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OMB's Newly Proposed Acquisition Pilot Program Could Be a Game-Changer

Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.13.19

In late April, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a letter to Congress, which contained a number of legislative proposals to streamline and improve the agility and efficiency of the federal acquisition process, one of which would establish an “Acquisition Modernization Test Board.” According to the letter, this Board would authorize the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) “to exercise a waiver of one or more acquisition or procurement laws as part of a pilot program to evaluate how changing the statutory requirement(s) might facilitate more efficient achievement of the purpose underlying the law.” Importantly, this proposal would give OFPP enormous discretion and flexibility to pilot innovative and new approaches to streamlining and deregulating acquisitions. OMB seeks enactment of this and other proposals as part of Title 8 (the acquisition title) of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, and, assuming that Congress approves this expanded authority for OFPP (either as part of an NDAA or otherwise), industry should take this opportunity to recommend innovative acquisition pilots. 

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 09.23.25

A Special Relationship Reboot? The US-UK Tech Prosperity Deal

On 18 September, during the anticipated state visit, the leaders of the UK and the US signed the Technology Prosperity Deal, which promises to boost investment and cooperation to foster innovation, security, and economic prosperity. This is being lauded in the UK as a hugely significant milestone in transatlantic cooperation. The governments of both countries have released a Memorandum of Understanding (“Memo”) which covers a number of ambitious plans in strategic science and technology fields, including artificial intelligence (“AI”), nuclear energy, fusion, and quantum technologies....