USDA Rolls Our New Directive To Improve Efficiency

Last week, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins signed a new directive aimed at improving efficiency across the Department of Agriculture.  For the first time in Department history, USDA will use a single, standardized set of General Terms and Conditions for all future grants and cooperative agreements.  The change applies across 21 agencies and staff offices and is designed, as Rollins put it, to reduce bureaucracy, strengthen oversight, and improve accountability.

The Secretary says the move comes after recognizing the challenge of managing more than 100 different sets of requirements—some without termination clauses—spread across thousands of programs. 

“Since Day One, the Trump Administration has been working to promote government efficiency, streamline unnecessary regulations, and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in all USDA programs. As we took action to eliminate radical left ideology and foreign adversaries within these programs, we quickly realized the herculean task of updating over 100 sets of terms and conditions, some of which didn’t even have termination clauses, each time a new policy or priority was announced,” Rollins noted. “[This] action not only reduces government bureaucracy and makes it easier for USDA customers to access our programs, but it also strengthens our ability to take swift action when recipients and cooperators—and even recipients of subawards and subcontracts—are not compliant with Federal law and applicable Executive Orders.”

In fiscal year 2025 USDA distributed more than $145 billion dollars through nearly 38,000 new awards.  Under the new policy, recipients will now navigate 50 pages or fewer of requirements, replacing more than 2,200 pages of existing terms.

Click Here to read the memo from Secretary Rollins.

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