Two recent developments illustrate the ongoing interference and risks to federal grantmaking:
- DOGE employees have taken control of Grants.gov, according to an April 11 Washington Post report.[3] Grants.gov is the central public clearinghouse for competitive opportunities for more than 1,000 programs across 26 agencies.[4] DOGE employees have reportedly barred civil servants from posting Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) to Grants.gov, instead adding a new requirement that NOFOs be reviewed and posted by DOGE.
- Through their so-called “Defend the Spend” initiative, DOGE is adding new layers to systems that handle payment-request collection, reviews, and approvals for routine grant payments, causing delays and adding burdensome new reporting requirements for grantees.[5] DOGE is now reviewing payments processed through the Payment Management Services (PMS) system.[6] In fiscal year 2024, PMS processed nearly 500,000 payments from more than 15 agencies totaling over $853 billion to thousands of organizations, representing 70 percent of federal grant disbursements.[7]
In addition, some agencies with embedded DOGE personnel are making concerning changes to grant review criteria, adding troubling new grant terms and conditions, attempting to claw back previously distributed grant funds, using threats of grant cancellations to coerce specific grantees, and otherwise disrupting grantmaking activities.[8]
The interference is occurring in part through the insertion of DOGE employees into agency roles and systems that have typically been handled by, or even restricted to, well-trained and deeply experienced non-partisan agency officials versed in the relevant laws and regulations.[14] This is particularly disturbing because of concerning reports about the vetting, conduct, conflicts of interest, and lack of clear management and oversight of DOGE staff, raising questions about whether they are trustworthy and acting in the public interest.[15]
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