President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 26 prohibiting federal contractors and their subcontractors from engaging in practices based on the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) framework.
The order directs the Office of Management and Budget to provide guidance to federal agencies on compliance and to identify “economic sectors whose players engage in DEI,” according to a White House fact sheet.
It also directs agencies to “cancel, terminate, or suspend contracts” with contractors that refuse to eliminate “racially discriminatory DEI activities,” the fact sheet stated.
The order instructs the attorney general to prioritize potential claims against contractors or subcontractors over violations of contractual terms prohibiting DEI-based activities, and to ensure “prompt review” of civil rights actions brought by private individuals, according to the fact sheet.
It also requires the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to amend federal acquisition regulations to remove any conflicting provisions related to DEI policies.
Trump’s order defines DEI-based activities as practices in which entities treat employees or contractors based on race or ethnicity rather than merit.
Trump said that such activities lead to workforce turnover and impose artificial costs on federal agencies through hiring, promotion, and operational processes that prevent merit-based decisions.
“DEI activities also create unnecessary costs by reducing the pool of available labor by artificially limiting companies to hiring or promoting certain individuals, suppliers, or intermediaries based on their race or ethnicity,” Trump said in his order.
“These costs are inevitably passed on to the federal government when it contracts with companies who engage in racially discriminatory DEI activities, or who use subcontractors who do so.”
Trump said that while his administration has made significant progress in ending DEI activities, some entities, including federal contractors, have continued to engage in and conceal such practices.
After taking office for a second term in January 2025, Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating DEI-focused policies and programs within the federal government.
The order requires federal agencies to terminate all DEI-related and “environmental justice” offices and positions, along with DEI-related performance requirements for employees and contractors.
In his order, Trump criticized the Biden administration for forcing “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” into virtually all aspects of the federal government through DEI initiatives.
He said that “nearly every federal agency and entity submitted ‘Equity Action Plans’ to detail the ways that they have furthered DEIs infiltration of the federal government” following the former administration’s directive.
“The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today,” the president stated in his order.
This article was originally published by The Epoch Times.
