Trump Moves to Increase GSA Authority over IT GWACs

On March 20th, President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 14240, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement, with aims to streamline federal-wide acquisition processes. In particular, the EO calls for the expansion of GSA’s role in procuring common goods and services (i.e. category management), shifting IT GWAC authority to GSA, and targeting IT acquisition deemed inefficient.

The EO rationalizes GSA’s expanded role as one that returns the agency to its original purpose, “…rather than continuing to have multiple agencies and agency subcomponents separately carry out these same functions in an uncoordinated and less economical fashion,” according to the policy section of the EO.

The EO’s fact sheet points to several potential areas of savings, such as television and computer purchases, and states that, “Using the aforementioned savings examples as a proxy, a 10% reduction in spending through this consolidation initiative could result in approximately $50 billion in savings to the taxpayers per year.”

While the EO is packed with direct and indirect changes contractors will soon face, this article will focus on Section C of the EO pertaining to IT GWACS and acquisitions. See here for more on the category management portion of the EO.

GSA Procurement Authority for IT GWACs

What the EO says: (c) Within 30 days of the date of this order, pursuant to the authority in 40 U.S.C. 11302(e), the Director of OMB shall designate the Administrator as the executive agent for all Government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology.  The Administrator, in consultation with the Director of OMB, shall defer or decline the executive agent designation for Government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology when necessary to ensure continuity of service or as otherwise appropriate. 

In short, the EO directs the transition of all (maybe) IT GWACs to GSA’s procurement authority.

As a reminder, government wide acquisition vehicles (GWACs) are specially designated large indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts with pre-vetted IT vendors from which any federal agency can purchase from. While GSA is already the executive agent for several IT GWACs, other agencies such as NASA and NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) hold procurement authorities over additional IT GWACs. As the EO mentions, 40 U.S.C. 11302 (e) authorizes OMB to approve executive agents at federal agencies for IT GWACs.

The below charts provide FY 2024 spending breakdowns among both GSA-led IT GWACs and those under NASA and NITAAC contracting authorities. Note that some spending may appear in FY 2024 under previous iterations of the GWACs.

Source: FPDS, GovWin Federal Spending Analytics tool

While the EO provides language to preclude some IT GWACs from transferring to GSA authority in the name of continuity of service or otherwise, one can only speculate which of the GWACs will end up moving or staying put. For instance, the widely noted success and sheer volume of NASA SEWP may keep the vehicle at NASA. Further, some GWACs contain specialized IT goods and services for which the executive agent is an expert in, such as health IT under the NITAAC CIO-SP3 vehicles.

All we can do is wait and see what happens.  

Interestingly, GSA already oversees nearly 45% of total IT GWAC spending based on FY 2024 figures. If GSA acquires ALL IT GWACs, it will handle 123% more in GWAC order volume based on FY 2024 figures: $12.4B for GSA GWACs and $15.3B for NASA and NITAAC GWACs. Wowzers! According to GovWin’s Federal Spending Analytics tool, federal agencies spent $126.5B in acquisitions where IT was the primary requirement. Spending under IT GWACs in FY 2024 represented nearly 22% of this total. This feels like a significant responsibility to acquire for a GSA that is shrinking in workforce and resources.

Use of Vehicles in Future IT Acquisitions

What the EO says: (c) The Administrator shall further, on an ongoing basis and consistent with applicable law, rationalize Government-wide indefinite delivery contract vehicles for information technology for agencies across the Government, including as part of identifying and eliminating contract duplication, redundancy, and other inefficiencies. 

IT contractors should pay close attention to this part of the EO, particularly those part of a current program that is viewed as overbudget and overschedule. It comes as no surprise that the Trump Administration and the DOGE organization will begin to target “inefficient” IT acquisitions to alter the direction of those programs. Here, the EO is directing GSA to explore IT GWACs as a solution to IT programs considered problematic.

A likely starting point for GSA could be a recent GAO report, Mission-Critical Information Technology: Agencies Are Monitoring Selected Acquisitions for Cybersecurity and Privacy Risks. In it, the federal watchdog describes a set of 16 critical IT acquisitions considered high risk due to underperformance, over budget, lengthy implementation, technical challenges, or that run a risk of cyber and privacy threats. The table below lists the acquisitions discussed in the GAO report. Note that some of these programs may have already seen modifications since the change in administrations.

Department	IT Acquisition
DOD	Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems
	Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability
Education	Free Application for Federal Student Aid Processing System
	Title IV Origination and Disbursement Modernization
HHS	Health Information Technology Electronic Health Records Modernization
DHS	Non-Intrusive Inspection-Integration Program
	Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology
DOJ	SENTRY Modernization – Centralized Inmate Case Logistics Operations and Planning System Development
State	Consular Systems Modernization
Transportation	Voice Communication Systems
	Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast
Treasury	Individual Master File Modernization
	Business Master File Modernization
VA	Electronic Health Record Modernization
EPA	Integrated Compliance Information System Modernization
SBA	MySBA Platform

Source: GAO-25-106908

Contractor Implications

The procurement alterations the recent EO calls for will have both short- and long-term implications for federal IT contractors. Here are some initial thoughts on those impacts.

• Alterations of Major IT Acquisitions. Already the Trump Administration and DOGE have sliced and diced through programs deemed outside priority or inefficient. It is doubtful major IT programs will be an exception as agency leaders inspect challenging IT acquisitions. Case in point, FAA’s NextGen program.
• Limited Competition. The consolidation of IT acquisitions to IT GWACs will likely limit competition and may even cater to large businesses if large, complex contracts result at GSA.
• Slowed Procurement. The expected expansion of responsibility at GSA will require additional resources and infrastructure not currently at the agency, ultimately slowing overall procurement operations while the agency acclimates to added duties.
  • Delay in Major Recompetes. Several of the listed IT GWACS are currently undergoing recompetes, which are likely to slow down if transferred to GSA. These may include the award processes for SEWP VI and CIO-SP4, and the solicitation release of the CIO-CS follow on, The Store.
  • Accelerated use of AI: Faced with added responsibilities and shrinking resources, GSA will likely turn to AI to help fulfill aspects of the Trump EO. Last week, GSA announced the launch of an GenAI tool to assist staff with operations. Moreover, GSA is exploring GenAI to assist acquisition officials with searches across procurement policies and guidance.  
• Jeopardized Agency Relationships. Transferring major IT GWACs to GSA contracting authorities risk contractors’ direct relationships with other agency procurement authorities, impacting small business networks the most.

For more on the movements of the new administration, refer to GovWin’s First 100 Days Resource Center.