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GSA

A New and Improved FAR coming your way

GSA Hosts Webinar on Transformative Federal Procurement Changes

The General Services Administration (GSA) hosted a live webinar last week to discuss major reforms reshaping the future of federal acquisition. The session focused on two recent Executive Orders EO 14240, which consolidates federal procurement under GSA, and EO 14275, which launches a sweeping overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Together, these changes aim to streamline buying, cut waste, and open government contracting to more innovation and efficiency. (GSA webinar to discuss executive orders) May 28, 2025)

Consolidating Federal Procurement: EO 14240

Jeff Koses, GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive, explained how EO 14240 shifts common goods and services procurement under GSA’s leadership. This move will eliminate redundancy, reduce cost, and enable agencies to concentrate on mission delivery. GSA will now act as the Executive Agent for all Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), aligning those currently managed by NASA and NIH into GSA’s centralized procurement strategy. (ibid)

GSA will collaborate with OMB, NASA, and NIH to assess current GWACs, resources, and commitments, building a cohesive transition plan. The 10 key spending categories, Information Technology, Professional Services, Security & Protection, Facilities & Construction, Industrial Products & Services, Office Management, Transportation & Logistics, Travel, Medical, and
Human Capital will fall under GSA’s streamlined acquisition umbrella. (ibid)

FAR Overhaul: EO 14275

The second half of the webinar focused on EO 14275, which calls for a modernized, intuitive, and mission-focused FAR. Koses highlighted that the current FAR is too complex and deters many businesses, especially small and innovative firms, from entering the federal marketplace. (ibid)

The FAR rewrite dubbed the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO), is being implemented through a series of deviations and will remove low-value administrative burdens while maintaining key protections against waste and fraud. New resources, including a FAR Companion Guide, Practitioner Albums, and Buying Guides, will support acquisition professionals and contractors as the rewrite rolls out. (ibid)

Parts of the revised FAR are already available on Acquisition.gov, and the public can comment directly on proposed changes. GSA also announced new training efforts in partnership with FAI and DAU to support the acquisition workforce in adopting the changes. (ibid)

What This Means for Industry

These changes signal a major shift for contractors:

  • Greater opportunity for innovative and small businesses to compete.
  • Streamlined acquisition timelines and reduced barriers to entry.
  • Increased emphasis on commercial buying and mission-first contracting. (ibid)

What’s Next

GSA will continue collecting agency implementation plans and begin analyzing them with OMB. The agency stressed the importance of collaboration with stakeholders and the acquisition workforce during this transitional period. (ibid)

To stay informed, stakeholders can sign up for RFO updates, download new FAR parts and guides, and share feedback directly on Acquisition.gov. (ibid)

This marks a new chapter in federal acquisition—one aimed at making government buying faster, smarter, and more accessible.

Questions concerning the FAR and the overhaul? Give us a call.

GSA Overhauls MAS Program, New SINs in Old SINs out

As part of its Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS) refresh taking effect this month, the General Services Administration (GSA) introduces more defined subcategories under information technology contracting. (MeriTalk April 1,2025)

A new GSA document reveals that starting in April, Special Item Numbers (SINs) under IT contracting will become more specific with the addition of artificial intelligence, cloud, and cybersecurity-related subcategories. These SINs help Federal agencies identify and acquire products and services from pre-approved vendors. (ibid)

One new subgroup, “Incident Handling and Event Management,” falls under the “Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services” subcategory.(ibid)

GSA also expands cloud-related services by introducing the “Cloud Services Subcategory,” which includes all IT professional services that support the Government’s adoption of, migration to, or governance and management of cloud computing.(ibid)

Cloud-related vendors now provide services such as legacy system migrations, development operations, cloud-native application development, cloud solution management and governance, and cloud solution assessments.(ibid)

As part of the IT contracting expansion, GSA retires 31 SINs to support its MAS program overhaul, which it announced on March 24.(ibid)

“The retirement of these SINs supports the FAS initiative to optimize the Multiple Award Schedule Program by removing items with insufficient market demand or high administrative costs that outweigh procurement benefits, making them unsuitable for the MAS program,” GSA stated. “Furthermore, many of these items remain available through other procurement channels.”(ibid)

GSA plans to retire 11 SINs in the professional services category, seven in the office management category, and one in the Scientific Management and Solutions category.(ibid)

In addition to the MAS overhaul, President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month to consolidate Federal contracting under GSA, including IT contracts.(ibid)

SIN questions? Give us a call.

Stephen Ehikian’s vision for GSA

Last week, Stephen Ehikian shared his vision for GSA with more than 8,000 employees, and today, he wants to share it more broadly. Ehikian aims to return GSA to its founding mission—streamlining federal operations, consolidating resources, and efficiently delivering essential services that allow agencies to focus on their core missions. According to Ehikian, GSA leads by example, helping agencies cut wasteful contract spending, right-size the federal real estate portfolio, and deploy software that drives efficiency and productivity. (gsa.gov/blog March 25, 2025)

Path Forward

GSA focuses on serving our customers, congressional partners, and communities by:

  • Optimizing the federal buildings portfolio
  • Streamlining and centralizing procurement under the new Executive Order
  • Rationalizing IT infrastructure and software as a Shared Service
  • Applying GSA’s efficiency model to itself (ibid)

Optimizing the Federal Buildings Portfolio

Eliminate years of deferred maintenance liabilities, which now exceed $17 billion, up from $5 billion a decade ago. In many cases, these liabilities outweigh the value of the properties we own. For example, selling the long-vacant Webster School in Washington, D.C., reduced our liabilities by $24 million and revitalized a historic neighborhood. (ibid)

Increase office occupancy above 80% by selling underutilized assets and terminating cancellable leases. With occupancy averaging 31%, we collaborate with tenant agencies to assess space needs and support the return to office while adjusting for a downsized federal workforce. (ibid)

We foster greater collaboration between agencies, breaking down silos in real estate, IT, and facility operations to reduce redundancy and inefficiency. (ibid)

Streamlining and Centralizing Procurement

Maximize the government’s negotiating power by centralizing procurement for common goods and services, securing better prices for taxpayers. We have already launched this initiative with four agencies and continue building strong partnerships to meet specialized procurement needs. (ibid)

Simplify procurement and reduce compliance burdens to increase competition and ensure contracts go to vendors best suited to serve government needs. By modernizing compliance standards, we help both large and small businesses compete for government contracts. (ibid)

Enhance procurement technology to streamline vendor onboarding, reduce paper-based workflows, and improve vendor management and data-driven decision-making. (ibid)

Rationalizing IT Infrastructure and Software as a Shared Service

Consolidate systems by reimagining business processes and automation, improving employee and taxpayer experiences while eliminating redundant solutions. (ibid)

Drive innovation by piloting Generative AI to boost productivity. Early use cases include AI-powered acquisition policy searches for contracting officers, directive searches for policy teams, and code generation for engineers. (ibid)

Centralize data across teams to increase collaboration and prepare for AI-driven efficiencies by breaking down data silos and improving system interoperability. (ibid)

Accelerate adoption of best-in-class technologies by reimagining the FedRAMP authorization process, modernizing aging IT infrastructure, and enhancing security. (ibid)

Optimize cloud and software spending through a line-by-line review of technology solutions, ensuring we only pay for necessary licenses and eliminate redundant systems. (ibid)

Applying GSA’s Efficiency Model to Itself

Ehikian’s goal is to guide other agencies to consolidate and centralize shared services while GSA reviews its own operations to maximize efficiencies. (ibid)

GSA plays a critical role in reducing the federal deficit while enabling agencies to move faster toward their goals. As the backbone of federal operations, we have a unique opportunity to drive innovation in procurement, real estate, and technology. (ibid)

The American people deserve a commonsense government that respects tax dollars, prioritizes efficiency, and delivers results. At GSA, we commit to making that vision a reality and pushing government forward. (ibid)

Need additional information on your specific contract and how the new streamlining and effeciencies affect your contract? Give us a call.

GSA is about to get really big

The head of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service told employees Thursday that the agency will manage about $400 billion in procurement under an expansion set to quadruple the size of GSA. (Next GOV/FCW March 20, 2025)

A new executive order shifts some agencies’ contracting work to GSA, which already plays a key role in government procurement. President Trump reportedly signed the order Thursday, though the text remains unavailable, and the White House has not commented. (ibid)

“We will ingest all domestic and commercial goods and services into GSA. While we won’t handle all $900 billion, we will manage about $400 billion, effectively quadrupling our size,” said Josh Gruenbaum, head of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. (ibid)

GSA has already piloted onboarding two to three agencies to evaluate centralized procurement. The Office of Management and Budget is currently onboarding, along with the Office of Personnel Management, which recently laid off its entire procurement team. (ibid)

“We now have a mobilized operational process to absorb procurement across the government,” Gruenbaum said. GSA plans to automate procurement and integrate talent from the agencies it will serve. (ibid)

GSA operates the schedules program, allowing agencies to buy various services and goods, and oversees several major governmentwide contract vehicles. It also serves as the government’s landlord and develops procurement strategies such as category management and best-in-class contracts.(ibid)

GSA’s acting leader, Stephen Ehikian, highlighted potential cost savings by purchasing as “one buyer on behalf of the government.”(ibid)

As GSA expands procurement operations, it continues downsizing its workforce, eliminating entire offices. Last week, the agency cut the Technology Transformation Services’ talent division and market development and partnerships division while offering Voluntary Early Retirement and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. So far, contracting officers remain largely unaffected.(ibid)

Employees who remain will utilize a new AI bot, recently demoed. GSA announced plans to offer the tool to other federal agencies. Ehikian has prioritized AI to reduce headcount, tasking some employees with identifying how AI can take over their work. (ibid)

The AI tool includes a chat function and an API, with plans for continuous improvements based on staff feedback. Ehikian described this as part of the agency’s “build back phase” after its “slimming down phase,” emphasizing efficiency. A meeting slide deck outlined goals such as reducing IT systems per job, centralizing data, optimizing cloud spending, and investing in shared services. (ibid)

Next week, GSA will unveil a major FedRAMP program overhaul, according to Nextgov/FCW. (ibid)

GSA also continues efforts to shrink the federal real estate footprint. Ehikian reported that the agency canceled nearly 700 leases but acknowledged instances where it reinstated leases after receiving feedback from senators and stakeholders. (ibid)

Trying to make sense of all of the new changes at GSA, give us a call.