlenecks that traditional university and industry labs cannot easily solve on their own.ā NSF is seeking public input through a request for information. Comments are due January 20. In addition, NSF is hosting an informational webinar on January 14 (register here).
RFI: Education Department Seeks Feedback on Redesigning IES
On September 25, the Department of Education published a request for information (RFI) seeking feedback on redesigning the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The request follows the Trump Administrationās appointment of Dr. Amber Northern to reform the institute in May (see previous COSSA coverage). Included in the request is a list of suggested areas for comment, including how to: Comments should be submitted here by October 15.
RFI Opportunity: NSF TIP Directorate Technology Areas, Due 7/21
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking public input into its current list of ākey technology focus areasā to guide the work of the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate. Comments are due by July 21, 2025. The TIP Directorate was created in 2022 to support āuse-inspiredā research with the goal of āfostering innovation and technology ecosystems, establishing translation pathways, and partnering across sectors to engage the nationās diverse talent.ā Included in its authorizing legislation was a list of ten initial key technology focus areas, set by Congress, that the Directorate was tasked to address in its first three years. These included: artificial intelligence and machine learning; high…
House Science Committee Democrats Want to Hear from PIs
The Democratic staff of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee have released aĀ surveyĀ to collect information on the impacts that grant cancellations by the Trump Administration are having on the scientific community. Researchers who have had their research grants terminated or otherwise affected since January 20 are encouraged to respond to theĀ survey.
RESPOND: NASEM Survey on Administrative Burden
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has established a committee on Improving the Regulatory Efficiency and Reducing Administrative Workload to Strengthen Competitiveness and Productivity of U.S. Research. The second meeting on the committee is scheduled for May 21-23. The Committee is tasked with producing a fast-track, brief consensus report that includes options for federal actions to improve regulatory efficiency. To help inform this work, the Committee is seeking responses to a brief survey in which researchers can share their experiences with administrative burden and offer ideas for regulatory report. The survey is available here.
Share Your Story with COSSA
Given current uncertainty about the future of the U.S. research enterprise, COSSA is collecting stories from the social and behavioral science community on how recent Executive Actions are affecting or have the potential to affect research and the scientific workforce. Your contributions will help the COSSA team as we share real-world, timely information with policymakers (e.g., Congress and federal agencies) about the impact these actions are having across the country. Your responses will remain confidential, and any stories used by COSSA will be anonymized and used anecdotally. You may provide your name and contact information in the survey, which would only be…
NIH Releases Public Access Plan and RFI for Research Findability and Transparency
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released the final version of its public access policy in response to the August 2022 memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The memorandum announced new requirements for federal agencies to make peer-reviewed publications resulting from federal funding freely available to the public immediately following publication (see previous COSSA coverage). The new policy, finalized from the draft released in June 2024 (see previous COSSA coverage), is set to take effect on December 31, 2025, and provides clarification on the definitions of Article, Manuscript, Final Published Article, Official Date of…
NASEM Requests Nominations for Experts for Study of Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Homeland Security Statistics
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is seeking experts for a new consensus study on the Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Homeland Security Statistics. These experts will work with the Office for Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS), housed within the Department of Homeland Security, to ensure statistics within the agency align with federal standards, enhancing āthe relevance, credibility, objectivity, and public trust of their statistics to support evidence-based decision makingā. Experts are requested in the following areas: Nominations can be submitted here by January 8.
Deadline Extended: NSF Seeking Input on Research Ethics
In September, the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a Dear Colleague Letter requesting public input into the agencyās efforts to improve its merit review process to mitigate the potential harms of emerging technologies as required by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The deadline for the Request for Information (RFI) has been extended to December 13 in response to feedback requesting more time. The RFI contains several guiding questions to assist with public response, such as: āDescribe ethical, social, safety, and/or security risks from current or emerging research activities that you believe might be of concern to the community, profession, or organization…
Request for Input: NSF Seeking Input on Research Ethics
Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a Dear Colleague Letter requesting public input into the agencyās efforts to āincorporate ethical, social, safety, and security considerations into the merit review processā as required by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Section 10343 of the CHIPS Act states, āa number of emerging areas of research have potential ethical, social, safety, and security implications that might be apparent as early as the basic research stageā¦[T]he incorporation of ethical, social, safety, and security considerations into the research design and review process for Federal awards may help mitigate potential harms before they happen.ā The…
NSF, NSB Want to Hear Your Thoughts on Merit Review Process
In recent weeks, the National Science Board (NSB), the governing and oversight body of the National Science Foundation (NSF), has issued aĀ Dear Colleague letterĀ requesting public input into the Boardās ongoing review of NSFās merit review criteria and process. As previously reported, theĀ NSB-NSF Commission on Merit Review (MRX)Ā was formed following passage of theĀ CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which required NSF to commission a review of how ābroader impactsā criterion are being applied in the merit review process across the agency. The NSB chose to broaden the review to the entire merit review process, which has not had a holistic look…
The Census Bureau Requests Public Input on Timeline for New Race and Ethnicity Standards
The Census Bureau, is requesting public input on the timeline of introducing the new race and ethnicity standards to the American Community Survey (ACS) outlined in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No.15 (SPD 15) (see previous COSSA coverage). The request for information (RFI) is seeking to understand the impacts of implementing the new standards in 2026, for dissemination of the ACS in 2027, versus 2027, for dissemination of the ACS in 2028. Comments can be submitted here, or emailed to acso.pra@census.gov with the subject line āACS SPD 15,ā prior to the August 12 deadline.
Good Science Project Seeks Proposals on Improving Funding and Practice of Federal R&D
The Good Science Project, a non-profit that seeks to improve the funding and practice of research and development (R&D), is seeking proposals from the public on actionable steps that government leaders and policymakers can take to positively reform R&D. The Good Science Project was developed in 2022 by Stuart Buck following the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the positives and negatives of the current science funding model within the federal government. To this end, the Good Science Project intends to publish a series of policy briefs from researchers and scientists on ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal R&D, including but not limited to identifying…