In recognition of the disruptive impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on scientific conferences, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued memorandum M-20-17, “Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations," to provide agencies with additional flexibilities for grant recipients affected by the loss of operational capacity and increased costs due to the COVID-19 crisis. If you have incurred nonrefundable travel costs on your federal grant due to the cancellation or postponement of a SIAM conference, please review the information below and contact your program officer with any additional questions.
Section 7 of OMB M-20-17 allows costs to be charged to awards that would not normally be allowed, including “costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the performance of the award, or the pausing and restarting of grant-funded activities due to the public health emergency.” The links below provide more detailed information on how each federal agency has interpreted OMB M-20-17 for its grantees. In some cases, the agency issued its own advisory prior to the issuance of M-20-17, but the guidelines are nonetheless consistent with M-20-17 in that they allow nonrefundable travel costs to cancelled or postponed conferences to be charged to the grant.