The Chief Acquisition Officer and Senior Procurement Executive of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently sent guidance on a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on February 13, 2025, in response to two cases filed to stop the dissolution of the agency by the Trump Administration.
In the two suits – AIDS Vaccine Coalition v. U.S. Department of State, and Global Health Council v. Trump – the AIDS Vaccine Coalition lawsuit alleges that the Trump Administration’s actions violated the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the separation of powers. The Global Health Council case challenges the Administration’s authority to suspend nearly all congressionally appropriated foreign assistance funding and dismantle USAID.
In a post on LinkedIn on February 18, government contracting expert Robert Nichols, Chair of Nichols Liu LLP posted that the TRO prevents agencies from suspending or pausing foreign assistance funds for existing foreign aid projects that were active as of January 19, 2025. Specifically, the order blocks the implementation of several sections of a State Department memorandum, and parts of Executive Order 14169, titled “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.”
While the court order maintains USAID’s authority to enforce standard contract and grant terms, the agency is developing new review procedures to ensure payment integrity and prevent fraud. This is important because it affects many programs around the world that rely on U.S. foreign aid to operate. The court’s decision means these programs can keep running while any legal issues are sorted out.
The full email, obtained by Nichols, was printed in his post and is available here
“Dear Colleagues,
On February 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in cases titled AIDS Vaccine Coalition v. U.S. Department of State and Global Health Council v. Trump, entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Department of State, USAID, and OMB that prevents “enforcing or giving effect to Sections 1, 5, 7, 8, and 9 of Dep’t of State, Memorandum, 25 STATE 6828 (January 24, 2025) and any other directives that implement Sections 3(a) and 3(c) of Executive Order Number 14169, ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid’ (January 20, 2025),” including by “suspending, pausing, or otherwise preventing the obligation or disbursement of appropriated foreign-assistance funds in connection with any contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, or other federal foreign assistance award that was in existence as of January 19, 2025,” or “issuing, implementing, enforcing, or otherwise giving effect to terminations, suspensions, or stop-work orders in connection with any contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, or other federal foreign assistance award that was that was in existence as of January 19, 2025.” The Court’s order does not “prohibit [USAID] from enforcing the terms of contracts or grants.”
Accordingly, until further notice, all Contracting and Agreement Officers should not enforce any Agency directive issued under Executive Order 14169 and the Secretary’s implementing memorandum that requires the generalized stop work, suspension, or pause of Agency contracts, grants, or other federal assistance awards.
The Front Office is in the process of adopting a comprehensive review process for assuring payment integrity and determining that payments under existing contracts and grants are not subject to fraud or other bases for termination. These new case-by-case review processes will be consistent with the TRO. Further guidance on the new payments integrity and grants and contracts review process is forthcoming.”
These cases, the first brought to challenge the Trump Administration’s actions to dissolve agencies and programs, will provide some precedent for consideration of other actions.