President Trump has signed an executive order that centralizes federal government procurement under the General Services Administration.

The order rolls back agencies to the pre-acquisition reform era of the 1990s and puts the GSA in charge of purchasing all products and services that make up the ten areas of category management.

This includes everything from office management and travel to security and protection, as defined by the Category Management Leadership Council.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget will also designate the GSA administrator as the executive agent for all government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology and products, aiming toward “eliminating contract duplication, redundancy and other inefficiencies.”

Before the 1990s acquisition reform legislation, GSA was the mandatory federal government source for procuring goods and services and the acquisition, management and disposal of real property under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.

The order states it intends to return the GSA “to its original purpose, rather than continuing to have multiple agencies and agency subcomponents separately carry out these same functions in an uncoordinated and less economical fashion.”

“Consolidating domestic Federal procurement in the General Services Administration - the agency designed to conduct procurement - will eliminate waste and duplication, while enabling agencies to focus on their core mission of delivering the best possible services for the American people,” the order concludes.

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.