Some SMD Activities Paused Pending OMB Guidance

Keith’s note: the following memo “Guidance to Limit Commitments in Advance of SMD Apportionment” was sent out yesterday to NASA center CFOs. Full memo below.

From: NASA HQ [REDACTED]
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
To: OCFO-DL-Enterprise-CFOs
Cc: Center CFOS [REDACTED]

Subject: Guidance to Limit Commitments in Advance of SMD Apportionment

Center CFOs,

The following direction is provided in advance of incoming OMB guidance and applies until further notice.

With the exception of payroll charges, please pause all activities that would create new financial commitments on the Science projects listed below using the SCEX22026D fund. This includes, but is not limited to, contract actions, credit card purchases, and travel requests. This guidance applies only to program year (PY) 2026 funding; PY 2025 is not restricted.

This pause in commitments is intended to prevent negative work; once the signed apportionment is received from OMB-which could be as soon as Tuesday, February 17th—all unobligated commitments in these projects will need to be decommitted, Centers will be asked to move available funding up to ALLOBJECTS for RMO action, and budget levels will be locked to temporarily prevent obligations. This temporary hold is expected to last for 10 business days, but may be extended.

Any exceptions to this guidance should be coordinated with the SMD RMO [REDACTED]

We will follow-up with additional instructions once formal guidance from OMB is received.