Consolidating Procurement to Drive Efficiency
The Trump administration has made improving efficiency and cutting waste across the federal government a top priority. On March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14240 on Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement. The order’s goal is to consolidate $400 billion of domestic “federal procurement for common goods and services in the General Services Administration (GSA),” according to the White House fact sheet accompanying the order. The EO builds on GSA’s “termination or economization” of more than 6,000 government contracts since President Trump took office.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines common goods and services as “those items and services that all or most federal agencies procure and are not unique to the mission of an individual agency … and are generally available commercially.” Common goods and services are organized into 10 government-wide categories, including, in order of their cost, facilities and construction, professional services, information technology, medical, transportation and logistics, industrial products and services, travel, security and protection, human capital, and office management. The EO directed GSA to take over procurement for the four categories that it does not already lead, which are currently managed by the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Personnel Management.
The White House estimated that consolidating procurement under GSA could save taxpayers $50 billion annually. For example, the independent purchase of Microsoft Office 365 licenses has led to costs that vary by more than $200 each across agencies. Consolidating this software procurement alone could save more than $100 million annually. GSA can also realize significant savings on items as diverse as saw blades, TVs, and identity protection services because volume discounts are used inconsistently across agencies. A single purchaser for these products and services will likely increase price competition for contracts and reduce costs.
Acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in a March 25, 2025, blog that GSA had already begun centralizing procurement efforts with four agencies and had committed to “maximize the negotiation power of volume buying.” The EO empowers GSA to “return ‘to [its] founding mission of streamlining federal operations, consolidating resources, and efficiently providing essential services.’” Centralized procurement will increase use of GSA’s “best-in-class” contracts, according to a July 18, 2025, OMB Memorandum, which clarified that the Federal Acquisition Regulation will be updated by September 16, 2025, to require agencies to “use existing government-wide contracts that can meet their needs before … creating a new contract on the open market.”
The EO carves out commonsense exceptions. For example, procurement that is “complex or mission-specific” to agencies is more likely to remain decentralized. The EO also does not apply to the Executive Office of the President.
President Trump’s consolidation of procurement order will eliminate redundancy, duplication, and inefficiency and takes an important step in the battle against government waste.
–Zane Holley
