In a message from the acting deputy secretary Jeremy Pelter sent on Tuesday, the Commerce Department told all staff to “suspend the award of any new contracts.” This edict was effective immediately, “and until further notice.” The biggest chunk of the Commerce Department by budget, of course, is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“This could be a pretty big hit,” one source that works directly with NOAA told Splinter. Freezing all contract activities will strain an already hobbled agency responsible for everything from maintaining the country’s fisheries to providing hurricane forecasts. Importantly, the directive included “modifications to exercise options for, or extensions of, covered contracts.” Such modifications and extensions, a source said, happen all the time as a matter of normal operations, allowing operations to maintain a degree of flexibility and run smoothly.
“It’s really bad for us,” said another source inside NOAA. The move could hit at some very basic parts of operations — things like IT support and other keep-the-lights-on sorts of activities are often done by contractors, not to mention some actual scientists inside NOAA’s various critical offices. Contracts will be coming up for renewal for many of these companies and people soon, now with no indication they will be able to continue. Another source pointed out that contracts allowed to lapse, even if they are later determined to be necessary and in line with whatever absurd criteria the Trump Administration decides on, will then need to go through a full competitive process to be reinstated. The impact is obvious.
The message regarding the contracts freeze said that all contracts will now need approval of the Secretary, Howard Lutnick, or a “designee.” Subsequent guidance on the procedures involved with that are theoretically forthcoming. There are exceptions to the freeze, as with all the various government-wide funding shenanigans so far, extending to things like “immigration enforcement” and “the intelligence community,” but not to, say, your next weather forecast.
Meanwhile, a source said there is still no real info for staff on what will be in NOAA’s reduction in force, or RIF, plan, which are due from all agencies by Thursday. “We’re all trying to read tea leaves while the saucer is full.”
The New York Times reported on Monday that NOAA’s RIF will likely total another 1,000 workers, beyond the 1,300 that were already fired or accepted the deferred resignation plan. That’s around 20 percent of its entire workforce, and will guarantee that some agency activities will simply have to stop. A more dangerous world awaits.
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