diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 76c555d6a..b3461bcc8 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+<h2 id="accepting-contributions">Accepting Contributions</h2>
+
+This repository does not currently accept external pull requests. It is maintained by the GSA SAM design-library team as part of an internal Angular upgrade effort, and outside PRs will be closed without merging, regardless of quality.
+
+If you've found a bug or have a feature request, please [open an issue](../../issues) describing it — issues are welcome and help inform our roadmap, even though we can't accept code contributions directly at this time.
+
 <h2 id="reviewer-checklist">Reviewer Checklist</h2>
 
 - Testing
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d607b8610..0a9d9d28c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ This package houses the SAM UI Kit, an Angular based UI component library design
 
 ## Contributing
 
-Create a feature branch from the latest `master` branch code. After development is finished, submit a PR with `master` as the target.
+This repository does not currently accept external pull requests — see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details. Team members: create a feature branch from the latest `master` branch code, then submit a PR with `master` as the target.
 
 ## Release Notes