ORN-2025-38

Update: Research Security Requirements on Federally Funded Research Grants and Contracts

Effective October 10, 2025 the National Science Foundation requires research security training certifications for all proposers and senior/key personnel. This training must cover cybersecurity, international collaboration, foreign interference, proper use of funds, disclosure, and conflicts of interest/commitment.
 

Specifically:

• Senior/key personnel must complete their required research security training within 12 months prior to proposal submission.  NJIT must certify that all senior/key personnel have completed this training.  Accordingly, it is even more important to initiate pre-award approvals as early as possible.
• NJIT must also certify that the institution has a plan for Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research training for all relevant personnel (students, faculty, etc.). This training must include mentor training, awareness of research security threats, and federal export control/disclosure requirements.

More details related to these federal requirements may be found here.
 
Going forward, in post-award phase, all personnel, including students, postdocs, etc., working on the project will be required to take the research security training as a part of the federal or institutional policy.
 

Through CITI Program, NJIT has the required courses available.  Our use of CITI Program for training integrates into our existing compliance training and allows for documentation and certification.  NJIT has single sign-on access with CITI Program to facilitate accessibility (choose to log-in through my organization).

For those that have not yet have an account with CITI Program, some basic instructions to get research security classes active are: 

• Navigate to the CITI Program webpage.
• The Login button is located near the upper right, click it.
• You will then want to choose "Log in through my organization" and in the search use New Jersey Institute of Technology in full.
• Continue to SSO/Login Instructions, and sign in as normal.
• You will be prompted to associate your account, if you do not already have an account, this is the time to create your account.
• You will be asked to update your profile, please do so.
• For NJIT compliance purposes, the licensed professional question will have no impact.
• You will then find yourself presented with a set of questions; these questions help determine which training is required.
• For the purposes of research security training, you only need to answer Question 10, and please choose "Research Security Advanced Refresher."  This class contains all the required modules in one. 

Continued Institutional Guidelines on Impact of Changes in Federal Policies on Research Grants and Contracts

If you receive any notification including any specific stop order, termination, budget change on indirect costs rate on your award/proposal, or request to sign any attestation from any funding agency, please forward the notification with any attachment to me immediately at dhawan@njit.edu and copy Eric Hetherington at erich@njit.edu. 

Please do not sign any document sent to you regarding any attestation on the federal research grants. 

We will continue to carefully review at the institutional level with the provost and general counsel offices to advise and follow up. The Office for Research and the Office of General Counsel will review the request and respond with instructions for you to follow.

Please visit our website periodically for updates on this situation.

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NIH Research Security Update

NOT-OD-25-154: Implementation of NIH Research Security Policies

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to supporting the research community in safeguarding U.S. science and engineering through clear, actionable research security policies. In alignment with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-167), National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33), and the July 29, 2024 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum on Guidelines for Research Security Programs at Covered Institutions, NIH is establishing a series of requirements to strengthen transparency and accountability across NIH funded projects.

In alignment with the OSTP memorandum, NIH will require two-part compliance for both covered institutions and individuals as outlined below:

1. Covered institutions will certify to the NIH that the institution has established and operates a research security program. Each research security program must include elements relating to (1) cybersecurity; (2) foreign travel security; (3) research security training; and (4) export control training, as appropriate.
2. Covered individuals (i.e., each individual identified as a senior/key person) will certify that they have completed the requisite research security training that meets the research security training requirements within 12 months prior to application submission.

Compliance will be effective for applications submitted on or after January 25, 2026. NIH is participating with NSF and other Federal research agencies to develop resources for each of the required elements and to develop a centralized process for recipients to certify compliance. NIH will issue more information on the central certification process as it becomes available.

Effective September 11th 2025, individuals who are a current party to a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) are not eligible to serve as a senior/key person on an NIH grant or cooperative agreement.  NIH will require MFTRP certifications from applicants and individuals identified as senior/key personnel with its implementation of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current/Pending (Other) Support.

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Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC)

Request for Project Proposals (RPP) MTEC-25-09-AMM: Advanced Medical Monitor

On September 17, 2025 the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) published the Request for Project Proposals (RPP) MTEC-25-09-AMM entitled, “Advanced Medical Monitor,” on the MTEC website and sam.gov to notify interested parties. This RPP is focused on developing an Advanced Medical Monitor (AMM) family of systems (FoS) components including the Next Generation Medical Monitor (NGMM) and the Expeditionary Medical Monitor (EMM), which continuously track vital signs and other relevant data. Both devices must be designed for expeditionary medical use and easy to maintain. The desired prototypes will need to be capable of advanced noninvasive physiological monitoring to provide actional information for enhanced military patient triage, to reduce cognitive workload, to inform treatment and evacuation priorities as well as monitor vital signs of patients under medical care by their final design.

White Papers are due no later than October 24, 2025 at Noon Eastern Time. MTEC membership is required for the submission of White Papers in response to this MTEC RPP. If you are not currently a member, please visit mtec-sc.org/join.

The Proposers Conference will be conducted via virtual webinar on September 26, 2025, at Noon Eastern Time. The intent of the Proposers Conference is for MTEC to provide an administrative overview of the RPP process to award and for the Government to present further insight into the Technical Requirements outlined in Section 3 of this RPP.  Both MTEC and Government representatives will be available to answer questions. To register for this conference, please use the following link: https://events.gov.teams.microsoft.us/event/bf56fa3f-a652-4037-bed6-f70fc8d654ad@83251a03-76a5-4450-8bd6-55962891f972

Points of Contact

Please direct your inquiries and correspondence to the following contacts: 

• Membership questions should be directed to MTEC Member Relations, Ms. Kim Olsen, kim.olsen@mtec-sc.org
• Questions concerning contractual, cost or pricing related to this RPP should be directed to the MTEC contracts team at contracts@mtec-sc.org
• Technical and all other questions should be directed to the MTEC Chief Science Officer, Dr. Lauren Palestrini, Ph.D., lauren.palestrini@mtec-sc.org

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New Jersey Health Foundation Funding Opportunities

New Jersey Health Foundation is now accepting applications for the recently announced cycle of its Annual Grant Program. Applications will be accepted electronically only through the New Jersey Health Foundation grant portal (https://webportalapp.com/sp/2026_njhealth) through November 19, 2025.  The link to the portal, along with Policies & Procedures and FAQs, can also be found on our website (www.njhealthfoundation.org) under the Grants program section.  Applications will not be accepted after the deadline. 

This year’s grant cycle is once again comprised of our two different programs.  Our Research Grants program supports early innovative research projects that demonstrate exciting potential and help researchers qualify for larger grants.  Our Community Health, Behavioral and Social Science, Social Service & Education Grants Program funds health-related community, education and social service projects as well as behavioral and social science projects that address issues impacting society.  Full-time faculty members, staff and other personnel are eligible to apply for grants of up to $50,000 each under the Research Grant program and up to $35,000 each under the Community Health, Behavioral and Social Science, Social Service & Education Grant program.

Prior to submission to New Jersey Health Foundation, all applicants must follow their organization’s standard approval protocols and procedures. Grant applications will be reviewed by the New Jersey Health Foundation Review Committee. 

If you have any questions, please contact your college Director of Research, or send an e-mail to researchgrant@njhf.org.

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Consortium for Energy, Environment and Demilitarization (CEED)

Request for White Papers - N11011-25-RP-00002- Water and Wastewater (w/ww) Technology and Resilient Service

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) operates and maintains extensive water and wastewater (w/ww) infrastructure across its domestic installations to support mission-critical operations, base personnel, and dependents. Much of this infrastructure is aging, vulnerable to resiliency-related impacts, and increasingly inefficient to operate and maintain. Traditional acquisition methods have not always delivered the innovation, speed, or adaptability needed to meet growing infrastructure challenges.

The Government is considering a new alternative, non-traditional approach to enable the USMC to modernize and add capacity to its w/ww infrastructure at the speed of business.  The USMC is seeking to use a prototype business approach to provide installations with state-of-art w/ww Technology and Resilient Service (WTRS) to meet USMC installation mission requirements. This OT-use approach leverages industry’s maintenance and operations models to prioritize infrastructure recapitalization via a Good-Bad-Failing rating model, establishes a baseline repair Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&M) for existing w/ww infrastructure resources repairs, which will reduce w/ww usage to provide the financing needed to repair and upgrade the w/ww infrastructure and provide much needed In Kind Consideration (IKC) to the USMC installations for infrastructure repairs needed to maintain mission readiness.  The WTRS concept seeks to empower the USMC to modernize in a cost-effective and predictable manner.

The USMC is seeking innovative approaches that detail:

• Phased technical and management approach
• Notional project POA&M
• Funding sources and investor strategies
• Identification of enabling statutory authorities
• Alternative ownership with short and long term infrastructure recapitalization and operational strategies
• Infrastructure sustainment models
• Any other considerations required to support the project

All White Paper submittals in response to this RWP must be received by CMG no later than 4 PM Eastern Time, October 13, 2025.

If interested in submitting the White Paper through CMG Portal, please contact Shawn Chester, AVP Research Collaboration and Partnerships at shawn.chester@njit.edu.