How GSA's contract consolidation impacts your go-to-market strategy

The themes of recent executive orders and memoranda from the current administration — as well as those from the first Trump Administration — are wide-reaching: eliminating waste and duplication; leveraging the federal government’s buying power; consolidating procurement under the General Services Administration (GSA); and helping to achieve savings for the taxpayers. 

What do these new orders guidelines mean for IT vendors and solutions providers? Should you change course when it comes to selling to the federal government? Where do you begin to make sense of the new directives — and what does it all mean for your company’s go-to-market strategy? 

Let’s start with some background.

EO 14240: Consolidating procurement under GSA

Executive Order 14240, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement, issued on March 20, 2025, calls for consolidation of domestic federal procurement under GSA. It’s intent is to let GSA focus on procurement activities, and let agencies concentrate on meeting their mission for the American people. 

The EO called for rationalization of “government-wide indefinite delivery contract vehicles for information technology for agencies across the government” to avoid “contract duplication, redundancy, and other inefficiencies.”

Why the call for procurement consolidation? With the introduction and use of category management, the federal government realized significant cost savings. “Organized buying” has allowed the government to leverage its significant buying power leading to tremendous cost avoidance, yet most of the federal government spending is happening outside of the GSA.

The current administration has indicated it aims to focus on efficient procurement strategies surrounding centralization and consolidation with the goal of significant savings for the American taxpayer. The idea is that increased utilization of “best-in-class” and government-wide contracts through the GSA will achieve significant procurement cost avoidance.

OMB Memorandum M-25-31: Optimizing contract value

To provide guidance in carrying out Executive Order 14240, OMB issued Memorandum M-25-31 on July 18, 2025. The memo seeks to “support the successful implementation of the executive order and optimization of contract value through smart, aggressive consolidation of buying activities for common goods and services.” 

To this end, the guidance focuses on two key areas:

• Increased use of centralized contracts

• Centralization of procurement functions

To support the utilization of government-wide contracts, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council will make amendments through the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul to state, “that if a commercial product or service meeting the agency’s requirements is available on an existing contract awarded for government-wide use by GSA or another agency, the agency must use the existing contract vehicle instead of awarding a separate new contract, unless the head of the agency provides an exception.”

Pointers for vendors and solutions providers

The current administration has made it loud and clear: Consolidating federal procurement under GSA and centralizing contracts and procurement functions is how the government will buy.  IT vendors and solutions providers should pay close attention and align to this strategy. 

From a practical standpoint, here are three recommendations for companies selling to the federal government:

1. For those just entering the federal market, consider securing a GSA schedule contract or partnering with a trusted GSA schedule contract holder.  Work with partners that provide flexibility to accommodate your company’s federal go-to-market strategy.
2. Vendors and solutions providers already selling to the federal government must decide whether they wish to hold and manage their own GSA schedule contract. If the answer is “yes” or “maybe,” consider seeking support from a trusted advisor with specific expertise in GSA schedule contract pursuit, management and compliance. If the answer is “no”, they should find a partner that provides engagement flexibility to support their go-to-market strategy.
3. Be prepared for consolidated bidding. Opportunities may shift toward larger, bundled acquisitions. Be prepared to respond to these solicitations addressing common needs. 

In short, consolidating the procurement of common goods and services in GSA may require IT vendors and solutions providers to rethink their federal go-to-market strategy. Today’s new procurement landscape will look a bit different than we’ve been accustomed to these past several years, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

If your company doesn’t have the compliance appetite or resources to align to this new procurement landscape, consider partnering with a trusted advisor that can offer guidance, expertise, and flexibility in go-to-market strategies.

Tara Franzonello is a program development manager for immixGroup, a public sector business of Arrow Electronics. immixGroup delivers mission-driven results through innovative technology solutions for public sector IT. Visit immixGroup.com for more information. We hold multiple contracts, including GSA, that are readily available for your use. If you have a GSA contract, we can manage that as a service for you, freeing up internal resources that can be used elsewhere to grow your federal business.