My guess would be that cantthinkofagoodusername is referring to the 15 day government shutdown this past fall. IIE operates under the State Department, and was likely required to send their non-essential personnel home and put the Fulbright projects on hold. The shutdown happened in early October, just before applications were due, so it might have interfered with a time that IIE usually uses to begin organizing/prepping for the wave of incoming applications.