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To the University of Maine System community,
Last Friday, I reached out to let you know that the University of Maine System (UMS) had begun preparing for the possibility that much of the federal government will be temporarily unable to operate starting Oct. 1 due to a lapse in appropriations.
Although an agreement to fund the government has not yet been achieved and we are now just hours away from a potential shutdown, there have been several developments since Friday that I wanted to share with you. Notably, a number of the key federal agencies that fund activities across our public universities have released contingency plans detailing what functions they will and will not continue in the event there is a federal government shutdown starting at midnight tonight.
While each contingency plan is highly specific to each agency, taken together, the documents that we have been able to review so far have greatly informed our understanding of how the current Administration is approaching a potential lapse of appropriations and, thus, our own planning efforts. We are encouraged that internal guidance from multiple agencies has stated that current grantees will generally be able to continue with allowable activities during a potential shutdown, although payments may be delayed until the federal government reopens due to a lack of personnel to administer payment systems.
Based on this information, all UMS employees (including student workers) — even those supported by federal dollars — should continue reporting to work, regardless of a federal shutdown, unless you have heard otherwise from your supervisor.
System and university leaders are continuing to carefully analyze agency contingency plans and potential impacts to UMS employees and activities by federal funding source and will communicate any necessary changes to supervisors. If your work or schedule is affected, your supervisor will directly notify you.
Consistent with our earlier request, if you receive a stop-work order from a federal agency, please immediately inform your university’s office of sponsored programs and Chris Boynton, the Director of the University of Maine Office of Research Administration. In the event that a stop-work order or other federal directive necessitates an employment action, UMS Human Resources will engage our union partners and the Maine Department of Labor to coordinate supportive resources and assist with the transition for affected employees.
You can see these contingency plans and also FAQs, helpful contacts, and other relevant information on our System’s federal shutdown planning website at maine.edu/federal-shutdown-planning/. We encourage you to visit this page frequently as we are updating this resource regularly and to reach out to your supervisor or the appropriate System or university administrator if you have questions that have not been adequately addressed already.
While this does not minimize the seriousness of a federal shutdown, we hope this update provides a clearer understanding of how a lapse in federal appropriations could directly impact our employees and operations. I know we all remain hopeful that a compromise will be reached that maintains critical government services and programs for the benefit of Maine’s public universities and all Americans.
Thank you for all that you do for our students, our System, and the state of Maine.
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