In a November 30 announcement about its closeout policies, NIH urges grantees to spend their awards in a timely fashion:
"NIH will strictly enforce its closeout policies. When recipients fail
to submit timely reports, NIH will initiate unilateral closeout. It is
important to note that for financial closeout, if a recipient fails to
submit a final expenditure FFR, HHS policy directs NIH to close the
grant using the last accepted Federal Cash Transaction Report’s cash
drawdown amount. This could be considered a debt or result in
disallowed costs. In addition, failure to correct recurring reporting
problems may cause NIH to take one or more actions that may include, but
are not limited to, corrective actions, withholding of further awards,
suspension or termination."
