Dear Colleagues,
For this month’s ReSearch ReSource, I want to address the Executive Order (EO) on "Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking," issued August 7, 2025.
The EO directs all federal agencies to create a process to review new funding opportunity announcements and discretionary grants to ensure they are "consistent with agency priorities and the national interest." It directs senior appointees to use "their own independent judgment" in reviewing funding opportunity announcements and discretionary awards. Listed are several new review criteria that these senior appointees are to use:
- All discretionary awards "advance the President's priorities."
- Preference for discretionary awards should be given to institutions with lower indirect cost rates.
- Discretionary grants are given to a broad range of recipients rather than to a select group of repeat players.
- Priority should be given to institutions that have demonstrated success in implementing Gold Standard Science.
This EO fundamentally changes the way in which federal discretionary research awards are prioritized and funded. We need to understand more about how these senior appointees will interact with the peer-review process and existing agency decision-making; it is critical that the primary driver of funding success remains scientific significance and impact.
We also need to understand how priorities for institutional indirect rates and other institutional characteristics will be integrated into funding decisions; it is critical that cutting-edge research proposals that require high-cost, specialized infrastructure (and therefore higher indirect costs) continue to be funded. UCSF is engaging directly with the administration and Congress on these issues.
The EO and its implications will continue to develop, and I will be sure to keep you updated. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office at [email protected] with questions.
Yours,
Hal
Harold R. Collard, MD, MS
Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine and Health Policy