Federal agencies have been told to stop considering a company's diversity, equity, and inclusion practices when deciding whether to procure its goods or services, according to a General Services Administration announcement on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The policy reverses a Biden administration initiative in which the government took into account a company's internal DEI practices as one of numerous factors when deciding whether to buy that company's products or services.
The GSA is also halting a federal attempt to replace plastic straws with paper ones in federal operations, changing the policy to adhere to an executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump.
Last year, the Biden administration announced a goal of phasing out federal procurement of single-use plastics from all federal operations by 2035.
The moves by the Trump administration are the first steps in what the GSA declares will be an overhaul of federal procurement practices, according to the Journal.
Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, said that acquisition regulations "has grown to more than 2,000 pages. It's burdensome, outdated, and doesn't allow agencies to buy at the speed of need."
However, it is unclear what kinds of changes the government can make without the permission of Congress, since it has set many of the preferences given to certain types of companies.
The new GSA directives call for renegotiations if six months or more are left on a contract in order to get rid of clauses connected to DEI.
Under the new policy, DEI will not be considered as a factor in contract awards, but companies will not be penalized for continuing internal DEI practices, according to a spokesman for the GSA.