It appears that GSA posted an official announcement last week, but the links to it are now dead. There has been much mention of this elsewhere online. See, e.g., https://pubkgroup.com/transforming-procurement/gsa-announces-revolutionary-far-overhaul/.

I have received several emails about it, but no one can find anything on the GSA website. I suspect they posted something and then took it down. We'll see.

We are going to release it now, oops, never mind, and now, nope to soon, and now, nope we take that back.

This, supposedly, is what the now-missing GSA webpage said:

The Federal Government is indeed undertaking its most significant procurement rules update in over 40 years, with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul Initiative rewriting the FAR, led by OFPP in partnership with the FAR Council, DoD, GSA, & NASA. 

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• FAR Overhaul Initiative:

  This initiative, led by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in partnership with the FAR Council, is rewriting the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). 

• FAR Council:

  The FAR Council includes representatives from the Department of Defense (DoD), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 

• Significance:

  This update is considered the most significant in over 40 years, indicating a major shift in how the federal government procures goods and services. 

• Purpose:

  The goal of the FAR Overhaul Initiative is to modernize and streamline the procurement process, making it more efficient and effective. 

• Executive Order:

  The initiative is being undertaken under Executive Order [Insert Number]. 

• Government Procurement:

  Government procurement, also known as public procurement, is the process by which governments acquire goods and services from commercial bidders. 

• Regulation:

  Government procurement is often heavily regulated, with statutes, rules, and regulations in place to ensure proper use of taxpayer dollars and to promote transparency to limit corruption. 

• FAR:

  The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the primary regulation used by all executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds. 

Two new Executive Orders issued April 9:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/modernizing-defense-acquisitions-and-spurring-innovation-in-the-defense-industrial-base/

Directs SecDef and others to pursue for wholesale reform of DoD acquisition, including process, DFARS, other regulations, workforce, training, MDAPs, planning, etc. Several due dates before end of FY25.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/directing-the-repeal-of-unlawful-regulations/

Directs agencies to review every single regulation and repeal "unlawful" regulations without notice or comment. Examples might include any where there's no clear statutory basis (like the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo case, #1 on the EO's list).

"We are going to release it now, oops, never mind, and now, nope to soon, and now, nope we take that back." << we talkin' about FAR overhaul or tariffs?

Here it is:

The White House

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.

11 hours ago, Vern Edwards said:

Here it is:

The White House

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.

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

Sounds like this has gone from "not enough cooks" as Vern's source initially described it, to "way too many cooks" now. I'd be shocked if we see FAR 2.0 this calendar year, although I'm sure there will be lots of deviations along the way.

I will hold my hope but not my breath!

The OFPP Administrator better get on this!

Remind me again ...who is the Administrator?

5 hours ago, FrankJon said:

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

This sounds like the implementation of FASA. Instead of having the needed changes be processed by the normal FAR Committees, ad hoc implementation teams were created to deal with specific topics. I was on a few of those teams. An interesting aside to this process was that the person coordinating these efforts in DoD was Terri Squillocote (?) an attorney sent by Pres. Clinton from the White House to DoD who was later convicted along with her husband of being East German spies.

Here's a screenshot from archive.org of the GSA's website that was removed.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250404214150/acquisition-staging.gsa.gov/far-overhaul

Nice work

2 hours ago, Retreadfed said:

This sounds like the implementation of FASA. Instead of having the needed changes be processed by the normal FAR Committees, ad hoc implementation teams were created to deal with specific topics. I was on a few of those teams. An interesting aside to this process was that the person coordinating these efforts in DoD was Terri Squillocote (?) an attorney sent by Pres. Clinton from the White House to DoD who was later convicted along with her husband of being East German spies.

Oh wow. That is super interesting! Wonder if the Soviets got anything actionable out of that process….

I think she spied for South Africa.

https://www.acquisition.gov/content/revolutionary-far-overhaulWhite House Announces Revolutionary Fed...pdf

On 4/16/2025 at 4:58 PM, Vern Edwards said:

I think she spied for South Africa

You are correct. My bad.