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FLC says shutdown scrambled award and meeting schedules; national meeting planned for May in Seattle
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Summary
Paul Zielinski, executive director of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, told The Transfer Files that a recent federal shutdown delayed award judging and session planning, pushing some deadlines and prompting contingency plans for the FLC's national meeting in May.
Paul Zielinski, executive director of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), said the recent federal shutdown disrupted the consortium’s calendar, delaying award submissions, adjudication and national meeting planning.
“Shutdown’s not so much, and particularly this one being a record breaking shutdown,” Zielinski said, describing how deadlines that fell in October were moved and judging and session planning were pushed back to December 12.
The delay affected two of the FLC’s central annual activities: judging submissions for the consortium’s awards and finalizing national meeting sessions. Zielinski said those items must be completed before registration can open because attendees need to see the agenda before they commit to travel.
Zielinski told the podcast the FLC is planning an in-person national meeting in May in Seattle and is “targeting opening registration in January.” He cautioned, however, that continuing resolutions (CRs) and executive actions that restrict federal travel could force the organization to pivot to an online meeting.
“If there’s nobody to train, we can’t do training… We will have to pivot to an online if those things occur,” he said, noting that travel authorizations for federal employees are the key constraint.
Zielinski also described operational impacts from the shutdown: a tools pilot that had provided member benefits—some complimentary registrations for selected vendors and services—was delayed and will be transitioned into a formal procurement through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He said some legacy tools remain available in the FLC members area, but the follow-on package will take time to procure and deploy.
The FLC has also completed a major upgrade to its learning management system, branded FLC Educate, which Zielinski said makes course content easier to find and organizes material into career pathways for different roles and levels of expertise.
Zielinski encouraged member labs to work directly with new strategic partners the consortium has signed with this year, including Apex Accelerators (defense-focused acceleration) and Fedtech (startup studios and training), and reminded listeners that the FLC office will be closed between Christmas and New Year.
The FLC’s timeline for registration and final meeting decisions remains contingent on federal budget actions and travel authorizations; the organization plans to announce registration dates and session details once adjudication and scheduling are complete.
