This is the seventh blog in a series of Covington blogs on cybersecurity policies, executive orders (“EOs”), and other actions of the Trump Administration. The sixth blog is available here and our initial blog is available here. This blog describes key cybersecurity developments that took place in August, September
Continue Reading August, September, and October 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump AdministrationOverhauling the GSA Schedule
On October 17, 2025, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) announced that it plans to issue a Mass Modification to GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (“MAS” or “Schedule”) Solicitation[1] and Schedule contracts in November 2025 (“Refresh”). Periodically, GSA may issue a Mass Modification to Schedule contracts to uniformly impose changes to the contract terms applicable to all Schedule contract holders, often as a result of changes in applicable law, regulation, or policy. This approach also ensures that existing Schedule contracts have consistent terms, even though with the evergreen nature of the Solicitation those contracts have been entered into at different times and are at different stages of performance.
This Refresh (i.e., Refresh #30) will implement several significant changes with the goal to align the GSA Schedule with recent developments in the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (“RFO”).[2] Although the full text of the Refresh is not yet available, GSA’s Refresh outline provides insight into the changes that are to come as GSA seeks to gain implementation experience with the RFO clauses, provisions, and ordering procedures through its Schedule contracts. Given GSA’s leadership of the RFO process, and this year’s Executive Order to consolidate domestic procurement of common goods and services in GSA to the extent permitted by law,[3] it is no surprise that it has acted quickly to revise its long-term government-wide contracting vehicle according to these recent developments.
Along with the Refresh announcement, GSA opened a 10 business day comment window on buy.gsa.gov, which we expect will close on October 31, 2025. Schedules contractors will be expected to accept the Refresh no later than 90 days from its release which is expected sometime in November. Below we discuss relevant background on the RFO process as it relates to the Schedule and anticipated changes to provisions and clauses in the Refresh. We will continue to watch for updates as GSA’s implementation of the RFO unfolds. Continue Reading Overhauling the GSA Schedule
To Efficiency and Beyond?: President Trump Issues Executive Order to Enable a Competitive Space Launch Market
On August 13, 2025, the White House issued Executive Order 14335, “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry” (“EO 14335” or the “EO”). Framed as a push to “enhance American greatness by enabling a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030,” EO 14335 directs federal agencies to reform regulatory barriers in four key areas: (1) commercial launch and reentry, (2) spaceport infrastructure, (3) novel space activity authorization, and (4) leadership and accountability. Sec. 2. Each of these initiatives aims to streamline bureaucracy, reduce delays, and accelerate U.S. commercial space growth. Below, we break down the EO’s provisions in each area and examine their significance for industry stakeholders.Continue Reading To Efficiency and Beyond?: President Trump Issues Executive Order to Enable a Competitive Space Launch Market
July 2025 AI Developments Under the Trump Administration
This is part of an ongoing series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the Trump Administration. This blog describes AI actions taken by the Trump Administration in July 2025, and prior articles in this series are available here.
White House Issues AI
Continue Reading July 2025 AI Developments Under the Trump AdministrationWhite House Issues Executive Order Focused on “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking”
On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14332, “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” (“EO 14332” or “the EO”) to “strengthen oversight and coordination of, and to streamline, agency grantmaking” and “ensure greater accountability for use of public funds.” Sec. 1. Among other things, the EO: (1) directs agencies to review discretionary funding opportunities for consistency with agency priorities; (2) provides principles for agencies to use in assessing discretionary awards; (3) directs the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) to revise the Uniform Guidance applicable to federal financial assistance; and (4) requires agencies to include terms and conditions in their discretionary grant agreements allowing for termination for convenience and preventing recipients from drawing down funds without prior written explanation and approval. Through these methods, EO 14332 focuses on increased political oversight of discretionary funding, ensuring broad termination for convenience rights, and limiting indirect costs. The EO arrives at the intersection of recent efforts by the Trump Administration both to cancel, terminate, or otherwise pause federal funding viewed as inconsistent with the Administration’s policy priorities and to streamline federal procurement regulations.Continue Reading White House Issues Executive Order Focused on “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking”
Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders
On July 23, the White House released its AI Action Plan, outlining the key priorities of the Trump Administration’s AI policy agenda. In parallel, President Trump signed three AI executive orders directing the Executive Branch to implement the AI Action Plan’s policies on “Preventing Woke AI in
Continue Reading Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive OrdersJune 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump Administration
This is the fifth blog in a series of Covington blogs on cybersecurity policies, executive orders (“EOs”), and other actions of the Trump Administration. The fourth blog is available here and our initial blog is available here. This blog describes key cybersecurity developments that took place in June 2025.
Continue Reading June 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump AdministrationContinued Signs of Progress in the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul
Since President Trump issued Executive Order (“E.O.”) 14275, “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement” on April 15, 2025 as part of an effort to remake Federal procurement, the Administration has undertaken a variety of initial steps to implement its so-called “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul” (“RFO”). These steps include “streamlining” each Part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) on a rolling basis to remove “non-statutory requirements.” To date, seven streamlined FAR Parts have been released on the RFO page of acquisition.gov: Parts 1, Federal Acquisition Regulation; 10, Market Research; 11, Describing Agency Needs; 18, Emergency Acquisitions; 34, Major System Acquisition; 39, Acquisition of Information and Communication Technology; and 43, Contract Modifications. The public has the opportunity to provide “informal input” for each Part—the soonest of which is to provide feedback on FAR Part 10 by July 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM ET.[1] Although the volume of streamlined FAR Parts, non-regulatory resources, and commentary on acquisition.gov has started to proliferate in recent weeks, the extent to which these resources can and will be relied on in a strategic, accessible manner by the broader acquisition community still remains to be seen. Continue Reading Continued Signs of Progress in the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul
April 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump Administration
This is the third blog in a series of Covington blogs on cybersecurity policies, executive orders (“EOs”), and other actions of the new Trump Administration. This blog describes key cybersecurity developments that took place in April 2025.
NIST Publishes Initial Draft of Guidance for High Performance Computing Systems
U.S. National
Continue Reading April 2025 Cybersecurity Developments Under the Trump AdministrationEarly Signs of Progress in the “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul”
On Friday, May 2, the U.S. government announced further steps in its much-discussed plan to re-write the FAR by establishing a “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul” (“RFO”) website on Acquisition.gov, issuing written guidance to federal agencies, and releasing proposed revisions to FAR Part 1 – Federal Acquisition Regulation System and Part 34 – Major System Acquisition. This activity comes on the heels of recent presidential directives requiring agencies to examine and reform their approach to procurement of goods and services, including Executive Order (“E.O.”) 14275, “Restoring Common Sense To Federal Procurement,” and E.O. 14271, “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts.”
As anticipated, the FAR re-write is spearheaded by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (“OFPP”) within the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (“FAR Council”). The RFO website proclaims that the re-write is “the first-ever comprehensive overhaul of the FAR” and aims to “return the FAR to its statutory roots, rewritten in plain language, and remove most non-statutory rules.” It also will result in “non-regulatory buying guides [to] provide practical strategies grounded in common sense while remaining outside the FAR.” In short, the goal is characterized as “faster acquisitions, greater competition, and better results.”Continue Reading Early Signs of Progress in the “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul”