President Trump issued a series of executive orders (“EOs”) and presidential memoranda on Wednesday, April 9, that could impact government contractors across a broad range of industries. Among other initiatives, these executive actions seek to reform the defense acquisition system, reinvigorate the U.S. maritime industry, and streamline foreign military sales. The actions also reflect President Trump’s goal of catalyzing innovation and economic growth by reducing regulatory burdens, both in general and in the energy industry specifically.
We briefly summarize below the six April 9 executive actions most likely to impact government contractors.
- The “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base” EO directs various changes to the defense acquisition system to emphasize “speed, flexibility, and execution.” Notably, the EO requires that within 90 days the Department of Defense (“DoD”) shall review all Major Defense Acquisition Programs (“MDAPs”), and “consider[] for potential cancellation” any MDAPs that are more than 15% behind schedule or over budget, are “unable to meet any key performance parameters,” or are otherwise not aligned to DoD’s current mission priorities. The EO also requires that within 60 days DoD shall submit to the President a plan to reform the defense acquisition process to, among other things, prioritize use of commercial solutions and DoD’s Other Transactions Authority. Further, the EO directs DoD to “[e]liminate or revise any unnecessary supplemental regulations” in the DFARS or other regulatory compilations. For more on this EO, see our blog post here.
- The “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” EO directs a series of actions aimed at revitalizing U.S. maritime industries. The EO focuses on identifying means to: (1) increase U.S. shipbuilding capacity; (2) reduce the costs of domestic shipbuilding, including by lowering barriers to federal funding; (3) make U.S.-flagged and built vessels more commercially competitive; (4) bolster America’s maritime manufacturing capabilities (referred to as the Maritime Industrial Base); and (5) strengthen the maritime-relevant workforce. A key focus of the EO is the development of a Maritime Action Plan (“MAP”) to achieve the policy set forth in the EO. The MAP, which must be submitted to the President within 210 days of the EO, will include at least three financing initiatives: a maritime security trust fund, a shipbuilding financial incentives program, and “maritime prosperity zones” to facilitate and incentivize investment. For more on this EO, see our blog post here.
- The “Reforming Foreign Defense Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability” EO directs DoD and the Department of State to reform the foreign defense sales systems with the goal of: (1) improving accountability and transparency in foreign defense sales systems; (2) expediting the foreign defense sales process through “parallel decision-making”; (3) reducing rules and regulations for foreign defense sales and transfer cases; and (4) increasing collaboration with and revitalizing the Defense Industrial Base. The EO seeks to reduce congressional review and export restrictions on the transfer of certain sensitive defense articles, expand the ability of foreign allies to procure defense items, and place a new emphasis on cost and burden-sharing by allies. For more on this EO, see our blog post here.
- The “Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations” presidential memorandum builds upon EO 14129, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative.” The new memorandum directs agency heads to “immediately take steps to effectuate the repeal of any regulation” identified as unlawful during EO 14219 review, prioritizing those regulations in conflict with ten recent United States Supreme Court decisions. The memorandum also instructs agencies to repeal these regulations “without notice and comment, where doing so is consistent with the ‘good cause’ exception to the Administrative Procedure Act.” For any regulation that was “initially identified” as problematic during EO 14219 review, but which the agency did not repeal, the memorandum directs the agency to explain that decision.
- The “Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers” EO directs agency heads to review regulations subject to their rulemaking authority to identify any that impose anticompetitive restraints, including regulations that “unnecessarily burden the agency’s procurement processes, thereby limiting companies’ ability to compete for procurements[.]” By June 18, 2025, agency heads must provide the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Attorney General with a list of regulations identified, and by September 16, 2025, the FTC Chairman must submit to OMB a consolidated list of regulations that warrant rescission or modification to be considered for incorporation in the Unified Regulatory Agenda developed pursuant to EO 14219. The EO also directs the FTC Chairman to seek public input on regulations that impose anticompetitive restraints.
- The “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy” EO seeks to rescind outdated or superfluous energy regulations by imposing automatic expiration dates on existing and future rules. Covered agencies must issue a “sunset rule” by September 30, 2025, inserting a “conditional sunset date” into each regulation within the EO’s scope. Unless the agency formally extends the regulation through a public process evaluating costs and benefits, the regulation will automatically lapse one year after the sunset rule’s effective date and be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations. The EO applies to regulations implementing a broad array of energy-related subjects, including nuclear energy, energy efficiency, fossil fuel and electric power markets, renewable energy, and environmental protections implicated by large energy infrastructure. The EO also encompasses offshore energy development and federal land and mineral management. The EO does not apply to statutory permitting regimes.