The Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the White House Office of Management and Budget has released new guidance directing federal agencies to scale innovative buying practices through organizational improvements.
In a memo published Wednesday, OFPP said an agency’s chief acquisition officer or senior procurement executive should identify a chief acquisition innovation advocate, or AIA, to oversee acquisition innovation activities, eliminate impediments to acquisition innovation activities in the acquisition innovation roadmap and approve an annual acquisition innovation plan that they help develop.
According to the document, the chief AIA should lead the agency’s workforce on acquisition innovation, serve as the key acquisition innovation liaison to OFPP, identify component AIAs and acquisition innovation coaches and develop an annual acquisition innovation plan.
The document was signed by Christine Harada, senior adviser at OFPP.
What Is an Annual Acquisition Innovation Plan?
The plan should encourage innovation pioneers and the workforce to advance cutting edge buying practices to promote an innovation-friendly acquisition environment, as well as include specific metrics and milestones.
According to the memo, agency chief AIAs should submit to OFPP the initial plans by the end of June 2025, identify activities and milestones for the period of October 2025 through September 2026 and briefly describe actions already taken to provide context for planned activities.
OFPP’s Acquisition Innovation Roadmap
OFPP has developed a roadmap built on the principles established by OMB’s 2016 memo on acquisition innovation and informed by the 2024 report of the Chief Acquisition Officers, or CAO, Council to help chief AIAs develop their acquisition innovation plans.
The roadmap has three sections: foundational activities, training and recognition and partnership and outreach.
Foundational activities, for instance, include identifying component AIAs to expand acquisition workforce awareness of innovative buying practices and maintaining and growing acquisition innovation labs for testing, scaling and sharing such procurement practices.
