USDA Terminates Contracts, Rescinds DEI Programs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since Jan. 20, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it has begun a comprehensive review of contracts, personnel and employee trainings and DEI programs.

On Feb. 14, USDA announced the first tranche in a series of reforms.

CONTRACTS. USDA terminated 78 contracts which totaled more than $132 million. Additionally, more than 1,000 contracts are currently under review for potential termination, the agency said.

USDA provided 10 examples of what the agency described as “frivolous Biden-era contracts” that were recently terminated or proposed procurements that were discontinued before they went into effect:

1. Media contracts, including Politico subscriptions: $2.77 million
2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Onboarding Specialist: $374,000
3. Diversity Dialogue Workshops: $254,000
4. International Development for Historically Underrepresented Communities: $298,000
5. Brazilian Forest and Gender Consultant: $229,000
6. Women and Forest Carbon Initiative Mentorship Program: $121,000
7. African and Middle Eastern and Latin America and Caribbean Regions for training, education and access to professional and economic opportunities for women and increasing their participation in climate change adaptation activities: $91,000
8. Central American Gender Assessment Consultant: $29,000
9. Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Utility Van: $33,000
10. Hawaii conference room rental for 100-person USDA meeting on biodiversity: $11,000

EMPLOYEE TRAININGS AND DEI PROGRAMS. On her first day in office, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued a memo to officially rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs to reprioritize unity, equality and meritocracy.

To this end, USDA has identified and canceled 948 employee trainings, 758 of which focused on DEI. Other canceled trainings include environmental justice and gender ideology.

WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION. USDA said it is pursuing an aggressive plan to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, bringing its workforce back to the office and relocating employees out of the National Capital region into the nation’s heartland to allow rural communities to flourish.

Over the next few days and weeks, Rollins will have the opportunity to review thousands of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and spending across the agency to ensure that every dollar is being spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy, said USDA.