Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy
Establishes the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, directing more than a dozen federal agencies to coordinate research investments, expand domestic manufacturing capacity, train a skilled workforce, streamline regulations, and collect bioeconomy data — spanning health, climate, agriculture, energy, and national security.
Requires federal agencies to purchase more biobased products and report their spending annually, while directing intelligence and homeland security agencies to assess and counter foreign threats to U.S. biological data and biotechnology leadership.
What this order does
What it orders
The order establishes the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, directing more than a dozen federal agencies to coordinate policies and investments across biotech R&D, domestic biomanufacturing capacity, workforce education, regulatory reform, bioeconomy data infrastructure, and biosafety. Within 180 days, five agency heads — HHS, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, and NSF — must submit sector-specific reports on applying biotech to societal goals; OSTP then has 100 more days to produce a consolidated implementation plan. Separately, federal procuring agencies must establish biobased-product purchasing programs, require staff training within two years, and report biobased spending to OMB annually.
It also directs DHS and the Director of National Intelligence to assess foreign threats to U.S. biological data and biotech leadership, with the APNSA required to develop a risk-mitigation plan. The State Department must submit an international engagement strategy. The order does not itself change any regulation, appropriate any funds, or directly alter procurement rules; all concrete impacts depend on future agency reports, plans, and rulemaking the order sets in motion.
Who it affects
Federal agencies directed to prepare reports and plans, federal procuring agencies required to adopt biobased-product purchasing programs and train their contracting staff, life sciences researchers whose work is funded by the federal government, biotechnology companies and developers navigating federal regulatory processes, and agricultural producers supplying biomass.
Why it matters
Federal contractors selling biobased products gain new mandatory federal procurement programs and annual scoring that could expand their market. Biotech companies get a promise of a clearer, unified regulatory portal. The intelligence community is directed to assess — and help block — foreign acquisition of U.S. biological data, which affects research institutions and genomic data holders.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The order runs in cascading stages: five agency heads submit sector reports within 180 days, then OSTP has 100 additional days to synthesize those into a government-wide implementation plan. Parallel tracks cover a bioeconomy data initiative (240 days), a domestic biomanufacturing strategy (180 days), a DNI threat assessment (240 days), a biosafety plan (180 days), and a regulatory streamlining plan (280 days). OMB conducts a budget crosscut at 90 days to inform the plan. The APNSA chairs coordination through the NSM-2 interagency process, and directed agencies must report back on implementation within two years.
Actions and deadlines
- Director of OMB performs budget crosscut identifying agency spending on biotech and biomanufacturing activities
- Secretary of Commerce, through NIST, creates and publishes a publicly available lexicon for the bioeconomy
- Chief Statistician establishes an Interagency Technical Working Group on bioeconomy statistical measurement
- Secretaries of HHS, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, and NSF Director submit sector-specific biotechnology reports to the President
- President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology submits and publishes bioeconomy competitiveness report
- APNSA and APEP develop a strategy to expand domestic biomanufacturing capacity
- Secretary of Homeland Security provides bioeconomy infrastructure vulnerability assessments to the APNSA
- Procuring agencies begin reporting prior fiscal year biobased procurement spending to OMB, and annually thereafter
- Secretaries of HHS and Homeland Security produce biosafety and biosecurity plan for the bioeconomy
- Secretary of State submits international bioeconomy engagement plan to the APNSA
- Agencies identify regulatory ambiguities in the biotechnology coordinated framework and engage stakeholders
- Commerce, Labor, Education, OSTP, and NSF produce and publish a biotech workforce education and training plan
- Director of OSTP issues a Data for the Bioeconomy Initiative report identifying data gaps and a protection plan
- Director of National Intelligence provides classified threat assessments on foreign adversary bioeconomy threats
- Regulatory agencies provide a regulatory reform implementation plan to OMB and OSTP
- OSTP develops government-wide implementation plan based on the five sector reports
- APNSA develops and finalizes a risk-mitigation plan for the U.S. bioeconomy based on DNI threat assessments
- Procuring agencies that lack a biobased procurement program establish one
- OSTP reviews national security implications of federal procurement rules and recommends FAR updates
- ITWG recommends bioeconomy-related NAICS and NAPCS classification revisions to the Economic Classification Policy Committee
- All appropriate procuring agency staff complete biobased product purchasing training
- Agencies directed in the implementation plan report to OMB and OSTP on measures taken to advance biotech and biomanufacturing