The Office of Management and Budget’s updated Circular A-11 with new requirements and deadlines for customer experience, real property and much more. OMB issued its annual Circular A-11 update in late July and the 1,079 page tome is filled with dates and instructions for how agencies should put the final touches on their 2026 budget requests.

Digging deeper into the primer, agencies will find an extensive treatise on everything from improving customer experience to managing federal real property to updated requirements for using evidence and evaluation in programs.

But since everyone just wants to get to the toy at the bottom of the box, let’s start with that.

OMB told agencies to prepare for a 3% civilian pay raise as part of their 2026 budget planning.

“Agencies should consult with their OMB representative on the provisional estimate for the military pay raise for January 2026,” OMB wrote in A-11. “In making their final estimates for the fiscal 2026 budget, agencies should anticipate revising pay raise amounts after the President makes a pay raise decision. Your OMB representative will provide additional guidance during budget season.” Before you get too excited, or depressed, keep in mind this is just the first step in a long process. But it’s a signal for what the Biden administration is thinking about for 2026.

In fact, the White House just completed one of the final steps for the 2025 pay raise last Friday when President Joe Biden issued his alternative pay plan. He will make the 2% raise final in December when he issues an executive order, assuming Congress doesn’t make any changes to the appropriations bill.

Before OMB started expanding A-11 in the 2000s, the circular has been mostly known as a budget planning document. So in keeping with its history, there are several dates agencies need to be aware of: 

• Initial budgets are due to omb by Sept. 9
• Agency budget baselines are locked by Dec. 4
• White House to send budget request to Congress by Feb. 3

All of these dates tend to slip based on a number of factors, including the expected continuing resolution to start 2025 from Congress, possible partial government shutdown should the White House and Congress not agree on a CR and, of course, this being an election year, the new president will want to put their own stamp on any budget request for 2025.

And speaking of CRs and a possible partial shutdown, OMB included in A-11 updated lapse in appropriations plans. Agencies had to submit those documents to OMB by Aug. 1.

“Plans should be updated in 2025. Agencies must also submit an updated lapse plan to OMB for review whenever there is a change in the source of funding for an agency program or any significant modification, expansion, or reduction in agency program activities,” A-11 states. “Additional guidance on lapse plan submission and review for each potential lapse will be communicated with agencies, as needed.”