The order is largely aimed at government-wide information technology contracts.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 20 that aims to consolidate the federal contracting of common goods and services, including information technology, under the General Services Administration (GSA).
The order calls for GSA to take over as the executive agent of all government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology, as designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), within 30 days of its signing. It suggests that consolidating federal procurement under GSA will “eliminate waste and duplication, while enabling agencies to focus on their core mission of delivering the best possible services for the American people.”
The GSA administrator will then be able to “defer or decline” the executive agent role of government information technology contracts “when necessary to ensure continuity of service or as otherwise appropriate.”
The federal government has many government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology, including the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center’s CIO-SP3, which is a 10-year contract for providing information technology solutions and services, and NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement contracts.
However, the order does not say what will happen to information technology contracts outside the GSA or the workers who support them.
Trump’s order also directs the OMB director to issue a memorandum within 14 days to federal agencies explaining how to implement the process of consolidating information technology contracts under GSA.
Largely referring to information technology contracts, the order also directs agency heads to coordinate with contracting officers within the next 60 days to send plans to GSA on transferring “domestic procurement with respect to common goods and services for the agency, where permitted by law.”
“It is time to return the General Services Administration to its original purpose, rather than continuing to have multiple agencies and agency subcomponents separately carry out these same functions in an uncoordinated and less economical fashion,” the order states.
The order was one of several Trump signed from the Oval Office on Thursday. He also signed an order to dismantle the Department of Education and another boosting the mining and production of critical minerals in the United States, including uranium, copper, potash, and gold.
The second order comes amid discussions with Ukraine over a potential minerals deal in exchange for continued U.S. military support. The Trump administration is also in talks with the Democratic Republic of the Congo about a similar deal.