Shutdown Extends Over a Month, More Events Affected
“…It’s always the same, it’s just a shame, that’s all.” — “That’s All,” Genesis
I heard this song on the radio as I was driving into work this morning, and this line immediately stuck out as a way to sum up our feelings on the current federal government shutdown, which is now over a month old. As all sides continue to deepen their trenches and forego any hopes of compromise, the shutdown continues to shamefully drag on.
In a recent blog post, we discussed the effects the shutdown is having on grant-related events here in the D.C. area. The list of postponed and altered events continues to grow. The Industry Demonstration Days slated for Jan. 29-31 in Washington, D.C, which would have been an opportunity for vendors to present an explanation and demonstration of their software solution that could meet the needs of the single audit and risk management community, has been “postponed until further notice,” according to the event’s registration website. We’re not entirely surprised by this because frankly, we could see it coming.
Another event that we had been looking forward to attending was a forum scheduled for tomorrow hosted by REI Systems, the National Grants Management Association and the George Washington University Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration to discuss the results of their 2018 annual grants management survey. Alas, this event has been postponed until late February. Ironically, looking back on what we wrote about the results of their 2017 survey, our story stated that among grant managers, “the current federal budgetary uncertainty is proving to be a rapidly growing concern.” One can probably guess that their budgetary concerns are now going through the roof.
Also affected by the shutdown is the Federal Demonstration Partnership’s (FDP) quarterly meeting here in D.C. On the agenda for each meeting is a “federal agency update,” in which officials from federal agencies proving funding and oversight for research institutions would briefly discuss the latest available grant opportunities and administrative changes within their agencies. With many of the agencies’ grants management business now in shutdown mode, FDP officials said that this session will be “a little skimpy” as only a few agency officials will provide updates, but FDP assured us the rest of the meeting will go on as planned.
So what's the grants community to do during the shutdown? Our advice, simple as it may be, is to refer to the words of a more recent song by Ariana Grande and “just keep breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’.” The shutdown will end someday. It can’t go on forever … can it??
Join us for our following Federal Grants Forums:
Orlando, Fla., Feb. 25-27, 2019
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Dallas, Texas, Oct. 16-18, 2019
Learn more at http://grants.thompson.com/conferences.aspx.
