DEI In Fed Retirement Contracts At Odds With Trump Agenda

President Trump has taken significant steps to crack down on the pervasiveness of racist DEI ideology throughout the federal government. But even amid such efforts, there are pockets within the bureaucracy where this worldview remains at large.

The latest example of this phenomenon comes in the form of federal contracts to a pair of high-profile investment firms to manage a major government retirement program. Obtained by The Federalist, these agreements contain preferred race- and sex-centric mandates that run counter to the administration’s efforts to root out such discriminatory ideology from the federal bureaucracy.

The controversial requirements are included in the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board’s (FRTIB) 2020 contracts with asset managers BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) (now State Street Investment Management (SSIM)) to oversee the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), which essentially operates as a 401(k) for federal employees and uniformed service members. The FRTIB is an independent agency established in 1986 that seeks to assist these individuals “prepare for their retirement years via the TSP,” according to its website.

The contracts contain numerous requirements that the two investment firms must fulfill as part of their contractual obligations in managing TSP. Several of those mandates appear to align with DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology, which dismisses merit and instead discriminates based on characteristics like skin color and sex.

Under a section titled “Deliverables,” the contracts specify that BlackRock and SSGA/SSIM must provide a series of reports to the FRTIB Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) that “shall be reviewed and updated every year to reflect changes in policies and procedures and any applicable regulatory guidance.” These reports are broken up into four timetables — daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual — and mandate the firms to submit varying information required by the agency for each period.

It’s under the “Annual Reports” section in which the FRTIB requests multiple data points that tie into left-wing DEI ideology. Among the information sought, the agency requires that BlackRock and SSGA/SSIM each “Provide a report on the investment manager’s use of women/minority owned brokers,” “Provide data on the firm’s management composition as it relates to women/minorities,” and “Provide a summary of the firm’s diversity philosophy.”

The contracts are set to expire “120 months from award or at the end of the agreement period, whichever is earlier,” according to the documents.

The revelations are notable given that Trump signed an executive order on March 26 to ban “racially discriminatory DEI activities” in federal contracting. The edict lays out a series of actions to be taken by the director of the Office of Management and Budget and others to ensure compliance with the order, as well as guidance for penalizing those who do not comply with its directives.

“DEI activities are not only unethical and often illegal, but also cause inefficiencies, waste, and abuse within entities that engage in such practices,” the order reads. “Specifically, DEI activities impose artificial costs in hiring, promotion, and operations by precluding implementation of merit-based principles; creating excessive workforce turnover by elevating immutable characteristics over job performance; and jeopardizing the sort of employee collaboration and problem-solving that is essential to fostering efficient and high-quality work.”

The president’s directive is tailored towards amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation. According to the U.S. government, the FAR is the “primary regulation for use by all executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds.”

The problem, however, is that the FRTIB holds a “unique status” as a “self-funded Federal agency with independent budgetary authority that receives no annual appropriations from the U.S. Congress.” As such, it is “not strictly bound by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.”

Put another way, the executive order seemingly doesn’t encompass the FRTIB’s contracts with BlackRock and SSGA/SSIM, even as the agreements’ race- and sex-based requirements go against the spirit of the administration’s anti-DEI policy agenda.

Speaking to The Federalist, American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones noted the FRTIB’s “incredibly impactful” nature and scope as a federal agency. He further observed how “a significant portion” of the “millions” of federal employees and retirees enrolled in TSP are conservatives who don’t support DEI in contracts involving stewardship of their finances.

These people “probably don’t want these kinds of crazy left-wing policies in the contracts that manage their money. They want to just make as much money as [they] can so [they] can retire,” Jones said.

The AAF president suggested that the Trump administration should “look at expanding” the president’s executive order to “sweep in the FRTIB” if possible. He also advised White House leadership to “provide guidance to the FRTIB to instruct them to tell BlackRock and SSGA that the diversity provisions are no longer binding, as they are contrary to U.S. government policy.”

The Office of Management and Budget declined to comment at this time.

This is hardly the first time BlackRock and SSGA/SSIM have come under fire for embracing left-wing ideology.

In June 2021, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and then-Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., sent a letter to the FRTIB expressing concerns that the firms “are using their control of proxy votes for federal employees’ Thrift Savings Plan … investments to pressure other companies to adhere to their own environmental and social policy views.” As The Federalist previously reported, such environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards are tools used to evaluate companies based on how left-wing they are and can reward or punish businesses based on their commitment to leftist concepts such as “environmental” and “social” justice.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation last year to prohibit asset managers like BlackRock and SSGA/SSIM, “who manage federal employee retirement funds,” from using those monies to advance ESG and DEI policies “through corporate shareholder votes.” The bill was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee but has yet to receive a vote.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment by deadline.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood