OMB Uniform Guidance Proposed Rule

Yesterday, NACo submitted formal comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on its proposed rewrite of 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Guidance). The comment letter is attached.

The comments are organized by section so OMB can route each item to the right reviewers, but wanted to flag the overarching concerns NACo sees as highest priority:

• Comment Period:  A 412-page rewrite warrants more than 45 days of review. NACo is asking for at least 60 additional days and a formal state/local consultation process.
• Effective Date:  The proposed October 1, 2026 effective date doesn’t give counties time to update internal controls, policies, and sub-award agreements. NACo is asking for no earlier than January 1, 2027, or a phased approach.
• Federalism Assessment:  NACo is asking OMB to withdraw its finding that the rule has no federalism implications and to conduct a formal consultation process under Executive Order 13132.
• Viewpoint Neutrality:  This provision extends a viewpoint neutrality condition to county property and events that receive no federal funding at all. NACo is asking OMB to narrow it to the specific federally funded activity.
• Termination Standard:  NACo is asking OMB to narrow the proposed “national interest” standard for terminating awards, codify protections for congressionally designated funding, and name the specific programs exempt from discretionary termination.
• Subrecipient Monitoring and E-Verify:  The proposed rule expands monitoring and E-Verify obligations regardless of award size or risk, which would be especially burdensome for rural counties with limited grants staff. NACo is asking OMB to scale these requirements to risk.
• SAM.gov Reliability:  The rule increasingly relies on SAM.gov data as a trigger for monitoring and termination, despite GAO’s documented concerns about its accuracy. NACo is asking OMB to fix SAM.gov before making it load-bearing.

We know a number of counties have either or are planning to submit comment by tonight’s deadline. Please feel free to use any language from NACo’s comment letter and reminder they have also created a template comment letter. As you submit your comments, please share them with us.