Grants management and sponsor compliance

EO 14332 (Aug. 7, 2025) directs new termination-for-convenience rights, F&A-cost preferences, and DEI-linked terms for discretionary federal grants.

Kenya launched a 2026-2036 research-financing masterplan and the Grand Challenges Kenya fund to close its R&D spending gap and cut aid reliance.

ARC’s 5-goal PID Action Plan — DOIs on grants, ROR on institutions, ORCID on personnel, plus a FAIR data policy — is due complete by end of 2026.

NIH has folded replication and reproducibility into its 2026 Gold Standard Science agenda: a new agency-wide Highlighted Topic, continued Common Fund replication funding, and an RFI on rewarding rigor in review. Here’s what’s actually new versus the existing 2016 rigor policy, and what it means for grants and data management offices supporting NIH-funded investigators.

As of January 2026, Quebec’s FRQ requires the narrative CV-FRQ for all its competitions, replacing the Canadian Common CV across all FRQ-funded programs.

NIH’s RFI NOT-OD-26-086 proposes capping how many Research Project Grants one PI can hold at once. Comments closed August 3, 2026; no final policy yet.

In April 2025, NEH terminated more than 1,400 grants worth over $100 million; a federal judge has since ruled the mass termination unconstitutional. Starting June 30, 2026, NEH began asking each affected recipient to formally reconfirm, via a Reinstatement Assurances Form, that they still want the award back.

A 2026 accounting change requires NIH to obligate a multi-year grant’s full cost up front instead of year-by-year, shrinking how many new awards its budget can fund. Reported figures show R01-equivalent awards down roughly 24% year-over-year, overall success rates falling toward the high-teens (lowest in decades per some trackers), and NCI applicant odds reportedly falling from about 1-in-10 to about 1-in-25.

From 1 April 2026, UKRI no longer accepts uninvited resubmissions of rejected proposals. Here is what changed and how it reshapes grant-writing strategy.

ERC restructured its 2026 Scientific Proposal: Part I (5pp, concept) and Part II (7pp, implementation) replace B1/B2; feasibility now assessed in Step 2.

HHS’s Simpler.Grants.gov initiative has shipped a new default search, account and submission-tracking tools, and a public API through 2025-2026 — but full application submission and a legacy Grants.gov retirement date are not yet confirmed. Here’s what’s actually changed for applicants.

Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome launched Gr-ADI in January 2026 with $60 million for 18 antibiotic-discovery projects in 17 countries — the first major investment inside their broader $300 million global-health R&D partnership, and a notable model for joint-funder consortium grant terms.

The EU Council reached a partial position on FP10 (2028-2034) on 26 June 2026: EUR175bn proposed, four pillars. Here is what is agreed vs still open.

NSF restarted SBIR/STTR for FY26 with $250M, a new $30M Strategic Breakthrough tier, a $40M instrumentation pilot, and a July 27, 2026 deadline.

OMB’s proposed grants rewrite would give political appointees final sign-off and recast peer review as advisory. Comments closed at 340,000+.

NIH is centralizing peer review of fellowship (F), career development (K), and training (T) applications, giving more weight to candidate potential and training goals — part of its broader Unified NIH Funding Strategy.

OSTP’s July 2026 report and FY2028 memo direct agencies to fund researchers over institutions and diversify grants beyond peer review.

AHRQ has issued near-identical “non-award” letters ending continuation funding for dozens of active grants, citing portfolio prioritization. HHS says these are not terminations; grantees and advocacy groups disagree, a distinction with real consequences for appeal rights and sponsored-programs planning.

ERC Work Programme 2027 (adopted 20 July 2026): wider Starting/Consolidator eligibility windows, one-proposal limit, Synergy call moved to February.

Wellcome revises grant eligibility from 1 July 2026 and restricts lead-applicant hosts to the UK and LMICs in Africa, South and SE Asia from 29 October 2026.

OMB’s May 2026 proposed rule would bar federal grant funds from collaboration with “covered foreign countries.” Here’s what the rule’s text actually says, why the widely-cited “17 countries” figure isn’t a real OMB list, and how this differs from the CHIPS Act’s countries-of-concern list.

NIH Notice NOT-OD-26-064 ends Continuous Submission after August 10, 2026, and narrows late-application eligibility for all applicants NIH-wide.

NIH’s 15% indirect-cost cap is dead: the First Circuit upheld the injunction against it in January 2026, and DOJ let its Supreme Court appeal deadline lapse in April 2026 without filing. Congress has separately blocked equivalent caps at NIH, DOE, and NSF through appropriations riders. The remaining risk isn’t litigation — it’s the annual budget-request cycle.

OMB’s proposed rewrite of the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) closed for comment July 13, 2026. What it would change, and its status toward an Oct. 1 target.

The ARC’s updated Generative AI policy took effect 28 April 2026, setting rules for applicants, assessors, and research offices.

US university budget cuts and layoffs have continued into summer 2026, with new rounds at Johns Hopkins, the University of Minnesota, The New School, and others. Some are explicitly tied to NIH, NSF, and USAID funding disruption; others are driven mainly by enrollment or state-funding pressure. Here’s what’s documented, institution by institution.

CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC’s revised Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration takes effect April 1, 2026. The key change: a new Buy-Canadian purchasing expectation for grant-funded spend, plus a tighter rule on consulting fees paid to grant-team-affiliated entities.

Effective June 1, 2026, NIH requires prior approval before adding a new domestic subaward not in the original approved application.

NSF’s PAPPG 26-200 supplement (eff. Dec. 8, 2025) revised SBIR pitch rules, funding caps, equipment thresholds, and research-security requirements.

NIH triaged applications into discussion tiers to clear its shutdown backlog; a related funding-criteria shift drew reported political-influence concerns.

Federal agencies now require ORCID as a digital persistent identifier; universities are setting their own 2026 linkage deadlines ahead of enforcement.

NIH’s Common Forms leniency period ended May 8, 2026: eRA now blocks SciENcv biosketch/support submissions with unlinked ORCID or eRA Commons.

The European Commission adopted Horizon Europe’s 2026-2027 Work Programme on 11 December 2025: EUR 14bn, at least 35% for climate, and a new valorisation push.

DHS’s new rule ends open-ended F-1/J-1 admission, capping it at up to 4 years and requiring a separate USCIS extension filing, effective Sept. 15, 2026.

Where Harvard’s federal research funding fight stands in 2026, and why the appeal’s jurisdictional question matters for every funded institution.

Federal judge Rita Lin has repeatedly ordered NSF and NIH to restore suspended UCLA grants via preliminary injunction in an ongoing UC faculty lawsuit — roughly $81M (NSF, Aug 2025) and $500M/500 grants (NIH plus DOD/DOT/HHS, Sept 2025). As of July 2026 the case is still open toward a final ruling, with a hearing set for October 20, 2026. Here is what “restored” by preliminary injunction means operationally for a research office — and why it is not the same as a resolved dispute.

A 2026 status map of Accord implementation: HELP/HECS reform now law, university funding mid-transition, ATEC on its own legislative track.

Congress rejected the White House’s FY2026 proposal to eliminate the Fogarty International Center, funding NIH’s global health research arm at $95 million — flat with FY2025. Here’s the current status.

The FY2026 Labor-HHS appropriations report directs HHS to process grant disbursements within 5 business days, with exceptions. What NIH awardees should know.

Congress rejected NIH’s 27-to-8 institute consolidation in FY2026 funding, but administrative restructuring continues. Here’s the current status.

Where 2026 litigation over SEVIS record terminations and visa revocations stands, and what it means for international researchers.

The 2025 H-1B $100,000 fee hits new petitions requiring consular processing, including at universities. Litigation is ongoing — current status inside.

NSF’s indirect cost cap attempt was blocked and Congress has barred new rate changes. Grant terminations tied to DEI/environmental-justice criteria are being litigated on two separate tracks with different outcomes so far, and NSF’s budget remains under pressure. Here is the current, still-moving status as of mid-2026.

NCI’s FY2026 budget was proposed for a 37-43% cut; Congress instead raised NIH overall slightly, but cancer grants are still funded below recommended levels.

NIH terminated its Minority Biomedical Research Support Program and froze diversity supplements in 2025 – what was cut, and where litigation stands now.

Congress rejected Trump’s proposed 40% NIH cut in FY2026, funding NIH at $48.7B — but grant terminations and indirect-cost fights still reshaped awards.