President Trump Signs Executive Orders on First Day Impacting Contractors

Any time a new administration comes to power, the first few days highlight significant executive actions that impact the far reaches of the federal government. Not surprisingly, President Donald Trump's first day was punctuated by new Executive Orders and other memoranda that take procurement policies and priorities in new a direction from the Biden Administration. The information below is not comprehensive but highlights some measures that may be meaningful for contractors.
To start, President Trump unsurprisingly ordered a regulatory freeze for 60 days. This is not uncommon for new presidents and allows the new administration to pause regulatory action to ensure regulations in process align with its priorities.
President's Trump's first Executive Order, 14145 – Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions – lists executive orders issued by the Biden Administration that have been rescinded. Some of the rescinded executive orders had rescinded previous Executive Orders issued by President Trump in his first term. Rescinded Executive Orders include:
- 14055, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts, issued Nov. 18, 2021. This Executive Order would have required a right of first refusal to an incumbent contractor's Service Contract Act-covered employees. Though the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule under this Executive Order, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council had not yet developed a rule and contractors were not bound by it yet.
- 13989, Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, issued Jan. 25, 2021. This Executive Order issued by President Joe Biden required executive branch appointees to agree to lobbyist gift bans, revolving door bans and a "Golden Parachute Ban."
- 14069, Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency, issued March 15, 2022. Rulemaking implementing in this Executive Order was withdrawn in the waning days of the Biden Administration.
- 14110, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, issued Nov. 1, 2023. Holland & Knight released a comprehensive client alert examining this extensive Executive Order.
As noted above, Executive Order 14145 revokes Executive Orders issued by President Biden that revoked Executive Orders from the first Trump Administration. Effectively, a number of previous President Trump Executive Orders that were rescinded have now returned. They include:
- 13950, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, issued Sept. 22, 2020. Beginning 60 days after issuance, contracts were required to include contract clauses that included the requirements in the Executive Order. A previous Holland & Knight blog post detailed the requirements of this directive that centered on eliminating certain types of contractor training connected with race and sex. Because it was effective 60 days after issuance irrespective of any regulatory action, it is arguably effective today.
- 13979, Ensuring Democratic Accountability in Agency Rulemaking, issued Jan. 18, 2021 (which was revoked by Executive Order 14018). This Executive Order, which was signed in the closing days of the first Trump Administration, would require a senior appointee initiate a rulemaking action and sign any new rules the head of an agency with some exceptions.
- 13992, Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation, issued Jan. 20, 2021. This revives Executive Order 13771 requiring two regulations to be repealed for every new regulation promulgated, Executive Order 13777 establishing a regulatory reform task force for each agency, Executive Order 13891 limiting the use of guidance documents, requiring the central publication of guidance documents and making certain guidance documents go through the federal rulemaking process, and Executive Order 13892 limiting the use of guidance documents to impose standards of conduct of third parties (unless incorporated into a contract or otherwise authorized by law).
Some Executive Orders signal changing spending priorities. For instance, President Trump also signed Executive Order 14157, Securing Our Borders, which requires the use of temporary and permanent barriers at the southern border with Mexico signaling that contractors providing those barriers could see additional contract opportunities.
Also, while former President Biden and President Trump have similar policies toward prioritizing making products within the U.S., President Trump has signaled he will take more aggressive action to onshore production. To that end, he issued an America First Trade Policy. Among other things, this memorandum requires the U.S. Trade Representative to look at the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement and ensure it is being implemented consistently with administration policy.
President Trump's first day in office signals changes ahead for contractors, with a lot more still to unpack.