Last week, we noted that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) had published a proposal to update federal grantees' standard certifications in the System for Award Management (SAM) to "align with" the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) "Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination" from July 2025. Although GSA did not include the text of the proposed certification in that proposal, GSA has since published it here. Federal grant recipients should take note, as this text could become the first uniform, government-wide certification implementing Executive Order 14173, which ordered the prohibition of "illegal" diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and/or diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices. (It may be a harbinger of what the anticipated certification for federal contractors could entail, too.) The text also includes new certifications addressing matters beyond DEI, such as immigration and anti-terrorism.
As expected, the draft text includes certifications that the registering entity does not engage in behavior that violates federal antidiscrimination laws and clarifies that this obligation applies to programs or practices characterized as DEI. More specifically, the proposed text states that "Federal antidiscrimination laws apply to programs or initiatives that involve discriminatory practices, including those labeled as" DEI or DEIA. While DOJ has acknowledged that not all DEI initiatives are necessarily unlawful, this clarification confirms that such initiatives remain a subject of enhanced scrutiny by the federal government.
Next, the proposal gives a list of "[e]xamples of practices that may violate applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws," which generally track the DOJ's July 2025 guidance (e.g., "unlawful use of race or color as criteria, such as race-based 'diverse slate' policies in hiring"). Again, the decision to specifically refer to these examples in each grantee's certifications on SAM underscores the enforcement risk associated with them.
The new certification language also includes compliance with other areas beyond what was addressed in GSA's original proposal (which focused on compliance with DOJ's guidance memo from July 2025). For instance, the draft text includes another certification that recipients of federal financial assistance:
[w]ill not knowingly bring or attempt to bring to the United States, transport, conceal, harbor, shield, hire, or recruit for a fee an illegal alien; and will not induce an alien to enter or reside in the United States with reckless disregard of the fact that the alien is illegal.
Another certification included in the current draft states that the recipient "will not fund, subsidize, or facilitate violence, terrorism, or other illegal activities that threaten public safety or national security." GSA also included a reference to the recently passed Administrative False Claims Act of 2023 in the list of federal laws recipients must comply with. Finally, the certification also includes a statement acknowledging potential False Claims Act liability for misrepresenting any of this information to the government.
In some ways, the draft certification appears to have been pared back compared with what GSA may have initially intended, as it contains redlined (deleted) text that would have included prohibitions against facilitating "the so-called 'transition' of a child under 19 years of age from one sex to another." Another certification redlined in the text stated that public entities would not "impose, assess, or collect higher security fees . . . for events . . . on the basis of the viewpoint, content, or subject matter of any speaker, participant, or organization." While these changes may not be in the current version, they could be an indication of possible future action by GSA.
The public comment period remains open until March 30, 2026, for GSA's proposal to change the SAM certification language.
If you have an interest in submitting comments or have questions related to federal financial assistance certifications or other compliance requirements regarding federal grants, you may contact any of the authors of this alert.