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United States Department of Commerce Plan for Orderly Shutdown Due to Lapse of Congressional Appropriations


Funding for the federal government expired on January 19th. The Department is prepared for a lapse in funding that would necessitate a significant reduction in operations and is currently implementing our plan.

Read the United States Department of Commerce Plan for Orderly Shutdown Due to Lapse of Congressional Appropriations (updated December 7, 2017).

In compliance with the restrictions of the Antideficiency Act, the Department of Commerce will maintain the following services and activities during a lapse in appropriations:

  • Weather, water, and climate observing, prediction, forecast, warning, and support
  • Law enforcement activities for the protection of marine fisheries
  • Fisheries management activities including quota monitoring, observer activities and regulatory actions to prevent overfishing
  • Essential natural resource damage assessment activities associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident
  • Water level data for ships entering U.S. ports, critical nautical chart updates and accurate position information.
  • Patent and trademark application processing
  • Operation of the national timing and synchronization infrastructure as well as the National Vulnerability Database
  • Maintenance, continuity, and protection of certain research property and critical data records
  • All services of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
  • Export enforcement – the ongoing conduct of criminal investigations, and prosecutions, and coordination with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies in furtherance of our national security
  • Support for excepted activities under a shutdown
  • Assignment of radio frequencies to federal agencies for critical national security and public safety purposes
  • All the functions of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet)

The following services and activities will not be available during a lapse in appropriations:

  • Most research activities at NIST and NOAA (excluding real-time regular models on research computers used for hurricane and FAA flight planning)
  • Assistance and support to recipients of grant funding
  • Technical oversight of non-mission essential contracts
  • Services and activities provided by:
    • Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
    • Economic Development Administration (EDA)
    • Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA)
    • Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
    • U.S. Census Bureau
  • Most services and activities provided by the International Trade Administration (ITA)