White House Pushes for Centralized Federal Procurement Power

Executive Order Gives GSA Administrator Authority to Take Over Procurement Vehicles Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) • March 25, 2025

On Monday, the General Services Administration announced reforms to its multiple award schedule program, warning contractors that it will let contracts failing to meet sales thresholds expire. The move follows a Thursday executive order centralizing government acquisition at GSA. The order empowers the administrator to defer or decline management of government wide IT contracts known as GWACs that some agencies set up to handle technology buying for their own purposes.

GSA already manages a significant portion of federal procurement, but Congress in the mid-1990s authorized agencies to create GWACs amid worries that GSA contract vehicles lagged well behind the cutting edge. Experts told Information Security Media Group that centralizing procurement under the ...