The Defense Information Systems Agency isn’t just talking about meeting Secretary Pete Hegseth’s goal of “speed to capability.” It’s holding contracting officers and program managers accountable.
By March, at least 40% of all task or delivery orders let through the General Services Administration’s schedules program or an agency blanket purchase agreement must use at least one “acquisition accelerator.” By September, 80% of all task and delivery orders issued through GSA or their own BPA must use these tools to speed up the acquisition process.
“It’s oral proposals or presentations. It is confidence ratings. It’s about reaching consensus as soon as a presentation is provided instead of waiting a couple [of weeks]. It’s saying, ‘No, you’re doing it now and you have an hour,’” said Doug Packard, DISA’s procurement services executive, at the recent Forecast to Industry day. “It’s best suited where you have 20 firms submit an offer and you get the two that are best suited to meet that requirement. You have a couple of things to talk to them about that aren’t minor. You can pick the firm and talk with just them, not the other 19, and that saves us months in trying to get us to who is the awardee.”
While Packard didn’t have any specific metrics, he estimates that DISA is shaving weeks off acquisitions timelines, specifically during the source selection phase.
DoD issues 31 FAR deviations
DISA is receiving some additional policy support to expand the use of these accelerators. The Defense Department’s Office of Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy issued the first set of deviations to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to begin implementing the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the FAR Council’s overhaul of the 40-year-old regulations.
On Dec. 18, John Tenaglia, the principal director of DPCAP, signed 31 class deviations that will be effective on Feb. 1.
“[T]hese class deviations retain DoD-specific statutory direction and direction determined necessary for sound procurement within the new, streamlined RFO structure,” Tenaglia wrote in the Dec. 19 memo. “The [revolutionary FAR overhaul] Phase 1 changes represent actions we can take unilaterally, in advance of formal rulemaking, to reduce regulatory and procedural burden on both our workforce and on industry. Issuing this first tranche of class deviations now provides a preview of the kinds of changes you can expect to see next month once we release the remaining class deviations.”
Among the 31 deviations DoD initially issued are updates to FAR Part 6, competitive procedures, Part 11 for market research and Part 12 for commercial products and services.
“Each class deviation reflected below consists of the revised DFARS part with its associated solicitation provisions and contract clauses, followed by the revised procedures, guidance and information (PGI),” DoD wrote on its FAR deviation website. “The line out documents reflect the current DFARS and PGI with markings to identify high level changes to the official versions at 48 CFR chapter 2 and published on the DPCAP DARS website. The portions of the regulation and PGI that are proposed for removal are struck through. Regulatory text and guidance that have been revised are retained in their original form.”
DoD plans to issue a second tranche of deviations later this month and throughout 2026.
In the coming months, the Pentagon will issue the deviations for FAR Parts 8 and 16. DISA is applying its acquisition accelerators to contracts under these sections.
So far, 23 civilian agencies have issued FAR Part 8 deviations and 18 have issued Part 16 updates.
OFPP seeking feedback through Jan. 12
OFPP and the FAR Council also have issued FAR Companion guides and practitioner albums to help the training and education of the acquisition workforce on the new rules.
Additionally, OFPP Administrator Kevin Rhodes held a series of roundtables with contractors, industry associations and others to gain their perspectives of the FAR overhaul. OFPP says these contractors and associations “shared feedback on five priority goals: increasing competition, reducing costs, accelerating the acquisition system, changing cultural norms and deploying best practices.”
Rhodes said in a statement that “the feedback we received will help inform our efforts for the next phase of the RFO.”
OFPP is accepting more feedback through Jan. 12 through its IdeaScale on ways to continue to improve the FAR across the five priorities.
“Please share a specific buying practice that should start, stop, continue, adjust, or scale in the new era of federal acquisition. Your idea does not need to be new, it only needs to address a real issue or practice that matters to you or your organization that can improve federal buying today,” OFPP wrote in asking for feedback.
As of Jan. 6, public and private sector stakeholders have submitted 86 ideas, ranging from ensuring the “rule of two” remains in place to expanding oral presentations and streamlined source selection beyond IT acquisitions to limiting the flow down requirements to small business subcontractors.
The use of streamlined source selection and oral presentations are examples of what DISA is requiring of its contracting officers in 2026.
Packard said DISA tested out these about 11 different accelerator tools over the last 18 months and determined they worked for both the agency and industry.
Carlen Capenos, the director of the Office of Small Business Programs at DISA, said at the DISA event that the accelerators don’t just benefit the agency, but contractors too.
“We hear often from small and large business that if they’re not going to win, they want to know that fast, the idea of failing fast. So we see step things where you have to provide X, Y and Z, and if you don’t have that, well, then we don’t need you to put together a full-blown proposal because you don’t have the ability to ever win. Or if there’s somebody that’s so much better that has a better solution that we’re talking about, instead of all the check marks, we can eliminate the rest of it and go fast,” she said. “There’s a lot of those things that are really great for small business when they just want to get in front of folks to say, ‘I have the solution. Let me articulate it for you.’ So there are those that really like that point. Our office has done a couple trainings with the contracting folks that have set these up, and they run through it once a year, twice a year, where they provide it to anybody who wants to sign up for it.”
Packard said now that DISA has tested out these accelerator concepts, even winning a protest, it’s time to apply them to increase the “speed to delivery” and attract more commercial companies into DoD.
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