Dr. Sally Rockey, Deputy Director for Extramural Research at NIH, posted the message below to her blog.

NIH Operations Under the Sequester

This morning I sent a letter to the signing officials at NIH-funded institutions about the sequestration order signed by the President on Friday. We have posted the letter on the Office of Extramural Research website and I am copying it here for your information.

As we noted in the recent Guide Notice, NIH institutes and centers (ICs) will announce their respective approaches to meeting the new budget level at a later date. Links to these announcements will be available on the NIH extramural financial operations page.

I will keep you informed as events progress.

Dear NIH Signing Official,

As you are likely aware, in accordance with the Budget Control Act of 2011, a series of spending cuts, called sequestration, will cancel approximately $85 billion in budgetary resources across the Federal government for the remainder of the Federal fiscal year.  As a partner with you in accomplishing the NIH mission, we are writing to provide you with information about what this reduction means for the funds provided to your organization.

At this time, the Department of Health and Human Services and NIH are taking every step to mitigate the effects of these cuts, but based on our initial analysis, it is possible that your grants or cooperative agreement awards may be affected.  Examples of this impact could include: not issuing continuation awards, or negotiating a reduction in the scope of your awards to meet the constraints imposed by sequestration.  Additionally, plans for new grants or cooperative agreements may be re-scoped, delayed, or canceled depending on the nature of the work and the availability of resources.

To the extent that fiscal year 2013 funds for your grants or cooperative agreement are affected due to these budget cuts, you will be contacted by the appropriate Grant Management Officer with additional details at a later point.  Please note that these budget cuts do not affect grant or cooperative agreement awards made with fiscal year 2012 resources.

Thank you for your continued partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and NIH, and for your cooperation as we work together to manage these circumstances.

Sally Rockey, Ph.D.
Deputy Director for Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health