President Trump has shattered the record for the most Executive Orders issued by a president during the first 100 days of a presidential term – at least 144 of them. The previous record was held by Franklin Roosevelt, who issued 99. In addition, President Trump has issued numerous presidential memos directing executive branch agencies to take actions. The Federal procurement process has been the target of several of these recent presidential actions.
Procurement-Focused Actions
On April 9, the President issued an Executive Order to reform the acquisition process at the Department of Defense.[i] It requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a plan to the President within 60 days (i.e. by June 8) to prioritize commercial solutions and the use of Other Transactions Authority (OTA) agreements.
On April 15, the President issued two executive orders. The first, Executive Order 14271,[ii] established the policy that agencies procure, to the maximum extent practicable, commercially available products and services, including those that can be modified to meet agency needs. Within 60 days of the Order (i.e. by June 14), each agency’s contracting officers are to conduct a review of all pending agency solicitations and sole source notices for non-commercial products or services to see if any can be modified before final award to implement the policy.
On that same day, he issued Executive Order 14275, designed to “create the most agile, effective and efficient procurement system possible.”[iii] He directed that the FAR should contain “only provisions required by statute or essential to sound procurement, and any FAR provisions that do not advance these objectives should be removed.” Interestingly, in his mandate to the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement in Section 4 of the Order, he elaborated on the direction and provided that “within 180 days (i.e. by October 12, 2025), actions shall be taken to amend the FAR to “ensure that it contains only provisions that are required by statute or that are otherwise necessary to support simplicity and usability, strengthen the efficacy of the procurement system, or protect economic or national security interests.”
That FAR review process, often referred to as “FAR 2.0,” is already underway but being worked behind agency closed doors. So far, there has been little information publicly available about how the review is taking place and how the internal teams are reconciling these multiple presidential goals. I addressed this FAR rewrite in my March 27, 2025, blog titled “How Much Less FAR is Enough?”.[iv]
Earlier in his term, President Trump repealed an Obama executive order that called for the “non-displacement” of hired workers on successor contracts[v] and repealed President Lyndon Johnson’s executive order requiring contractors to take affirmative action to provide equal opportunity to the workforce.[vi]
In addition, also on April 9, the President issued a presidential memo directing further reductions in federal rules and taking a novel approach to the federal rulemaking process,[vii] including deeming the requirement for public notice and comment unnecessary.[viii] These Orders are part of a large package of presidential actions beginning on Day 1 of the second Term to freeze the issuance of new regulations and require the repeal of ten existing rules before a new one can be issued. Yet many of the presidential directives require regulatory action by federal agencies to put those policies and directives into effect.
Court Challenges Abound
Not surprisingly, there have been more than 220 lawsuits challenging many of President Trump’s Executive Orders and presidential actions, and more are filed daily. Some of these court challenges have made it to and through the U.S. Supreme Court and many are pending in various U.S. Courts of Appeals. While to date none of the court actions filed have directly challenged the procurement-focused executive orders or memos, litigation will likely come when the implementing actions are announced.
Conclusion
I’ve touched on only some of the presidential actions that will impact federal contracting policies, practices and opportunities. The myriad actions relating to downsizing federal agency missions and significantly reducing the federal acquisition workforce are already having an impact. President Trump’s directives and pronouncements still have to be translated into actionable, concrete actions, such as regulatory changes, a FAR rewrite, or changes to specific procurement opportunities. There is a lot to follow and a lot to take action on to prepare for the upcoming changes. At Centre Law, we continue to monitor these procurement-related actions and advise clients on how best to comply with changes and leverage opportunities.
If you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the author or the attorney at Centre Law with whom you normally work.
[i] Executive Order 14265 (April 9, 2025), titled “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base,” available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-15/pdf/2025-06461.pdf. Last viewed April 28, 2025.
[ii] Executive Order 14271 (April 15, 2025), titled “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts,” available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-18/pdf/2025-06835.pdf. Last viewed April 28, 2025.
[iii] Executive Order 15275 (April 15, 2025), titled “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement,” available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-18/pdf/2025-06839.pdf. Last viewed April 28, 2025.
[iv] Alan Chvotkin March 27, 2025, Centre Law Blog, available at https://govdev.centrelawgroup.com/blog/how-much-less-far-is-enough/. Last viewed April 28, 2025.
[v] See item qq in Section 2 of Executive Order 14148 (January 20, 2025), titled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” repealing Executive Order 14055 (November 18, 2021) “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-28/pdf/2025-01901.pdf
[vi] See Section 3(b)(i) of Executive Order 14173 (January 21, 2025) titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” repealing Executive Order 11246 (September 24, 1965) titled “Equal Employment Opportunity.” Under the Trump Executive Order, for 90 days from the date of the Order (i.e. until April 21, 2025), Federal contractors may continue to comply with the regulatory scheme in effect on January 20, 2025. Last viewed April 29, 2025.
[vii] See Presidential memo of April 9, 2025, titled “Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations,” available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/directing-the-repeal-of-unlawful-regulations/. Last viewed April 29, 2025.
[viii] Id. The memo provides: “In effectuating repeals of facially unlawful regulations, agency heads shall finalize rules without notice and comment, where doing so is consistent with the “good cause” exception in the Administrative Procedure Act.”
