Big Changes in Federal Grants

There was an Executive Order in August 2025 from the White House that made some fundamental changes to the way that federal grants work—some positive and some negative. The EO is titled Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking. The Order instructs the Office of Management and Budget to overhaul the Uniform Grant Guidelines and other related documents related to all federal grants. The new rules are going to impact every stage of the grant life cycle, from the application process through compliance. The rules don’t only impact future grants but potentially affect all existing grants that are in the process of being implemented. The biggest change is that a grant recipient has a new risk that grants that cover multiple years might be canceled before the project is completed. Agencies don’t need a reason to cancel a grant and can do so at their convenience. This adds new risk for accepting a federal grant, with the risk increasing as a project is partially implemented.