2025 IT Planning Through Policy Shifts

If you’re leading IT in the US for a healthcare network, university system, manufacturing firm, or energy company, you’ve probably felt it already: timelines stretching, vendors stalling, and contract language that suddenly feels out of step.

It’s not your imagination—and it’s not just politics. It’s procurement slowdowns, funding delays, and contract requirements shifting under your feet. In short: policy volatility is now an IT planning issue.

Instead of focusing on the politics, we invite you to focus on helping your org move forward—despite changing signals from funding agencies, procurement offices, and regulators.

So, to that end, here’s what’s changing, why it matters to IT, and what you can do about it.

What’s Happening—and Why It Matters to IT

Several recent federal actions are reshaping the environment for IT leaders supporting organizations that intersect with public funding.

Federal Contract Shifts

In January 2025, Executive Order 14173 rescinded several DEI requirements within the Department of Defense, eliminating related FAR clauses. While this order was directed at military contracts, many other agencies and contractors are using it as a signal to review and remove DEI and ESG language across broader federal contracts.

Why should you care? IT teams involved in vendor onboarding, procurement processes, or federal RFPs should be aware that outdated templates could now cause confusion, rework, or delays.

Temporary Grant Disruptions

Also in early 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo that paused disbursements to thousands of federal grant and loan programs. While the pause was later reversed by federal courts and the OMB withdrew the order, many agencies were already affected—leading to weeks-long backlogs and unprocessed approvals.

Why should you care? This created funding uncertainty for infrastructure projects, digital transformation work, and IT upgrades, even for organizations not directly named in the original freeze (Federal Times, Feb. 2025).

Agency Layoffs and Restructuring

More than 260,000 federal positions have been eliminated or reassigned in the past year as part of internal restructuring efforts. Though positioned as efficiency reforms, these reductions disproportionately affect staff in procurement, grant management, and compliance—roles that IT teams rely on to move projects forward.

Why should you care? Even high-priority programs may now face slower approvals and less responsive agency support (Government Executive, March 2025).

Increased Scrutiny of Compliance

The Department of Justice continues to pursue aggressive enforcement under the False Claims Act, particularly in areas involving misuse of public funds, digital infrastructure, and AI-driven solutions. While enforcement headlines often focus on large-scale healthcare systems or contractors, the threshold for scrutiny has dropped.

Why should you care? Organizations of all sizes are expected to maintain detailed documentation—especially when deploying grant-funded or partially reimbursed IT initiatives (Reuters Legal, March 2025).

Tariff Uncertainty and Trade Exposure

Increased tariffs and ongoing trade policy reversals have introduced new volatility in the pricing and availability of globally sourced IT equipment. Networking gear, infrastructure components, and cloud service dependencies may be affected by sourcing restrictions—even if your vendors are U.S.-based.

Why should you care? IT leaders should expect possible cost swings and evaluate contract flexibility accordingly (Time Magazine, May 2025).

Planning for Volatility Without Losing Momentum

You can’t predict every change—but you can plan around uncertainty.

Start by revisiting your project dependencies. If an initiative relies on a reimbursement, grant approval, or multi-agency coordination, it deserves a timeline buffer. Consider scoping projects in phases so you can move forward with what’s secure, and delay what isn’t.

Next, audit your internal templates. Legal and procurement teams may already be reviewing them—but IT often inherits the consequences when something gets missed. Contracts with outdated compliance language can slow vendor onboarding or complicate funding approvals.

And don’t assume every organization is pulling back. Some—like a Midwest manufacturer we recently spoke with—are actively growing through acquisitions. That puts pressure on IT to integrate systems quickly across locations. Do you have a playbook for network consolidation, tool standardization, and endpoint provisioning? If not, this is a good moment to build one.

Finally, stay looped in. Meet with finance, legal, and procurement stakeholders. Ask directly:

Are any acquisitions or consolidations planned?

Which projects are dependent on federal or state funding?

Are our vendors affected by tariffs or sourcing risks?

The answers may shift how you prioritize—and where you place your bets.

What IT Leaders Should Focus on Right Now

You don’t need to respond to every policy shift—but you do need to protect your roadmap from disruption. Look for ways to prioritize modular, flexible investments. Design systems that can scale up or pause cleanly. Negotiate contracts that leave room for price variance or delivery delays. And when funding is less predictable, get creative with pilots or phased rollouts to maintain momentum without overcommitting.

More than anything, align early. You can’t build resilience in isolation. IT resilience in 2025 is a cross-functional project.

Start the Right Conversations

We’ve put together a short worksheet to help you kick off the conversations that matter most: with finance, procurement, legal, and executive leadership. This one-page planning sheet includes specific questions to ask, who to talk to, and why it matters—so you can uncover risks before they become roadblocks.

[Download the Conversation Guide]