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May 22, 2025
GSA ACQUISITION INNOVATION POLICY LAB
SPONSORED BY: GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive
FROM AND DIGITALLY SIGNED BY: Jeffrey A. Koses, Senior Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisition Policy (MV)
INNOVATION: Expanded Use of Oral Acquisition Plans
On this page:
1. Pilot Overview: This pilot encourages GSA contracting activities to complete oral acquisition plans for acquisitions that require approval at the contracting officer level or one level above the contracting officer (see GSAM 507.103(b)(1)), unless the acquisition falls into one or more of the following categories:
Acquisitions falling into one or more of these categories are excluded from this pilot and require a written acquisition plan.
2. Hypothesis: This pilot supports testing acquisition strategies that lead to faster acquisition cycles and reducing needless bureaucracy. If GSA adopts oral acquisition plans more widely - with streamlined discussions, documented key decisions, and summaries in place of lengthy written templates - then the acquisition planning process will become more efficient, strategic, and streamline the procurement. This shift will reduce administrative burden, and better align with modern commercial and agile acquisition practices.
3. Participation: To request approval to participate in this pilot and receive help from innovation coaches, email SAGTesting@gsa.gov.
4. Instructions. Only approved contracting activities are authorized to participate in this pilot. See Attachment A along with any other instructions relevant to this pilot on InSite.
5. Effective Date. This pilot is effective immediately and remains in effect until rescinded. The SAG Testing group, and innovation coaches, will provide feedback on iterating the pilot, scaling the pilot further, or retiring the pilot based on results and acquisition team feedback.
6. Points of Contact. Questions regarding GSA’s Acquisition Policy Lab, or ideas for pilots, may be directed to GSA Acquisition Policy Division at GSARPolicy@gsa.gov.
Attachment: Attachment A, Pilot Instructions
PILOT-2025-01
Attachment A
Contracting activities that have been approved to participate in this pilot must utilize the following instructions for oral acquisition plans:
A. Schedule the Oral Acquisition Planning Session - The Acquisition Planner schedules the oral acquisition planning session with key stakeholders, including:
The session must occur before releasing the solicitation and must be documented in accordance with these instructions.
B. Acquisition Planning Session Outline
C. Required Documentation from the Session - The following output replaces a traditional written acquisition plan:
D. Ongoing Tracking and Maintenance - The Acquisition Planner conducts periodic check-ins during the procurement lifecycle to ensure alignment with the agreed-upon strategy, including during post-award. Any significant changes to the plan must be documented in an updated executive summary.
E. Key Elements to be Covered During the Acquisition Planning Session At a minimum, the Acquisition Planning Session must consider the following key elements:
F. Approving Official and Contracting Officer The approving official must sign the Executive Summary, affirming that the oral acquisition plan considered all the key elements above, and that decisions on the key elements are accurately captured in the Executive Summary. The contracting officer shall sign the Executive Summary to document concurrence with the oral acquisition plan.
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