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Summary of federal transition impacts as of March 7, 2025
Indirect cost rates
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its decision to cap indirect cost rates for biomedical research grants at 15%. The court found that the NIH violated regulations by failing to justify the cap, disregarding stakeholders' reliance on prior rates, and not following proper procedures.
What this means:
- While the legal case is still ongoing, K-State will not have to accept the 15% cap at this time.
- We will continue negotiating appropriate indirect cost rates, ensuring needed financial support for our research infrastructure.
- The ruling protects existing grants from retroactive funding cuts.
- It reinforces the importance of procedural fairness in federal grant policies.
National Institutes of Health reviews
In response to recent Executive Orders issued by the current administration, federal funding agencies have been evaluating their funding portfolios to ensure compliance with the numerous directives.
Several federal agencies funding K-State’s sponsored programs have restricted the use of federal funds for DEI-related activities. While some agencies, like the DoD STEM program, have worked with K-State to modify programs to comply with regulations, others have opted for direct terminations. In response, K-State has submitted appeals to challenge the termination of two of these programs to allow for possible modifications. K-State is actively engaging with funding agencies to find solutions and ensure compliance while maintaining support for important programs. The university remains committed to advocating for its researchers and their funded projects and working within federal guidelines to submit proposals that are responsive to funding opportunity guidelines.
A recent article in Nature described the process that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be pursuing to review its portfolio of existing funded projects and future grants for any DEI-related activities.
K-State researchers can use this published insight to proactively review their existing and pending grant project descriptions to prepare for anticipated engagement with their NIH program officers or grants management specialists. If researchers would like assistance with redrafting project descriptions to achieve compliance, you are encouraged to reach out to the Office of Research Development at ord@k-state.edu.
USAID funding
K-State’s federally funded international programs were affected by a freeze on foreign aid funds, resulting in stop-work orders initially and now project terminations from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and USDA Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS). This impacted both K-State and its in-country collaborators.
In response, K-State promptly ceased work and sought reimbursement for costs incurred. While recent court rulings have allowed payment disputes to proceed, there is no set deadline for resolution or actual reimbursement.
K-State remains committed to resolving this issue by actively monitoring the reimbursement process, working with higher education associations, and engaging its congressional delegation to advocate for continued support of the agricultural initiatives funded by these agencies.
Additional resources
For the latest updates on what we know about impacts related to the federal administration transition, please continue to check the the 2025 Federal Transition website.
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