President Trump just issued a new executive order to streamline federal procurement. Will this finally make it easy to sell to the Feds?

What the Executive Order Does

The executive order, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement, came out yesterday. It gives federal agencies 180 days to simplify the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that governs federal contracts.

I read up a little on the FAR rules this morning. They’re way nuttier than I ever thought.

The FAR goes on for over 2,000 pages. It weighs 5 pounds.

Contractors have to submit every paper document on double-sided paper with “at least 30% postconsumer fiber.” Every federal contractor has to do employee training on why texting and driving is dangerous.

Why in the Sam hell does Anduril have to tell it’s employees that texting and driving is dangerous in order to sell a drone to the Army?

Procurement Reform Could Be a Godsend for Startups

These complex regulations are the best thing that ever happened to the Primes. They have armies of lawyers and lobbyists.

Their core competency isn’t developing new technology. It’s navigating these byzantine requirements.

The folks at a disadvantage are startups. They have the most motivated people and a lot of the best tech. But they don’t have the manpower to wade through these endless regulations.

If we can cut this 2,000 pages down to a few hundred, it would make a huge difference for startups. Defense tech startups in particular would benefit.

Defense tech is an area I’m getting more and more excited about. We’re in a dangerous world, and we need to defend the country.

Procurement reform could be a huge tailwind for defense tech startups, along with anyone selling to the Feds. Combined with a growing defense budget, this could be the best time ever to invest in defense tech.

Wrap-Up

The more rules we pile on, the less flexible procurement will be. This means we’ll wind up with out of date weapons and won’t be able to defend ourselves.

We have to stop micromanaging everything with a thousand rules. Instead, let’s put smart people in charge, give them a goal, and let them use their best judgement.

When you trust people to use their judgment, their IQ seems to 10x. They’re finally being allowed to think for themselves!

No set of regs can ever stop fraud or ensure fairness. Your best protection against that is good people.

I hope the Trump Administration can make a huge dent in these ridiculous regs. That will go a long way to protecting our country.

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