The United States Aid for International Development (USAID) in accordance with Pres. Donald Trump’s recent Executive order has sent out a memo putting a pause on new foreign aid spending, as well as a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts for Organizations and None Governmental Organization (NGOs) under the USAID Grant pofolio.

The memo puts a pause on new foreign aid spending, as well as a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts.

The newly installed director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance sent a global cable Friday that orders an immediate pause on new foreign aid spending, as well as a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts.

United States aid officials and experts who reviewed the document told Devex that the new guidance intensifies U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which placed a 90-day pause on aid spending and could sow “chaos” throughout U.S. aid programs.

“Effective immediately, Assistant Secretaries and Senior Bureau Officials shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance until such time as the Secretary shall determine, following a review,” reads the memo, which was sent by recent Trump appointee Peter Marocco and seen by Devex.

“For existing foreign assistance awards, contracting officers and grant officers shall immediately issue stop-work orders, consistent with the terms of the relevant award, until such time as the Secretary shall determine, following a review. Decisions whether to continue, modify, or terminate programs will be made following this review.”

The memo, sent to all diplomatic and consular posts — and known as an ALDAC — adds that no new requests for proposal, requests for application, notices of funding opportunities, or “any other kind of solicitation or request for foreign assistance funding” should be published by the State Department or USAID “until each has been reviewed and approved by F as consistent with the President’s policy.”

“No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved by F as consistent with the President Trump’s agenda,” the memo reads.

OFA refers to the Office of Foreign Assistance, which coordinates U.S. foreign aid and provides strategic direction of USAID from the State Department.

The U.S. aid community has been waiting anxiously for additional guidance about Trump’s executive order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” which was issued Monday, the first day of his second term as president. The guidance issued on Friday struck some experts as a more disruptive and extreme version of what was expected.

Accordingly president Trump Executive order states that by:”the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.  They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.  

Sec. 3.  (a)  90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.  All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors pending reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy, to be conducted within 90 days of this order.  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall enforce this pause through its apportionment authority.

(b)  Reviews of United States foreign assistance programs.  Reviews of each foreign assistance program shall be ordered by the responsible department and agency heads under guidelines provided by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of OMB.

(c)  Determinations.  The responsible department and agency heads, in consultation with the Director of OMB, will make determinations within 90 days of this order on whether to continue, modify, or cease each foreign assistance program based upon the review recommendations, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State.

(d)  Resumption of paused development assistance funding.  New obligations and disbursements of foreign development assistance funds may resume for a program prior to the end of the 90-day period if a review is conducted, and the Secretary of State or his designee, in consultation with the Director of OMB, decide to continue the program in the same or modified form.  Additionally, any other new foreign assistance programs and obligations must be approved by the Secretary of State or his designee, in consultation with the Director of OMB.

(e)  Waiver.  The Secretary of State may waive the pause in Section 3(a) for specific programs.  

Sec. 4.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.”THE WHITE HOUSE, statement noted.