On March 20, 2025, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”), “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement,” to consolidate domestic civilian contracting for “common goods and services” within one agency—the General Services Administration (“GSA”). The EO defines “common goods and services” as those described in the Category Management system first developed as part of a previous effort, dating back to 2014, to coordinate spending across the government.

The EO asserts that “standardized procurement functions should be carried out in the most efficient and effective manner possible for the American taxpayer,” because, under the current system, “multiple agencies and agency subcomponents separately carry out these same functions in an uncoordinated and less economical fashion.”

The EO’s procurement consolidation effort sets forth four key deadlines.

Within 14 days of the EO’s issuance, by April 3, 2025, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) is required to issue a memorandum to executive agencies for implementation, and then within 30 days of the EO’s issuance, by April 19, 2025, implement the following:

• The OMB Director must designate the GSA Administrator as the executive agent for all governmentwide acquisition contracts (“GWACs”) for information technology (“IT”). The Administrator must, however, defer or decline its executive agent designation when doing so is necessary to ensure continuity of service or is otherwise appropriate.
• The Administrator, on an ongoing basis, must rationalize agencies’ use of IT GWAC vehicles by identifying contracts deemed duplicative, redundant, or inefficient for elimination.

Within 60 days of the EO, by May 19, 2025, all agency heads, in consultation with their respective procurement officials, must submit to the Administrator proposals for GSA to conduct “domestic procurement with respect to common goods and services for the agency, where permitted by law.”

Within 90 days of the EO, by June 18, 2025, the Administrator must submit to the OMB Director a comprehensive plan to procure “common goods and services” across “the domestic components of the Government, where permitted by law.”

Key Takeaways

• While the EO proposes significant changes, the immediate impacts on current and prospective government contractors could be modest depending on what is considered a “common good or service” and what authority the customer agencies retain to continue certain procurement activities. If these changes disrupt active contracts, contractors should know their rights in the event of performance delays, changes, and terminations.
• Contractors may expect fewer contracting opportunities and solicitations in the near future, as the EO requires GSA to cull efforts that it considers duplicative or redundant.
• Contractors may notice increased closures of procurement offices across numerous agencies as procurement functions shift to GSA.