Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement
Record date: 2025-04-18
( printed page 16447) Executive Order 14275 of April 15, 2025 Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Purpose . The Federal Government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world—yet conducting business with the Federal Government is often prohibitively inefficient and costly. More than 40 years ago, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was implemented to establish uniform procedures for acquisitions
What this record contains
- Federal Register document
- 2025-06839
- Publication date
- 2025-04-18
- Citation
- 90 FR 16447
- Issuing office
- Executive Office of the President
Official record excerpt
( printed page 16447) Executive Order 14275 of April 15, 2025 Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Purpose . The Federal Government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world—yet conducting business with the Federal Government is often prohibitively inefficient and costly. More than 40 years ago, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was implemented to establish uniform procedures for acquisitions across executive departments and agencies (agencies). The “vision” of the Federal Acquisition System, codified at section 1.102 of the FAR, is to “deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer, while maintaining the public's trust and fulfilling public policy objectives[,]” but since its inception, the FAR has swelled to more than 2,000 pages of regulations, evolving into an excessive and overcomplicated regulatory framework and resulting in an onerous bureaucracy. Federal procurement under the FAR receives consistently negative assessments regarding its efficiency. Comprehensive studies such as the 2024 Senate committee report entitled “Restoring Freedom's Forge” and the 2019 report by the Advisory Panel on Streamlining and Codifying Acquisition Regulations, created by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 ( Public Law 114-92 ) and made up of experts in acquisition and procurement policy, conclude that the FAR is a barrier to, rather than a prudent vehicle for, doing business with the Federal Government. Its harmful effects permeate various items paid for by American taxpayers, from commercial products like laptops and office supplies to major defense weapons systems. The management and expenditure of nearly $1 trillion annually in procurements cannot continue on this trajectory. Fortunately, its inadequacies are self-inflicted and can be remedied through a comprehensive reform of the FAR. Executive Order 14192 of January 31, 2025 (Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation), established that the policy of the executive branch is to be prudent and financially responsible in the expenditure of funds and to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people. Reforming the FAR will advance this objective. Sec. 2 . Policy . It is the policy of the United States to create the most agile, effective, and efficient procurement system possible. Removing undue barriers, such as unnecessary regulations, while simultaneously allowing for the expansion of the national and defense industrial bases is paramount. Accordingly, the FAR should contain only provisions required by statute or essential to sound procurement, and any FAR provisions that do not advance these objectives should be removed. Sec. 3 . Definitions . (a) “FAR” means the Federal Acquisition Regulation codified at title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations . (b) “Administrator” refers to the Administrator of the Office of Federal Public Procurement Policy. (c) “Agency” means an executive department, a military department, or any independent establishment within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 101 , 102 , and 104(1) , respectively, and any wholly owned Government corporation within the meaning of 31 U.S.C. 9101 . ( printed page 16448) Sec. 4 . Reforming the Federal Acquisition Regulation . Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Administrator, in coordination with the other members of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council), the heads of agencies, and appropriate senior acquisition and procurement officials from agencies, shall take appropriate actions to amend the FAR to ensure that it contains only provisions that are required by statute or that are otherwise necessary to support simplicity and usability, strengthen the efficacy of the procurement system, or protect economic or national security interests. Sec. 5 . Aligning Agency Supplements to the FAR . (a) Within 15 days of the date of this order, each agency exercising procurement authority pursuant to the FAR shall designate a senior acquisition or procurement official to work with the Administrator and the FAR Council to ensure agency alignment with FAR reform and to provide recommendations regarding any agency-specific supplemental regulations to the FAR. The Administrator, the FAR Council, and each agency designee under this subsection shall collaborate to identify and appropriately address FAR provisions that are inconsistent with the policy objectives described in section 2 of
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