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AIRI Statement on NIH Indirect Rate Cap Notice

On February 7^th the Trump administration announced a policy notice with the intention of setting a capped facilities and administrative (F&A) rate of 15 percent across all NIH grants. Forgoing the meticulously negotiated F&A rates of research institutions across the country. 

AIRI is deeply concerned about the administration’s recent proposal to reduce funding for biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The suggested cuts to F&A costs associated with NIH research grants will slow progress of scientific innovation and limit breakthroughs to cures and treatments towards our nation’s most debilitating diseases like cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. 

For AIRI members with few other sources of funding, these costs provide essential support for research infrastructure and operating expenses, such as the maintenance of state-of-the-art laboratories and high-tech facilities, data processing and storage, energy and utility expenses, security for dangerous chemicals and microbes, and the administration of a grant throughout its lifecycle. Hence, this cap on F&A costs would irreparably harm independent research institutes, an essential sector of the biomedical research enterprise.

AIRI continues to engage daily with our partner organizations that support universities, academic medical centers, hospitals, and IRIs to monitor this policy change, provide updates to our membership, and communicate the impact to relevant stakeholders. 

At the time of making this statement several joint lawsuits have been issued to halt the enforcement of this policy and a federal judge in the district of Massachusetts has issued a temporary restraining order halting the policy for research institutions in all 50 states until a hearing at a later date. We will continue to update the membership on how this progresses through the courts. 

We know many of you are eager to engage your elected officials to resist this policy change. AIRI intends to share resources that will be helpful for that advocacy. In addition, we are looking to collect information from our membership so we can fully understand the extent of impact on our research institutions. Please be on the lookout for those communications. In the meantime, if you have issued letters, petitions, statements, etc. to your elected officials already and are inclined to share them as a resource for other member institutions please send your correspondence to [email protected].