Tell the White House: we need a procurement renaissance

Do you have 30 seconds to make lasting change? You have until Monday to reshape how the U.S. government spends more than $1 trillion every year

Dear Unlock Aid community,

It’s rare in the world of procurement reform that we need rapid response – but today we have a very specific, 30-second way you can help make a big difference.

In October, the White House announced its plans to embark on a “fundamental rewrite” of federal grantmaking rules – and they want to know what you think of the proposed changes.

This is your chance to help reshape how the United States spends more than $1 trillion dollars every year to improve local and global priorities related to education, health access, affordable housing, economic opportunity, climate change, pandemic preparedness, food insecurity, and more. Every issue our coalition works on will be impacted by these changes. 

After receiving feedback from you and the broader Unlock Aid community, you can see what we’re planning to tell President Biden and his Office of Management and Budget, or OMB for short. Click here to see our draft comments.

Now it’s your turn

We need your help. Let the White House know that you want to see big, bold reforms.

Comment today, before the deadline of Monday, December 4:

1. Go to this link: https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2023-0017-0001

2. Click on “Comment” tab (upper left corner)

3. Feel free to copy/paste the below text, or write your own:
   I commend the Administration’s proposed rewrite of federal grantmaking and endorse Unlock Aid’s recommendations. Please simplify the process for organizations and service providers on the front lines to apply for U.S. government funding, center funding around what communities say they need, cut unnecessary red tape so that recipients of government grants can focus more on driving long-term impact, and make it easier for federal officials to write awards that pay for results instead of activities.
   

4. Then click ‘Submit!’ Note that your comments will become part of the public record.

The time for action is now

The White House’s proposed changes can’t come soon enough. Complexity benefits the entrenched and the powerful. It makes our system sclerotic when we need it at its best – capable of acting with urgency, agility, and accountability to confront the scale of our shared 21st-century challenges.

As we’ve explained in the past, we’ve heard hundreds of stories of organizations that have had to stop serving vulnerable communities, or close their doors because they couldn’t handle the complexity and cost of working with the U.S. government. Many of the world’s most innovative organizations have told us they’ve simply stopped trying to work with the public sector. This limits competition, stifles impact, increases costs, widens inequities, and accelerates the trend of hyper-consolidation and monopolies in government contracting.

Our overly complex system also impairs our ability to solve the world’s hardest problems. In August, The Guardian reported that while the U.S. government’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act created $60 billion for environmental justice investments, “many of the small, community-based organizations that would benefit from funding the most are facing hurdles to competing for these investments…groups simply don’t have the time or resources to navigate the complicated bureaucratic process of applying for funding.” 

So proposing a “fundamental rewrite” in federal grantmaking is a big deal.

This is just the beginning

While we’re very excited about this proposed rewrite, good implementation will matter as much as good policy. Getting this right will require that OMB and U.S. federal agencies proactively engage entrepreneurs, the private sector, dynamic nonprofits, and other organizations and communities that have historically been underrepresented, overlooked, or underserved by the federal government.

And these communities can’t just be contacted for input, either. We need to go further and proactively recruit a next generation of talent into the federal workforce to ensure that public resources adequately respond to communities’ most pressing needs.

We expect these changes to take effect in 2024. This is the Biden-Harris Administration’s chance to make a lasting impact for organizations and communities on the front lines of solving the nation’s and the world’s hardest problems. Make sure to add your voice today in calling for change.

To Progress,
Unlock Aid