The mission continues to modernize and streamline the federal procurement process—GSA announced this week they are launching their OneGov Strategy, a new initiative helping agencies gain access to IT tools. This announcement follows several Executive Orders (EO) shifting how the federal government acquires goods and services, including Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.0 and the EO expanding GSA’s role in procurement. Let’s review what we know about the OneGov Strategy and what it’ll look like for contractors and buyers.
GSA’s OneGov Strategy
The Trump Administration wants to shift the way the federal government approaches its IT purchases. Rather than view it as a series of isolated purchases, they want the OneGov Strategy to encourage an interconnected system that supports everything from civilian services to national security.
GSA wants the federal government to act as a single enterprise with buying. This means:
- Reducing duplication in federal procurement vehicles
- Leveraging shared standards
- Driving greater value for taxpayers
To accomplish this, the OneGov Strategy aims to modernize how government agencies buy goods and services, and calls for more direct engagement with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The goal is not to eliminate resellers, but rather to modernize how the resellers roles are defined and who holds the government contracts. GSA believes this approach will increase transparency in pricing, streamline acquisition, and improve cybersecurity protections.
Phases of the OneGov Strategy
In the first phase, OneGov will grant federal agencies access to IT tools with standardized items and pricing. The focus at the beginning will be enterprise software because the need is urgent. In later phases, GSA anticipates including the purchasing of goods such as hardware machinery, cybersecurity services, and other categories. GSA says they will continue to engage with agency and industry stakeholders to implement the future phases.
Executive Actions Behind the OneGov Strategy
The goal for this strategy is for GSA to become the governmentwide hub for shared IT services. This mission was introduced in an Executive Order consolidating the procurement of most common goods and services under GSA. This would effectively quadruple the size of GSA. That means there has to be a lot of change in this agency to take on such a large project.
GSA says the OneGov Strategy also directly supports one of the recent EOs ensuring commercial, cost-effective solutions in federal contracts. This EO encouraged federal agencies to procure commercially available products and services as much as possible. This model is already a big part of the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program, so it’s not a new strategy for GSA to build.
Preview of OneGov Efforts
In their Press Release, GSA mentioned the launch of the OneGov Strategy is not the first step in the direction to modernize the federal procurement process. The strategy was built on recent efforts led by GSA’s IT Category (ITC) Office. This includes a governmentwide Microsoft agreement under the Governmentwide Microsoft Acquisition Strategy (GMAS), and reaching an agreement with Google on offering a temporary 71% reduction in Google Workspace pricing.
GSA said these efforts were made possible because they partnered directly with the industry to simplify acquisition, increase transparency, and generate savings.
What’s Next for the OneGov Strategy?
As the OneGov Strategy is rolled out, GSA plans to continue working with government partners and industry to implement and develop it. This initiative is just one example of the way the new administration plans to reshape the way we see federal procurement, and we expect it’ll have some major impacts on contractors down the line. It’s important you keep up with these changes, so you know how to adapt your govcon strategy. To keep up with more information on this strategy and future GSA initiatives, check out our blog and our monthly newsletter. If you have questions about managing your current government contract, or are interested in doing business with the government, we would be happy to help you.
