RCUH Statement and UH Update on Federal Funding/Policy

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

We have received many questions relating to how RCUH is handling the system-wide measures recently announced by University of Hawai’i President Wendy Hensel. Consistent with UH policy, any RCUH employee who supports a UH project, must follow the instruction of their Principal Investigator and the UH administration’s measures.

UH VPRI UPDATE ON DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NOTICE

This also serves to inform you, if you have not already seen it, that UH Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis Syrmos released a notice on April 14 that said UH received a policy flash from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stating an immediate change to their indirect cost policy. Similar to the proposed cap by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the DOE will immediately institute a 15% indirect cost rate on new grants to institutes of higher education (IHEs) and is “undertaking” action to terminate all grant awards to IHEs that do not conform with this updated policy.”

If you have received a related termination notice or award-related information from the DOE, please contact Victoria Rivera, UH Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Compliance.

Please remember to check out the latest information on VPRI’s webpage New Administration Federal Funding Updates and the UH Federal Policy Updates and Resources webpage.

UH VPA UPDATE ON PERSONNEL ACTIONS – LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDS

UH Vice President for Administration Jan Gouveia also notified UH officers yesterday that a mandatory review by the Office of Human Resources and RCUH Human Resources (if applicable), is being instituted prior to any of the following actions:

  • Changing funding source(s) for permanent/temporary funded positions due to loss of federal funds-including temporary bridging funds
  • Reducing FTE due to loss of federal funds
  • Creating a new position or recruiting for a position intended to replace a position previously funded with federal funds
  • Terminating employment due to loss of federal funds.

The University created a webpage with guidance and Frequently Asked Questions relating to personnel actions: https://www.hawaii.edu/ohr/personnel-actions-loss-of-federal-funds/. UH also developed request forms for respective UH employees and RCUH employees.