GSA Blog

Supporting an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Procurement

FY25 was a busy year for procurement, with GSA’s mission reaffirmed and expanded through a recent executive order on contract consolidation.

Hopefully you’ve been following the progress of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO)and have already reviewed the updated Guiding Principles for the Federal Acquisition System. If not, here’s my take on what’s most important.

There’s an entrepreneurial spirit to the language:

• Emphasis on innovation
• Encouragement of initiative and judgment
• Flexibility and empowerment

It encourages:

• Creativity, problem-solving, and iterative learning
• Taking ownership, using discretion, and acting proactively
• Using calculated risk-taking, adaptability, and value-driven decision-making

These are all hallmarks of an entrepreneurial culture, mindset, and behavior. You’ll find these guiding principles throughout the 49 FAR deviations that made up phase I of the RFO.

PILOTS: Policy Innovations Leveraging Opportunities through Technology Solutions.

PILOTS is our framework to further support this entrepreneurial spirit. It’s a place to empower you and find solutions to removing barriers (especially for small businesses) and burdens in the acquisition process that don’t lead to the best outcomes. It’s a place to release your creativity and problem-solving skills.

Influencing the Future of Procurement

The RFO has introduced many new opportunities and flexibilities:

• Removing Burdensome Barriers - Over 2,700 mandates have been removed so far. This better supports the role of each acquisition team member to exercise personal initiative and sound business judgment to determine the “how” specific to your action.
• FAR Companion - The FAR Companion includes best practices and guidance. It’s a document designed to be iterative to capture new methods as they are discovered.
• Pursuit of New Approaches - The FAR encourages acquisition teams to develop and test new acquisition techniques and methods, and to build on the successes and lessons learned.

PILOTS will provide feedback loops to improve all these aspects of procurement. PILOTS are for the full acquisition team, especially our industry partners. Many times, you have the best view of the leading commercial practices we should emulate. We can’t wait to test your ideas and see how we can scale them.

Get in Touch with Us

Procurement is the secret sauce that powers our government, and we want to help you deliver your mission. Let’s build a better system together.

For details on our process and to explore current or upcoming PILOTs, contact us at GSAPilots@gsa.gov.

PILOTS is led by GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy, sponsored by our Acquisition Innovation Advocates, and championed by me.