G2G Bio Bulletin – May 31, 2026
Funding
New SBIR announcements rolled out this past week including:
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NIH: The agency posted funding opportunity announcements for its Parent SBIR, Parent STTR, and Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) programs, as well as for the SBIR Phase IIB Strategic Breakthrough Awards which were established under the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization legislation. These awards have a ceiling of up to $30 million and require matching funds.
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NSF: The agency posted announcements for its Phase I, Phase II, and Fast-Track awards. Submission of new Project Pitches will begin on Tuesday June 2.
Updates from Washington
Congress: Both chambers were in recess this past week.
Administration & Agencies:
- Major Grant Policy Changes: On Friday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule that would affect all federal grants. The stated aim of this proposed action is to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in grant disbursement and management, as well as to align awards with national priorities. The proposed rule would go into effect before the next fiscal year starts, and will impact all grants issued from October 1, 2026, forward. Public comment is due July 13. Key highlights of the proposal are as follows:
- Elimination of fixed-amount awards and fixed-amount subawards, which OMB found “can limit transparency and hinder effective oversight”
- A new prohibition on “covered foreign collaborations” involving “covered foreign countries or covered foreign entities,” which extends the long-standing “Wolf Amendment” restrictions on collaboration with China across all federal financial assistance programs
- Expanded authority for “discretionary termination” of federal awards that “no longer effectuate program goals, Federal agency priorities, or the national interest”
- Mandatory pre-issuance review of all discretionary awards by “senior appointees” (i.e., political appointees) who must apply specific principles including ensuring awards advance the President’s policy priorities
- Deemphasis of peer review of proposals by designating that the process is "advisory” and cannot "replace agency discretion"
- Encouragement of multi-year awards to reduce the frequency of applications and individual awards generated each year
- New restrictions on allowable costs, including advertising and public relations, publication costs, conferences, and lobbying
- CMS:
- The agency announced new rules impacting the IOTA (Increasing Organ Transplant Access) Model, to increase the number of kidney transplants among other aims.
- A final rule was issued to establish new parameters for providers and health insurers to follow, when resolving medical bill disputes, under the provisions of the No Surprises Act.
- Veterans Affairs (VA): On Tuesday, the agency announced a new clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder in veterans.
- Vaccines: President Trump has issued an executive order to align the American pediatric vaccine schedules with those in peer nations. This comes after aligned guidelines were issued earlier this year by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Reminder: Don’t miss the monthly GBG Report call every third Thursday of the month at 12 pm ET where the team discusses the latest federal life sciences funding opportunities. G2G has raised $612M and is eager to share our expertise to help companies grow and accelerate bringing innovations to patients.