in effect
Executive Order 14332, signed August 7, 2025, directs federal agencies to tighten their internal oversight of the grants they award. It establishes new review and approval steps that must occur before agencies can announce grant opportunities or commit discretionary grant funds, and sets criteria that senior agency officials must apply when deciding which projects to fund.
Each agency must designate a senior political appointee to oversee a new pre-award review process; no new funding opportunity announcements may be issued until that process is in place. Grant announcements must be reviewed for plain-language accessibility, duplication with other agencies, and alignment with administration priorities before publication. Scientific research grants must receive review from at least one subject-matter expert in the relevant field. Agencies must conduct annual reviews of active grants for progress and continued alignment with agency priorities. Within 30 days, every agency must audit its grant terms and report to the Office of Management and Budget on whether those terms allow termination for convenience — and must work to add such termination clauses to existing and future grants. OMB is directed to revise the government-wide Uniform Guidance to cap how much grant money can be spent on facilities and administrative overhead.
Universities, research institutions, nonprofits, and other organizations that receive discretionary federal grants will face a more involved pre-award process and new grant terms that give agencies broader authority to end grants early if priorities shift. Grant applicants who relied on established peer-review scores as the primary funding criterion will find that senior political appointees now have explicit authority to override or decline to follow those recommendations. Foreign assistance recipients are also covered, as the order includes foreign assistance awards in its definition of “grant.”