Interim NIH Reopening of Extramural Activities

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released interim guidance regarding the reopening of extramural activities now that the federal government shutdown has concluded. While many of your teams may have already seen this notice, we want to ensure everyone in the research community is aware of the key updates and upcoming adjustments to NIH operations.

You can review the full notice here: NOT-OD-26-005

What You Need to Know

1. ERA Commons Help Desk & Notifications

Email confirmations from ERA Commons were delayed but will be sent in the coming weeks. Departments should be aware that eRA inbox activity may temporarily spike as queued messages begin to release. Help desk tickets (e.g., login/password issues) are being addressed first-come, first-served. Response times may be longer than usual.

2. Upcoming Deadlines for Applications

NIH has confirmed that all grant application deadlines scheduled for October and November will be rescheduled, with specific dates to be announced in a forthcoming Notice. This applies to new submissions, renewals, resubmissions, and revisions. No immediate action is required from investigators or administrators until NIH publishes the revised deadlines, but you may want to begin monitoring communications closely so proposal teams can adjust planning timelines once NIH provides clarity.

3. Peer Review and Council Meetings

NIH has canceled all peer review meetings originally planned for October 1 through November 14, as well as all council meetings within the same period. Both will be rescheduled, and updated dates will be issued as NIH restores normal operations. These shifts may affect the timing of summary statements, council concurrence, and ultimately the pace at which new awards are processed. Departments should anticipate some delays in the review-to-award pipeline until NIH releases new schedules.

4. JIT, Awards, and Funding Timelines

Although NIH’s interim guidance does not yet specifically address Just-in-Time (JIT) actions or award processing, the most probable scenario (based on past shutdown reopenings) is that JIT review and new award issuance may experience temporary delays. New award actions, continuations, supplements and renewals scheduled for funding, may be delayed until NIH completes internal triage. Administrative actions and prior approval requests typically resume more quickly but may also encounter short-term backlog-related delays.

5. Report Submissions (RPPRs & FFRs)

If you submitted progress reports, RPPRs, FFRs, or other required deliverables during the shutdown window, no further action is required unless NIH staff contact you directly.