Mike's Blog

We’re back, it’s FY26 now, aaaaaand we’re already behind.

The USG is once again open for business after 43 days (now the longest shutdown ever). Most staff are still digging out from the avalanche of emails that accumulated over that time. At the same time, hundreds of study sections (>400) have been cancelled and will need to be rescheduled even including ones that were scheduled for after the shutdown due to issues with recruitment, assignments, and travel arrangements. This will impact the UM1 reviews. While we were just getting caught up from all the earlier delays in FY25, it appears that we’ll be playing catchup for much of FY26. Councils right now are still taking place as planned but expect some adjustments. In addition, NCATS (as well as other NIH ICs) may also run into quorum concerns for Council further into 2026.

The resolution of the shutdown has left NIH with another continuing resolution (CR) that now runs through January 30th (this means NCATS January Council: 1/29, will take place). There were three full year appropriations bills included (military construction/VA, Agriculture which includes the FDA, and the legislative branch) in the CR. We may see more full year appropriation bills before 1/30, but the one with NIH (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, aka ‘Labor H’) is likely to be one of the more contentious bills, so we (NIH) may be looking at another CR or even another full year CR for the rest of FY26. Official travel will require lengthier justifications and additional eyeballs for review, so longer lead times, especially for conferences and workshops, will be necessary. CTSA Program visits are unscathed so far from this policy. 
 

For those of us (<10) who were here throughout the shutdown (designated as ‘excepted’), while the building was quiet, there were a few activities to keep us occupied, necessitating ‘recalling’ certain staff for specific tasks. The biggest issue during this time was N3C. Many of you have been aware that N3C was forced to shut down prior to the USG shutdown. NCATS’ contract with Palantir was up for renewal in late September and HHS declined to approve that renewal. This decision in no way reflects HHS opinion on the scientific merits of N3C; rather, this contract (along with other similar HHS contracts) was caught up in a larger ongoing activity across HHS that is focused on enhancing data sharing across HHS by standardizing how the whole department (as opposed to individual departmental agencies) approaches IT infrastructure and resources. A considerable amount of effort was expended to ensure that all N3C data remained secure and that nothing was lost as a result of this temporary suspension of activities. Joni and I were granted pontifical dispensation to address (virtually) the CTSA Steering Committee during the annual meeting as all N3C-related activities were deemed ‘excepted work.’ Unfortunately, at this point we don’t have a date when N3C will be restored but stay tuned as we anticipate coming back bigger and better than ever. We were able to temporarily open (through the end of next week) the enclave for researchers to download their work. We will be rolling out more details on the transition over the next few months.

Together, we’ll all survive FY26!

Project planning isn’t about avoiding changes, it’s about controlling them.
No project plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
- Dennis E Taylor, We Are Legion (We Are Bob)