Eye on Policy

If you thought the Trump 47 administration would launch a Reagan-style recapitalization of the military, you may be right.

The request for 2026, specifically because of the $113 billion kick from the “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill passed earlier this year, calls for a slight reduction, in real dollars, of what was enacted for 2025. Specifically, the Pentagon would like $848.3 billion for ‘26— the same amount as enacted this year.

As one knowledgeable observer put it, the increase does not cover inflation, and salary increases for military personnel.

Defense officials said the budget emphasized strengthening homeland security, deterring China and revitalizing the defense industrial base.

The homeland piece is all about sealing the borders, stopping illegal immigration and narcotics trafficking to be sure. But the summary documents also talk about “modernizing and diversifying nuclear forces” and “bolstering cyber capabilities.” And the Golden Dome missile defense system.

As for China, that involves shipbuilding, space, and the still-veiled F-47 fighter aircraft. (A prototype flew in 2020; it is not a design from scratch.) One hopes it will not follow the path of the F-22 it is to replace — extremely capable, but with out-of-control costs that caused then-Defense Secretary Bob Gates to cancel further copies back in 2011. Published reports point out the DoD will allocate $3.5 billion for more development of the F-47 in ‘26.

Will the Pentagon spend more or less on procurement in 2026 than 2025? You have to read the summary carefully to see what’s going on. But, the procurement request is down sharply unless you add in the supplemental dollars from the Big Beaut. By that calculation, it rises from the $174.4 billion enacted in ‘25 to $205.2 billion next year. Of course, details vary wildly by specific program and line item, but it does raise the question of what the administration would have requested had the reconciliation bill failed. And what it will request for 2027 in the presumed absence of Daughter of the Big Beautiful Bill.

Commercial, commercial, commercial

Just as the Mr. McGuire said “plastics” to Ben (Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate), the one-word advice to federal contractors nowadays might be, “commercial.”

To be sure, contractors—in both the corporate and non-profit sectors—must increasingly follow the political machinations of budgeting and the administration’s selectively withholding appropriated funds. To paraphrase a line from another classic movie, “My, programs come and go so quickly here!”

Meanwhile, at the day-to-day, ground level, continuous updating of procurement policy and procedures proceeds. As the eagle-eyed Emily Murphy points out, in just the past two weeks the FAR Council issued a half dozen updates having to with Parts 8 and 12. Recall Part 8 covers mandatory sources, and Part 12 covers commercial products and services.

In essence, priority sources have even more priority now—Best in Class and blanket purchase agreements have become mandatory. Simplified acquisitions are more simplified. It takes real doing to ferret these things out from the rather dense acquisition.gov site, but this GSA site is a good place to start. Also keep an eye on the FAR Parts and Agency Deviations page.

Contractors on the GSA programs should note that ordering procedures for these vehicles are streamlined and moving out of the FAR and into the GSA manual.

The administration is doing what it promised to do, namely pare back the FAR to its statutory skeleton, on the theory this will lower costs for everyone and increase competition.

The White House wants the changes to stick. As attorneys at Wiley Rein among other pointed out, the Office of Management and Budget has asked Congress for a legislative package to undergird the “revolutionary” FAR changes.

And then there’s digital goverment

The community has been wondering when the administration would take up citizen/customer experience, to follow up on orders of the Trump 45 administration.

By golly, it came towards the end of August in the form of an Executive Order concerning “usability and aesthetics” of the government’s digital services. The order directs agencies to make public-facing websites “both usable and beautiful.” The White House has conjured up a new National Design Studio and Chief Design Officer. They will “advise agencies on how to reduce duplicative design costs and use standardized design” with the aim of dramatic improvement in the quality of visitors’ experiences.

Agencies’ new and improved designs are to be launched by July 4th.

A website’s beauty is a desirable quality, but its functionality, its navigability by regular people is critical. Equally important is logical coding behind the function, so people get done what they want to, and know they have. Who hasn’t been to many a handsome website only to find confusing functions and feedback?

Given that beset IRS and Social Security Administration employees can barely keep up with the phones, one wonders when the administration will renew the call for not just gilded websites but better digital services for which sites are merely the front end?