January 20, 2025

FAR Council ordered to strip diversity requirements from procurement

Executive order forces contractors to drop DEI or lose billions in business

📋Public Policy✊Civil Rights

President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14151 on Jan. 20, 2025, terminating federal diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements for government contractors and affecting roughly $480 billion in FY 2024 contract obligations (Fed. Reg.; FPDS).

Section 3 of Executive Order 14151 directs the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to draft new Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses within 60 days to remove DEI standards from contract solicitations (OFPP).

The General Services Administration’s Acquisition Letter 2025-02 gives contractors 60 days from Jan. 20, 2025, to eliminate all DEI language from existing federal contracts (GSA).

📋Public Policy✊Civil Rights

Test Your Knowledge

Federal contracts affected total roughly what annual value?

Gallup poll: ___ % of adults say DEI initiatives create fairer workplaces.

GSA said existing contracts have how many days to remove DEI language?

Wall Street Journal editorial dubbed the order:

SBA clarified the ban does NOT affect which set-aside program?

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People, bills, and sources

Donald J. Trump (President)

signed Executive Order 14151 on Jan. 20, 2025, terminating DEI requirements for federal contractors.

What you can do

Federal contractors should review active contracts for DEI clauses and use GSA Acquisition Letter 2025-02 (https://www.gsa.gov/2025/02/dei-clause-removal) to submit contract modifications removing DEI language within 60 days of Jan. 20, 2025.

Legal advisors may consult the EEOC’s Feb. 2025 letter on disparate-impact liability (https://www.eeoc.gov/2025/02/dei-ban-letter) when counseling clients about potential Title VII challenges to the DEI ban.

Civil-rights organizations can reference the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights FOIA suit LCCR v. OMB (https://lawyerscommittee.org/dei-ban-foia) to obtain internal drafting records and prepare litigation strategies.