The Trump administration issued guidance aimed at shifting more federal research funding away from universities and toward individual scientists and researchers, alongside alternative approaches to assessing proposals beyond peer review. The memo directs federal agencies with large R&D budgets to submit implementation plans within 90 days. The Office of Management and Budget memo—paired with direction from the Office of Science and Technology Policy—asks agencies to experiment with models other than peer review and to prioritize programs that allow individuals to move grants between institutions. The administration’s position is that universities create administrative burdens and that grant awards should better reward early-career talent. Higher education researchers and administrators are likely to scrutinize how the guidance affects indirect cost recovery, institutional research capacity-building, and the ability to support interdisciplinary projects that require sustained infrastructure. The incoming policy could also change how universities plan faculty development and grant strategies if federal agencies begin emphasizing individual portability, faster award decisions, or different scoring mechanisms.