President Donald Trump is directing federal agencies to overhaul their procurement systems and regulations by scaling back requirements in the Federal Acquisition Regulation to make permitting less cumbersome. Trump also is directing agencies to purchase only commercially available products and services rather than unique government systems or custom-developed solutions.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation system was established in the early 1980s to provide a uniform system of procurement for U.S. executive agencies. In an April 15 executive order, Trump wrote that the FAR system has become “an excessive and overcomplicated regulatory framework and resulting in an onerous bureaucracy.” 

In the order, Trump directed the FAR Council, which directs government procurement policy for all agencies, to within 180 days evaluate existing procurement regulations and eliminate provisions that are not legally required or necessary for simplicity and efficacy. The order also sets a 15-day deadline for federal agencies to designate a senior procurement official to work with the council, and a 20-day deadline for the White House Office of Management and Budget director to provide guidance to agencies. 

The move is intended to eliminate barriers to working with the government and boost efficiency, officials said in a statement announcing the effort, the White House said transactions that would take days for a business instead take the government months or years and come at greater cost. 

The overhaul “will reduce more than 40 years of bureaucratic buildup that will unleash our procurement system with generational change and results,” OMB Senior Advisor Kevin Rhodes said in a statement. 

The Associated General Contractors of America’s Spencer Phillips, counsel for the group’s regulation and litigation advocacy, says he is “cautiously optimistic” about the FAR overhaul. While the 180-day timeline to make widespread FAR cuts is “ambitious,” Phillips says AGC leaders hope to be able to participate in the process by providing information and support to officials. There are several provisions under FAR that AGC hopes will be removed, such as mandates for project labor agreements, Phillips adds. 

“We are in support of reform on the procurement side of things,” he says.

A second order from Trump, released on April 16, promotes the use of commercially available products with the aim of reducing costs and streamlining acquisitions. Agencies have 60 days to conduct a review of their open solicitations, contract awards and sole source notices for any non-commercial products and services, and review the pricing to determine whether their procurement is justified. 

Agencies seeking to solicit a non-commercial product or service going forward will also need to undergo a review to obtain a waiver, per the order. 

Past government procurement efforts focusing on commercial availability have focused on software, and Phillips indicated he’s not expecting any construction-specific impacts from that order.