Updates on Federal Executive Orders and Research Activities
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) continues to monitor the 2025 presidential administration transition. Those updates are posted on a separate page. Click the resources for researchers link below.
This page is updated monthly to include critical updates associated with federal funding.
Institutional Updates
Required Training Matrix Available
To help the research community stay apprised of required training, OVPRI has released a required training matrix. The matrix lists who must take a specific required training, how frequently, where to access the training, how long it will take to complete the training, and a link to the federal requirement that requires the training. We hope this resource will help PIs, departmental grant administrators (DGAs), and others identify and complete training requirements.
Proposal Development Support
Faculty seeking support for how to prepare competitive proposals (or proposal components) under current federal executive orders (EOs) and agency review processes are encouraged to meet with Research Development Services for support. Please email rds@uoregon.edu to request assistance.
Foreign Travel Security Training Encouraged and May Soon be Mandatory
Foreign Travel Security Training is highly encouraged—and may soon become mandatory—for any principal investigator, co-principal investigator, project director, co-project director, senior/key personnel, or any other position specified in a funding opportunity announcement who travels internationally regardless of whether the travel will be charged to a sponsored award.
PIs, co-PIs, and senior/key personnel with active grant awards who have traveled internationally in the previous three years will receive an email with instructions to complete the training.
Training must be complete prior to travel and is valid for six years.
The UO has released its Foreign Travel Security Training, which is available through MyTrack Learning. The training will take approximately one hour to complete. A Duck ID is required to complete the training. More information about the Foreign Travel Security Training can be found on the export control website.
Export Control Training Encouraged and May Soon be Mandatory
Export Control Training is highly encouraged—and may soon become mandatory—for any principal investigator, co-principal investigator, project director, co-project director, senior/key personnel, or any other position specified in a funding opportunity announcement working with export-controlled technologies.
SPS and the Export Control Office will identify PIs, co-PIs, and senior/key personnel who need to complete the training.
The UO will be using the export control module in CITI to satisfy the training requirement. A Duck ID is required to complete the training. Details about how to access the training can be found on the export control website.
SAM.gov
The University of Oregon’s UEI is Z3FGN9MF92U2, with an expiration date of December 2, 2025. Do not use the UO's old SAM.gov account number with an expiration date of November 25, 2025.
Updated Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rate
The University of Oregon’s fringe benefit rates have been finalized for FY25 and we have received an updated F&A rate agreement to reflect these rates. Updated rates are posted on the F&A rates webpage.
Customizable International Travel Checklist Available
In partnership with the Information Security Office, Safety and Risk Services, Business Affairs Travel Office, and Sponsored Project Services, the Export Control Office has launched a customized international travel checklist. The checklist provides recommended and required steps for safety, security, and compliance while traveling internationally, and the checklist is customized by destination. The checklist can also be found on the Export Control Office’s international travel webpage.
Federal Guidance and Critical Sponsor Updates
Required Congruence Among Biosketch, Current/Pending Support Document, and Conflict of Interest Disclosure
Federal sponsors have indicated an expectation that documents a researcher submits to a sponsor, like a biographical sketch and a current/pending support document, should match the documents submitted to the institution’s Conflict of Interest Office.
Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) and the Conflict of Interest (COI) Office are working together to help researchers maintain congruence among these documents.
Effective January 2025, researchers may receive correspondence from the COI Office with a request to update their COI disclosure in the Research Administration Portal or to update a biographical sketch or current/pending support document submitted to a sponsor.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Research Security Training Soon to be Required for PIs, Co-PIs, and Senior/Key Personnel
NSF released information on how it plans to implement Research Security Training. Comments on the proposed changes are open through February 2025, and we expect the changes to be implemented shortly thereafter.
Among the potential changes, Research Security Training will be required of any principal investigator, co-principal investigator, project director, co-project director, and senior/key personnel who are applying for or receiving funding from NSF. Training must be completed within one year of proposal submission.
Researchers will need to certify their completion of Research Security Training and affirm that they are not party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program. The UO will also certify researchers’ completion of the required training prior to proposal submission. Other federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, are expected to release information on their requirements for implementing required Research Security Training. The Department of Energy released its requirements in October.
The UO has released its Research Security Training, which is available through MyTrack Learning. The training will take approximately one-and-a-half hours to complete. A Duck ID is required to complete the training. More information about the Research Security Training can be found on the export control website.
The offices of Research Integrity and Sponsored Project Services will ensure that researchers have adequate time to complete the training prior to the effective date.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
2024 updates to the Final Rule
The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) issued the 2024 Final Rule to update the 2005 Public Health Service (PHS) Policies on Research Misconduct. The 2024 updates to the Final Rule establish requirements for addressing research misconduct; the application date for the final rule is January 1, 2026. UO policy changes to comply with the new final rule will be communicated to the research community once available. For more information, see the ORI announcement or contact Sheryl Johnson, the UO’s research integrity officer at sherylj@uoregon.edu.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
PDF Files Must Be “Flattened” Before Submission
NIH requires submission of PDF attachments as part of both the application process and post award activities in the eRA Commons, such as Request for Additional Materials (RAM), Just-in-Time (JIT), and Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). Many of these attachments must be flattened before submission to avoid errors.What is flattening? An electronic PDF file can actually be made up of multiple ‘layers’ such as a watermark, images, regular text, electronic signatures, and maybe even some fillable form fields. Flattening files keeps them from being inadvertently edited, reduces the file size, and helps ensure that what you submit is what agency staff members see.Visit the new NIH flattening PDFs for application submission and commons uploads resource page.
Department of Energy (DOE)
Department of Energy Researchers Must Take Research Security Training
Effective May 1, 2025, Research Security Training will be required for principal investigators (PIs), co-principal investigators, project directors, co-project directors, senior/key personnel, or any other position specified in a funding opportunity announcement who submit proposals to the US Department of Energy.
Training must be complete prior to submitting a proposal and must be completed annually thereafter.
The UO has released its Research Security Training, which is available through MyTrack Learning. The training will take approximately one-and-a-half hours to complete. A Duck ID is required to complete the training. More information about the Research Security Training can be found on the export control website.
We expect additional federal agencies to release their Research Security Training requirements in the coming months.
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