In April 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14275, “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement.” This order aims to improve how government agencies purchase products and services by mandating an overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The FAR is the primary directive used by executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds.
Issued in 1983, and taking effect in 1984, the FAR has been revised frequently to keep in line with changing priorities, policies and modernization. The original FAR exceeds over 2,000 pages and is perceived to be too lengthy, complicated and inefficient. Executive Order 14275 instructs returning the FAR to its “statutory roots” by streamlining the acquisition process—removing unnecessary regulations and policy, promoting the acquisition of commercial products and simplifying it with what is referred to as the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO).
A PHASED APPROACH
Traditionally updated and maintained by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, commonly referred to as the FAR Council, which includes representatives from the General Services Administration, the Department of War and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the latest overhaul is currently being updated in partnership with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The FAR is being modernized and streamlined using a phased approach. In Phase I, the FAR Council and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy collaborated to amend the FAR to reduce its complexity. This included removing any provisions that were not required by statute or did not support national defense, rewriting the FAR in plain language and encouraging agencies to buy commercially available products.
As revisions are made to the FAR, they are published on the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul webpage located on acquisition.gov. Completed between April and October 2025, these revisions—also referred to as agency deviations—allowed government agencies to begin using the revisions immediately before the formal process is officially adopted. This also provided agencies with the opportunity to test out the new processes and provide feedback for consideration during the deviation phase. Phase II of the RFO began in October 2025 consisting of the formal rulemaking process and permanently amending the FAR. During this process, the FAR Council is gathering all the revisions made in the RFO along with lessons learned and feedback received from agencies during Phase I to make any improvements to the draft revisions. Once these draft revisions are complete, they will be published as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or NPRM, in the Federal Register. This allows for public comments to be submitted from government agencies, contractors, industry, law firms, etc. By law, the FAR Council must review and consider all comments that have been submitted and determine if any of the comments warrant additional revisions to the FAR draft. Upon final decisions on all comments received and any revisions that need to be made, the FAR Council will publish the Final Rule in the Federal Register.
In accordance with Executive Order 14275, the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul is instructing Department of War agencies to streamline the acquisition process by removing unnecessary regulations and policy and promoting the acquisition of commercial products. (Photo by Shannon Knott, Pentagon Force Protection Agency)
LEANING INTO EFFICIENCY
Government acquisition has a reputation for being too lengthy and overly complex, often described as having too much “hoop jumping” to get anything accomplished. This results in significant delays in the acquisition process, consequently delaying the delivery of products and services to Soldiers in the field. While one of the key principles of the RFO is to rewrite the FAR in plain English so that it is less lengthy and easier to read, the overhaul also includes another important goal—efficiency. A shorter, simpler FAR allows acquisition professionals to spend less time interpreting regulations and more time focusing on acquiring mission-critical items.
To enhance efficiency, the FAR is removing all regulations that are not explicitly required by laws that have been passed by Congress, eliminating unnecessary steps in the acquisition process. Additionally, the RFO encourages the acquisition workforce to apply their knowledge to make informed decisions that will produce faster results and solutions.
The RFO is also focusing on buying commercially available products and services. Previously, buying commercial products was a last resort and often required justification. Government agencies or uniformed services were typically encouraged to design and develop their own specialized products, even if commercial products were available—costing valuable time and money. Now, the RFO encourages purchasing commercial products and services if they are readily available.
ARMY ACQUISITION IMPACT
Although the RFO is going to streamline acquisitions allowing faster purchasing and reducing the administrative burden on Army acquisition professionals, it will also have an impact on the acquisition workforce.
The FAR Council is publishing a collection of resources referred to as the Strategic Acquisition Guidance (SAG) to support acquisition professionals. The SAG is an all-inclusive set of resources for the FAR Overhaul that will include the newly updated FAR, buying guides, the FAR Companion Guide and Practitioner Albums. The buying guides offer buying advice and techniques while the FAR Companion Guide is a manual that offers best practices, explanations and advice on how to follow the FAR. The Practitioner Albums contain an extensive library of training materials on the updated portions of the FAR. The Practitioner Album trainings, some of which are interactive, are broken down into different categories and are published on a rolling basis.
CONCLUSION
Navigating numerous changes in a short period of time can be challenging. Fortunately, alongside the helpful tools that acquisition.gov is providing, the Warfighting Acquisition University is offering training opportunities and webinars on the RFO. Details on these training opportunities can be found on the Warfighting Acquisition University’s website along with various articles and blog posts that can be beneficial in navigating the new processes.
With the FAR Overhaul being rolled out in phases, to stay informed and adapt to these changes as they are released, acquisition professionals can monitor acquisition.gov for immediate updates and Behind the Frontlines for follow-on articles explaining the latest changes.
For more information, go to https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul.
REBECCA WRIGHT is a writer and editor at the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center’s Director of Acquisition Career Management Office at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Before USAASC, she served as an explosive ordnance disposal technical writer at NSWC Indian Head. She has more than 15 years of experience writing and editing for the DOD and the U.S. Department of Justice.