RALEIGH — North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek has issued a memorandum to UNC System school chief financial officers and finance leaders regarding changes in the National Institutes of Health’s research grant policies.
“Our financial statement audits stick to the numbers, and that’s exactly what our universities need to be doing,” Boliek said in a statement. “The last thing we want to report are findings that could have been avoided.”
The memo states, “Given the NIH’s new guidance for its research grant policy, which states that there will be a standard rate of 15% across all federally funded NIH grants for indirect costs, OSA recommends universities that receive NIH funding take extreme care in reporting upcoming financing statements.”
The National Institute of Health (NIH) policy changes directed by the Trump administration involve grant funding for medical and scientific research at institutions such as universities, medical schools and research hospitals.
Part of the proposed policy changes mentioned by Boliek involve the scaling back NIH’s “indirect costs” related to research funding to 15% of grants issued. NIH has a budget of around $47 billion, and, per reports, agency officials have indicated that NIH spent more than $35 billion in fiscal year 2023 on grants, which included $9 billion in “indirect costs.” Per NIH, nearly 50,000 grants were issued to 2,500 universities and research institutions nationwide in the same fiscal year.
The administration also froze NIH hiring, issued a travel ban, canceled review panels and paused the agency’s public communications in January. The communication directives were listed in an NIH memo dated Jan. 21.
Boliek’s memo urges schools in the UNC System to begin preparations related to the policy update.
“While the policy is currently in the judicial process, implementation of the new standard indirect rate will result in varying changes to operating revenues at affected public universities in North Carolina,” the memo reads.
More than 20 states filed a lawsuit following the Trump administration’s directives to NIH, and a federal judge has issued at least one temporary restraining order in the matter.
At the same time NIH paused its activities, a bill filed in the North Carolina legislature would claw back a $500 million endowment to a nonprofit funding research acceleration grants to colleges and universities in the state.
The group involved, NCInnovation, invested the funding and accumulated $20 million in interest. The organization has not touched the principal and used only $5.2 million of the interest gained for its first round of grants.
House Bill 154, filed by Rep. Harry Warren (R-Rowan), would take back the $500 million and the remaining $15 million in interest. In a statement to North State Journal, Warren said the money was needed elsewhere and cited “unforeseen challenges.”
Deanna Ballard, an NCInnovation board member and former state senator, told North State Journal she’d like to see NCI be given more time to work.
