A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND states that the following is in effect:
- Federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the OMB Memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.
- This prohibition applies to all awards or obligations—not just those involving the Plaintiff States in the above-referenced case—and also applies to future assistance (not just current or existing awards or obligations).
- Agencies may exercise their own authority to pause awards or obligations, provided agencies do so purely based on their own discretion—not as a result of the OMB Memo or the President’s Executive Orders—and provided the pause complies with all notice and procedural requirements in the award, agreement, or other instrument relating to such a pause.
At this time based on guidance from several agencies, all federal awards should proceed as planned until further guidance is provided by the courts or the funding agencies. Currently all federal payment systems are available. SRS will update this page as relevant information is received.