Acquisition overhaul is providing needed ‘discretion’ for tech adoption, procurement chief says

The White House’s push to revamp federal procurement rules is giving agencies and industry partners more flexibility when it comes to onboarding products, a top official with the Office of Management and Budget said on Thursday. 

Speaking at Carahsoft’s FedRAMP Summit in Washington, D.C., Dr. Kevin Rhodes — administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy — highlighted the Trump administration’s effort to scale back the complexity of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, which has resulted in the rulebook being cut by around 25% and the removal of 3,000 mandates not tied to legal statute. The rules detail the government’s requirements for purchasing goods and services from industry. 

He said the biggest change resulting from this effort, however, is that the slimmed down guidance will now “allow discretion” for agencies to onboard new capabilities that best suit their needs. 

“If it's not in the FAR, and it doesn't tell you you can't do it, then you should consider it,” he said. “The goal of this is to allow our contracting officers — in concert with you, our industry partners and our other stakeholders — to find the most effective means to deliver it.”

President Donald Trump released an executive order in April 2025 that called for reforming the FAR, with a focus on revising the rulebook “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.”

OMB subsequently announced in August 2025 that it was launching its effort to comply with the “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul” by, in part, calling for agencies to cut one-third of requirements from future contracts “not required by statute or executive orders and have little to do with contract outcomes.”

Rhodes said the FAR revisions are also helping to change the culture around government acquisition and procurement by “having people execute and not look at checklists anymore, and not be compliance-based but being delivery-focused.” 

Although this process will take time, Rhodes acknowledged, he said “five years from now, we're going to have people that are executing and delivering on the mission.”