OMB Says It Doesn't Want 'You' in Some of Its Parts

In previous blog posts, we’ve used references to sports such as football and golf to describe certain grants-related topics. Now let’s try a baseball analogy. When a player or manager conducts such an egregious act during a game that he should be punished, the umpire will, often forcefully, say, in no uncertain terms, “You are outta here!” Well, in looking at the April 2024 revisions to the parts within Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which includes the uniform guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200), there are some certain cases where references to “you” have officially been removed.

Current regulations at 2 C.F.R. Part 25 — Universal Identifier and System for Award Management and 2 C.F.R. Part 170 — Reporting Subaward and Executive Compensation Information, each contain an Appendix A, which provides a discussion on award terms. These appendices now are written in a second-person format, whereby the terminology refers to what “you” should do. For example, Part 25 Appendix A.1.A states that “unless you are exempted from this requirement under 2 C.F.R. §25.110, you as the recipient must maintain current information in the SAM.” Under the 2024 revisions issued last month, OMB changed the discussion in Appendix A of these two parts by putting them in third person. This sentence, now as part of a newly renumbered Part 25 Appendix A.1.a.1, now reads “unless exempt from this requirement under 2 C.F.R. §25.110, the recipient must maintain a current and active registration in SAM.gov.”

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in its final guidance issued April 22, also added a new Appendix A to 2 C.F.R. Part 175 — Award Term for Trafficking in Persons, and formatted it in third person as well similar to Parts 25 and 170. Putting these three appendices in third person makes them align with Appendix A in 2 C.F.R. Part 184 — Never Contract with the Enemy, which is also written in third person.

In the introductory language of its final guidance, OMB did not provide much detailed information as to why it made the change. It still had the appendices for Parts 25, 170 and 175 in second person in its October 2023 proposed revisions to Title 2. Generally, OMB explained that multiple commenters questioned OMB's usage of second-person pronouns (“you”) and second-person possessive adjectives (“your”) in these appendices, and it agreed that “further clarifying edits should be made,” thus it now uses the term “recipient” in place of the currently used “you” and “your.”

Interestingly enough, OMB opted not to change the use of second person within 2 C.F.R. Part 180 — OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement). For example, the language at “§180.120 Do subparts A through I of this part apply to me?” begins with a response stating that “portions of subparts A through I (see table at § 180.100(b)) apply to you if you are a: ….” It seems no attempt was made to change this part to third person.

We can now say that “you” – or should we say, applicants and recipients – have been inform about these changes. With respect to Tom Waite and his popular 1980s hit, the real question will come months from now after the final guidance’s Oct. 1 effective date as two whether applicants and recipients will be saying “I ain’t missing ‘you’.”

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