Originally published New executive order to put more rigor on grants on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2025/08/house-democrats-push-for-details-on-usdas-relocation-plans/ at Federal News Network
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- The White House is telling agencies to apply more rigor and oversight to the grants process. In President Donald Trump’s executive order signed yesterday, agencies must have a senior political official review and approve funding opportunity announcements and grant awards. The White House wants to ensure that the awards align with the administration’s priorities, and are coordinated across agencies to avoid duplication. The EO also calls on the Office of Management and Budget to revise the Uniform Guidance to streamline application requirements and to further clarify and require all discretionary grants to include a clause that permits agencies to terminate them for convenience.
- House Democrats are pushing for details on the Department of Agriculture’s major relocation plans. The lawmakers said testimony from USDA leadership last month did not clarify how well the agency had planned ahead before announcing the relocations. The agency also failed to estimate how many employees would leave their jobs as a result of the move, according to the Congress members. In a letter to USDA, the Democrats requested the agency turn over all documents and communications related to the relocation plans.
- More details are emerging on the Trump administration’s new rules for probationary employees. The Office of Personnel Management is answering additional questions agencies might have about President Donald Trump’s changes to the federal probationary period. OPM is clarifying, for instance, how agencies should update the way they assess new employees on how well they’re meeting performance expectations. Trump’s probationary period changes give agencies leeway to fire employees for broader reasons than just performance or conduct. The updates come as the terminations of tens of thousands of probationary employees remain tied up in litigation.
- Agencies now have the final say in whether they want to continue requiring their employees to send emails on “five things” they did each week. OPM has officially sunsetted the “five things” emails as a governmentwide policy. Instead, OPM appears to be focusing on long-term performance management changes. The agency is in the process of revising performance standards for the federal workforce. OPM is planning to reduce how many employees can be ranked highly on their annual reviews.
- Agencies have until Monday morning to address a critical cyber vulnerability in some Microsoft Exchange environments. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency directive on the Exchange vulnerability yesterday. The exploit could allow for damaging intrusions into hybrid-enabled versions of Exchange Online. CISA said it allows hackers who gain administrative access to on-premises servers to escalate privileges and gained significant control over a victim’s Exchange Online environment. So far, CISA said it isn’t aware of any active exploitation of the vulnerability.
- Another day, another enterprisewide deal for a major technology contractor. The General Services Administration continued its busy week by signing an agreement with Amazon Web Services to drive down costs and increase access to cloud services and training. GSA said AWS is offering up to $1 billion in cloud credits to help offset the costs of moving applications and services off premise. AWS often gives credits to research and development and education organizations to help drive down costs. Additionally, GSA said AWS will offer training resources and a team of experts to help agencies move from their on-premise infrastructure to the cloud. Earlier this week, GSA signed deals to bring AI companies onto its schedules program and finalized an agreement for agencies to access ChatGPT for just $1.
- Modernizing and consolidating the Defense Department’s sprawling collection of business IT systems is a never-ending challenge. New guidance from the Army aims to help by clarifying exactly what a defense business system is and isn’t. The guidance, issued recently by Army CIO Leonel Garciga, lays out five categories of IT systems that perform business functions, and sets out specific criteria for each, including how the systems should be certified for budget purposes.
- The Postal Service lost more money over the last three months than they did during the same period last year, marking continued financial struggles. USPS said it lost $3.1 billion in the third quarter of 2025, which is $600 million more than it lost in the third quarter of 2024. For the year, USPS expects to lose close to $7 billion. There is some good news on the horizon as USPS said it continues to see growth in package revenue and a decrease in total work hours. It also saw improved delivery metrics, compared to the same period last year. It delivered more than 90% of first-class mail on time this quarter, and delivery took about 2.6 days on average.
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Originally published New executive order to put more rigor on grants on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2025/08/house-democrats-push-for-details-on-usdas-relocation-plans/ at Federal News Network
Originally published Federal News Network
