Federal Agencies Navigate ‘Messy Middle’ of Acquisition Reform

Federal agencies are entering a critical implementation phase of the Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul, as officials push to replace compliance-heavy procurement processes with more flexible, mission-driven approaches — a move officials refer to as the “messy middle.”

“The term ‘messy middle’ and the idea of unlearning of habits are key to change management. People are very talented, but in order to unlock that talent, we need to meet people where they are,” said Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Deputy Administrator Mathew Blum at an ACT-IAC acquisition event last week in Reston, Virginia.

Blum described the overhaul as a cultural reset in how the federal government buys goods and services.

“We want to reduce the number of requirements that are not directly related to mission performance. In the labor space, we’ve eliminated requirements not required by statute, while still ensuring statutory requirements that protect workers remain in place,” said Blum.

The FAR Council is implementing changes tied to an April 2025 executive order to streamline procurement. Officials said the effort aligns with broader administration priorities to improve efficiency in federal acquisition.

“It’s truly a cultural shift,” said Blum. “The real magic will only happen if we don’t revert back to our old compliance framework.”

Cultural Shift that Enables the Entire Workforce

The FAR overhaul, also known as the revolutionary FAR overhaul (RFO), requires the backing of the entire federal government. Blum said resources from the FAR Council and OFPP are critical to helping employees understand and apply the changes, particularly by meeting federal employees at different levels of experience and familiarity with federal acquisition.

Improving how the workforce learns the new framework is central to the effort, he added, as agencies work to translate policy changes into more effective acquisition practices.

“You need resources that are specifically focused on helping people do deep dives and really gain the understanding of what the changes are about,” said Blum. “This is a top-to-bottom change, and it’s not going to take hold unless everybody is participating.”

The RFO learning model includes four segments: awareness, knowledge, application and feedback. Each stage reinforces adoption and creates a continuous improvement cycle. Blum said feedback from acquisition professionals is essential to refining the changes and ensuring they deliver meaningful outcomes.

“The fact that we cut 30 or 40% of coverage in one part of FAR might be helpful in getting you a little more competition. But it doesn’t teach you how to buy software if you didn’t already know how to do that,” said Blum. “We need to give the workforce the resources that they need to get their job done.”

Over the past year, OFPP and the FAR Council released several resources — including the buyer’s guide, practitioner albums and the FAR companion — to support workforce training. Blum said workshops, office hours and other learning opportunities help improve adoption.

“We’re emphasizing your stories and artifacts and experimenting with ways to make sure that information is not only shared, but is presented out again in these different forms for people to use,” said Blum. “If it needs adjustments, we make them. If it becomes something that’s almost a truism because it’s so good, we elevate it and put it into FAR. And we haven’t done that before.”