Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
The order directs every federal agency to conduct an internal equity assessment — identifying whether their programs and policies create barriers for historically underserved communities — and establishes a data working group to improve federal demographic data collection. It also immediately revokes two prior executive orders: one that banned federal agencies and contractors from holding certain diversity-related training sessions, and one that created the 1776 Commission.
It is the first broad whole-of-government equity directive of the Biden administration, and its immediate revocation of the 2020 diversity-training ban restores legal permission for federal contractors to conduct training programs that had been restricted for four months.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs every federal executive agency to select a set of its programs and policies, review them to identify systemic barriers that underserved communities face in accessing benefits and contracting opportunities, and report findings to the White House Domestic Policy Council within 200 days. Within one year, agencies must produce action plans to address the barriers they uncover. The OMB Director is told to study the best methods for measuring equity across agencies and report to the President within six months, and to identify equity-promoting opportunities in the President's budget. A new Interagency Working Group on Equitable Data — co-chaired by the Chief Statistician and the Chief Technology Officer — is established to recommend ways to improve federal data collection so demographic disparities can be measured more precisely.
The order immediately revokes Executive Order 13950 of September 2020, which had barred agencies and federal contractors from conducting diversity training that included certain concepts. Within 60 days, agencies must review and consider suspending, revising, or rescinding any actions they took under that revoked order, including contract terminations. Executive Order 13958, which created the President's Advisory 1776 Commission, is also immediately revoked. The order applies to executive agencies; independent agencies are "strongly encouraged" to comply but are not mandated to do so.
Who it affects
Federal executive agencies and their leadership, who must conduct reviews and produce action plans. Federal contractors whose diversity training programs had been restricted under the revoked EO 13950. Underserved communities — including people of color, LGBTQ+ persons, persons with disabilities, rural residents, and low-income populations — whose access to federal programs is the subject of the assessments.
Why it matters
Federal contractors and agencies that suspended or redesigned diversity training after the September 2020 order can resume those programs immediately. All agency programs will face mandatory internal review for equity barriers, which can lead to changes in how federal benefits, grants, and contracts are distributed to historically underserved communities.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Implementation flows in three stages. First, OMB studies and recommends equity-assessment methods (six months). Second, agencies conduct their own equity reviews using those methods and report findings (200 days). Third, agencies translate findings into concrete action plans (one year). The Equitable Data Working Group runs concurrently, reporting recommendations to the Domestic Policy Council. There are no explicit enforcement penalties for missed deadlines, but OMB — which controls budgets — is a co-author of both the assessment methods and the spending-equity study, giving it structural leverage over agency compliance.
Actions and deadlines
- Agency heads consider suspending, revising, or rescinding actions taken under the revoked EO 13950, including contract terminations
- OMB Director delivers report to the President on best methods for agencies to assess equity
- Each agency head submits equity assessment report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy covering barriers, contracting access, needed policies, and civil rights office capacity
- Each agency head consults with Domestic Policy Council and OMB to produce a plan addressing barriers identified in the equity assessment
- OMB Director identifies equity-promoting opportunities in the President's budget submission to Congress
- OMB Director studies and reports strategies for allocating federal resources to increase investment in underserved communities
- Interagency Working Group on Equitable Data provides recommendations on gaps in federal data collection and strategies to address them
Agencies directed to act
Authority and reach
What this order changes
Revokes Executive Order 13950