The Federal Register Friday Round Up
Filed under #⌈FRiday⌉. Here's what caught my eye on the FR this week.
Filed under #⌈FRiday⌉. Here's what caught my eye on the FR this week, just in time for happy hour.
National Science Foundation
RFI from NSF
Due date: May 28, 2026
See also: Related agency dockets on Regulations.gov, with later deadlines at the top and earlier deadlines at the bottom.
The National Science Foundation (such as it is) posted a Request for Information (RFI) last week. The agency seeks comments regarding the Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) and Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) programs; together, these make up the Excellence Awards in Science and Engineering (EASE) investment portfolio.
The RFI requests feedback on the evaluation of candidates for the awards, with a due date of May 28, 2026.
U.S. Borders and Immigration
Proposed Rule Change
Due date: 6, 2026
On the Federal Register: 2026-09007 (91 FR 24739)
On Regulations.gov: Docket ICEB-2020-0005
Summary:
DHS proposes to increase the fee for adjudicating Form I-246, Application for a Stay of Deportation or Removal, from $155 to $755. The rule proposes to adjust the Form I-246 fee to recover costs, which has not been adjusted since 1989. DHS also proposes to make technical edits to the stay of deportation and removal fee regulation.
Request for Comment
This is a somewhat complicated docket to get into, but it pertains to Form G-884, Request for the Return of Original Documents, and opens a new round of comments on the proposed changes. All the references to the Paperwork Reduction Act just mean that OMB signed off on collecting the comments from folks. I include it in this week's #FRiday Roundup for those looking to get to know Regulations.gov and how the dockets there work.
DOD (aka the illegitimately renamed DOW)
Contractors and DEI practices
See also GSA's version and other agencies' versions on the May 6, 2026 FR
Related to EO 14398, Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors, which prohibits contractors from engaging in any racially discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities (91 FR 16147, March 31, 2026)
Air Force Scientific Advisory Board
This one is a rare "good news!" item.
Boring but interesting to Courtney
Changes to Procurement via Executive Order
Admin is defaulting to fixed-price contracts, which is notably absent from a GAO report describing how the government could save billions. The previous EO in this area required agencies to use "category management" but it hasn't been a great success:
(From GAO-25-10863) Our work has shown that leading private sector companies use category management to manage up to 90 percent of their purchases and achieve savings of 10 to 20 percent of total procurement costs. We also found that agencies have faced challenges implementing category management, leaving billions of dollars in potential savings on the table. We made recommendations in key areas to increase savings.
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