January 9, 2026
Jeff Koses, Senior Procurement Executive at the General Services Administration, describes the Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul as one of the most significant change management efforts the federal acquisition community has ever undertaken. In his conversation with Fed Gov Today host Francis Rose, Koses makes clear that this effort is about far more than rewriting rules—it is about reshaping culture across government and industry.
Koses explains that the original FAR took five years to write, months to socialize, and more than four decades to become embedded in daily practice. By contrast, GSA completes phase one of the overhaul in just months. That speed matters, he says, because the government can no longer afford slow, incremental change. At the same time, he emphasizes that lasting impact depends on whether people actually understand and use the new framework.
Phase one focuses on rewriting the FAR by deviation, as directed by an executive order issued April 15. GSA completes 49 master deviations, reducing the FAR by roughly 25 percent. The rewrite removes hundreds of pages, more than 100 clauses and provisions, and thousands of “must-do” statements. The goal is to empower contracting officers, reduce unnecessary rigidity, and create a more flexible acquisition environment.
Alongside the rewrite, GSA creates Strategic Acquisition Guidance to help the workforce and industry operate under the new rules. Koses outlines three major components: the FAR Companion for operational support, Practitioner Albums that dive into real-world use cases and emerging practices, and the Category Management Buying Guide, which helps users navigate governmentwide contract solutions. He stresses that guidance, not regulation, is the right place to explain how acquisition professionals should do their jobs in a rapidly changing environment.
Phase two, now underway, shifts the effort into formal rulemaking. Koses notes that while deviations enabled speed, nothing is yet codified. Over the next year, GSA plans to issue proposed rules informed by roughly 2,000 comments already received. Some ideas need refinement, others belong in rulemaking rather than deviations, and errors must be corrected. Phase two also includes aligning agency FAR supplements, including the GSAR, and reducing layers of internal policy that have grown over time.
Cultural change remains the central challenge. Koses says government must learn how to buy in a more empowered environment, while industry must learn how to sell within it. He urges agencies to reinforce innovation through training and leadership, and he calls on industry to engage beyond formal comments by actively participating as practices evolve. Changing culture, he says, requires communication, reinforcement, and shared ownership.
Throughout the process, GSA aligns its work with broader administration priorities, including reducing costs, streamlining regulations, moving faster, encouraging commercial solutions, and minimizing duplication. Koses describes this as a deliberate effort to identify common themes across dozens of executive orders and policy directives.
Ultimately, Koses frames the FAR overhaul as a community effort. Regulations may set the foundation, but success depends on how government and industry adapt together. With phase two accelerating and agency-level changes ahead, he calls the coming year “wild” and makes one thing clear: engagement from the entire acquisition community is essential.