From Mandate to Method: How EO 14271 and OneGov Are Redefining Federal IT Procurement

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For OEMs, it’s a windfall. For resellers, a reckoning. For advisors, an opening.

On April 16, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14271, “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts.” The order didn’t just encourage agencies to prioritize commercial technology—it made it federal policy. Within 60 days, agencies were directed to audit their open solicitations and justify any planned acquisition that veered away from commercially available, off-the-shelf solutions. It was the strongest public-sector signal in over a decade that government-unique technology buying needed to stop being the default.

Two weeks later, on April 29, 2025, the General Services Administration launched the OneGov Strategy, giving the executive order form and function. Where EO 14271 articulated policy, OneGov operationalized it. It provided agencies and vendors with a playbook: leverage GSA as the centralized buyer, reduce acquisition duplication, and structure IT buying through a unified lens—enterprise software first, but eventually expanding to infrastructure, platforms, and cybersecurity services.

What the Executive Order Changed

EO 14271 builds directly on the foundation of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA), reinforcing the mandate that commercial items must be the preferred solution across all procurements. But it raises the stakes with new enforcement mechanics:

• Justification requirements: Any procurement that doesn’t prioritize commercial solutions must now be approved in writing, with supporting market research and price analyses.
• Agency reporting: Within 120 days, agencies must report their compliance posture—including any patterns of non-commercial procurement.
• Increased scrutiny of custom IT buys: EO 14271 explicitly discourages bespoke systems and over-customized configurations unless no viable COTS solution exists.

This fundamentally shifts the burden of proof: agencies now must justify building or customizing, rather than automatically defaulting to it.

What OneGov Does

The OneGov Strategy, led by GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), takes this federal mandate and scales it. OneGov is not just a procurement consolidation effort—it’s a centralized procurement model for enterprise IT, executed through a federal-wide lens. Its three core features are:

• Direct engagement with OEMs: OneGov encourages agencies to procure IT solutions directly from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) using centralized agreements, eliminating redundant pricing negotiations and inconsistent license terms.
• Standardized terms and security postures: Contracts negotiated under OneGov will feature common cybersecurity requirements and standard license conditions, significantly simplifying agency adoption and ATO processes.
• Enterprise scale and pricing leverage: By aggregating demand across federal agencies, GSA can negotiate volume pricing and reduce government-wide expenditures—following the model of the Governmentwide Microsoft Acquisition Strategy (GMAS) and a recent cost-saving agreement with Google Workspace.

OneGov enables federal buyers to execute the goals of EO 14271 with less friction, more transparency, and better fiscal stewardship.

The Strategic Impact: OEMs vs. Resellers

OEMs: Institutional Access, Finally Formalized

For OEMs, this is a structural realignment that gives them unprecedented visibility and influence. Historically, OEMs have sold through indirect channels—often watching VARs control pricing, dilute messaging, and introduce compliance complications.

Now, OneGov creates a sanctioned, GSA-backed mechanism for direct engagement. This allows OEMs to:

• Drive consistent go-to-market terms.
• Increase pipeline predictability through federal-wide deals.
• Align their cyber, support, and service models with standardized federal expectations.

The implication is clear: OEMs are being invited to the head table, and GSA is clearing a path for them to stay there.

Resellers: Time to Redefine their Value 

For the traditional reseller community, this policy evolution is more challenging. Value-added resellers (VARs) who relied primarily on their role as procurement conduits—especially those operating on price arbitrage or ease-of-access—will see diminishing relevance.

The new environment rewards those who:

• Deliver actual technical value (e.g., integration, configuration, managed services).
• Support compliance-heavy environments (e.g., FedRAMP, FISMA).
• Serve as advisors or systems integrators, not just procurement agents.

Resellers that cannot articulate a role beyond “we get you the software through our GSA Schedule” will find it increasingly difficult to defend their margins or their relationships.

Aggregators: From Gatekeepers to Service Enablers—If They Evolve

Perhaps no role faces more profound pressure under OneGov than that of the aggregator—the firms that historically bridged the gap between OEMs and the government by providing contract vehicle access, compliance packaging, and partner enablement. Think Carahsoft, ImmixGroup, EC America, and a handful of large-scale distribution channel operators.

Under OneGov, GSA itself becomes the federal aggregator—negotiating directly with OEMs, handling security posture normalization, and streamlining acquisition terms. That undercuts the aggregators’ core reason for existence.

To remain relevant, aggregators must:

• Shift from vehicle access providers to enablement strategists—supporting OEMs as they navigate OneGov’s standardized terms, reporting demands, and pricing commitments.
• Offer deep integration and advisory capabilities—e.g., helping agencies deploy enterprise tools purchased through OneGov contracts, manage licensing footprints, or align with Zero Trust mandates.
• Specialize in compliance orchestration—managing supply chain attestation, cyber certification, and policy alignment for OEMs that still lack internal capacity.

In short, aggregators must stop acting like channels and start acting like integrators and strategists—or risk becoming redundant.

Procurement Is Entering Its Platform Era

EO 14271 and OneGov mark a turning point. Where once federal IT procurement was agency-driven, fragmented, and ad hoc, it is now poised to become federated, standardized, and commercial-first. Agencies will still make their own decisions—but increasingly from a smaller, better-curated, and centrally negotiated set of options.

For OEMs, this is an inflection point for market access.

For resellers and aggregators, it is a call to evolve.