FAR Overhaul Cuts 25% of Rulebook, OMB Says

The Trump administration’s revamp of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has cut about 25% of the rulebook so far, according to a senior Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official. Administration officials say the effort is designed to help shift decision-making power back to the acquisition workforce.

Speaking at the ACT-IAC Acquisition and Innovation Forum on April 29, Mathew Blum, deputy administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), said the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) marks a rare opportunity to fundamentally change federal acquisition.

“For the first time in 40 years since the creation of the FAR, we have a mandate and the momentum to reset how the government buys,” Blum said, adding, “This truly needs to be transformative.”

The FAR – the primary rulebook governing federal procurement – has grown increasingly complex over time, guiding how agencies purchase everything from IT systems to major defense platforms.

The RFO – directed under an April 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump – is being led by the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in partnership with the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, and NASA as members of the FAR Council.

Blum said the 25% reduction of the FAR has eliminated about 500 pages, including roughly 2,700 prescriptive “shalls” and “musts.”  The changes are intended to give contracting officers more flexibility to tailor acquisition strategies to mission needs, he said.

Blum emphasized that cutting regulations is only part of the effort.

“The real juice, the real magic and the real potential … to make sure that we don’t just revert back to our old compliance framework is that we need to give the workforce the resources that they need to get their job done,” Blum said. “I would say that’s the biggest challenge here.”

Looking ahead, Blum pointed to the broader goal of proving that acquisition innovation can scale across government.

“Ten years ago, when we kicked off the modern age of innovation, and we asked people to appoint acquisition advocates in labs …  a lot of people were skeptical and said, ‘This isn’t scalable,’” he said. “I think the RFO gives us the stage to prove those critics wrong.”

“If we take advantage of what we have been given here to help share and learn and grow together, we can leave for our children and grandchildren an acquisition system that truly is the envy of the world,” Blum concluded.