To the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ community:
Late Friday afternoon, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a notice titled This notice states that, effective immediately, the , sometimes called the indirect cost rate or IDC, on NIH grants are capped at 15%—substantially lower than the university's negotiated rate.
We are profoundly concerned about the potential consequences of this change for research taking place here and across the country. This change in policy would have a significant negative impact on all American research universities, including us, and also limit the ability of other NIH grant-funded organizations to support critical research infrastructure. Indirect costs pay for personnel in support of research, research facilities, regulatory compliance, utilities, safety requirements and myriad other critical aspects of research. It is not possible to perform the research funded by direct costs without the infrastructure supported by indirect costs.
We are networked with colleagues at universities across the country as well as our advocacy groups to challenge this policy. While our leadership team has been tightly focused on this issue, principal investigators (PIs) do not need to take any action on their projects at this time. If you are contacted by your agency or program officer to make a change on grant spending, please quickly provide this information to Joan Schenkel, associate vice president for research administration, at researchquestions@case.edu.
We will continue to keep you posted on any new developments as we learn of them. The situation is changing daily, at least, and it is not possible to know where this will end. I understand and regret the anxiety and uncertainty this may create. We have launched a page on the Office of Research and Technology Management's website to help our researchers better understand the changing environment; we will keep this page updated as information becomes available.
Sincerely,
Eric W. Kaler
President