The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has released its slate of 2026 legislative proposals for Congress's consideration. If enacted, several would represent significant changes to current acquisition authorities and processes. Examples include a proposal to extend the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) new "loser pays" rule for meritless bid protests to civilian agencies, as well as changes to various acquisition thresholds (such as the Simplified Acquisition Threshold) that will alter the rules that apply. GSA previously proposed some of these legislative changes in 2025, while others are new or modified. Some of the major proposals are summarized below.
Bid Protests
Authorize Civilian Agency "Loser Pays" Protest Rule
- Summary: For the first time, GSA would have Congress authorize civilian agencies to withhold up to 5 percent of contract payments from contractors who file meritless bid protests extending their incumbent contracts during the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) adjudication process.
- Breakdown: GSA argues that "the same problematic incentive structure for incumbents leveraging CICA [Competition in Contracting Act] stays also exists at civilian agencies," such that the withhold authority recently enacted for DoD should apply to civilian agencies, too. As we have summarized before, data on GAO outcomes suggest that firms are not, in fact, likely to protest without merit. In any event, the change could deter bid protests and risk procurement law violations and errors going unaddressed.
- Bonus Breakdown: Some have noted that the plain text of the statute authorizing DoD's new "loser pays" rule only references pre-award protests. This is due to the fact that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 refers to a "bid protest under section 3553(c) of title 31, United States Code," 10 U.S.C. note prec. § 3861, and 31 U.S.C. § 3553(c) involves situations in which a contract has not yet been awarded. GSA's proposal maintains this same language, raising the issue of whether its "loser pays" rule would be similarly restricted.
Raise Threshold for GAO Task Order Protests of Civilian Agency Procurements and Apply It to GSA Multiple Award Schedule Orders
- Summary: As in 2025, GSA again proposes to raise the minimum threshold for GAO to consider a bid protest of a civilian agency task order acquisition from $10 million to $35 million, matching the recently raised threshold for DoD procurements. The wording of the proposal would also apply the threshold to orders off the GSA's Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), upending long-standing precedent.
- Breakdown: GSA argues this is necessary to address "the current disparity depriv[ing] defense agencies of the benefit of its" higher $35 million threshold when civilian agencies run procurements on DoD's behalf (GAO applies the threshold of the civilian agency's underlying contract vehicle, not the defense agency served by the task order; see, e.g., Solutions71, LLC, B-423671.2, Dec. 30, 2025, 2025 WL 3903879, at *2 n.6). The flip side is that this will further reduce the number of procurements subject to the scrutiny of the bid protest process, which is the primary mechanism for ensuring procurement law is followed.
- Bonus Breakdown: Although not stated in GSA's analysis of the proposal, the wording of GSA's proposed legislation would also apply the task order threshold to orders off MAS contracts. That would be a significant change, as MAS orders have long been construed as not subject to this threshold at all. See, e.g., Ecology Mir Grp., LLC, B-422881, Sept. 12, 2024, 2024 CPD ¶ 221 at 3 n.1.
Expand Streamlined Purchasing Authorities
Raise Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) from $350,000 to $10,000,000 for Commercial Products and Services
- Summary: For acquisitions of commercial products and services, GSA again proposes to increase the SAT significantly: from the current $350,000 (for most procurements) to $10 million, over a 5-year phase-in period. GSA estimates this would "translate[] to over 100,000 Federal transactions being subject to less government-unique compliance burden and eligible for streamlined buying."
- Breakdown: By design, this proposal would apply the sub-SAT framework to a much larger set of contracts, at much higher values. Acquisitions below the SAT differ from others in many important respects. For example, CICA's mandate for full and open competition does not apply to acquisitions below the SAT—contracting officers need only "promote competition to the maximum extent practicable" and may even solicit proposals orally. See FAR 13.104, 13.106-1(c). The competition procedures at FAR Parts 14 and 15 are not required, and several other procurement statutes and clauses do not apply to contracts below the SAT. See FAR 13.106-2(b)(1); FAR 13.005-13.006.
Eliminate Small Business Set-Asides Where Contract Is Commercial and Between $350,000 and $10,000,000
- Summary: GSA proposes to "[r]emove the existing link between the SAT (currently $350,000) and the small business reserve and [make] the small business reserve ceiling $350,000." In other words, whereas 15 U.S.C. § 644(j) and FAR 19.502-2(a) generally require setting aside contracts below the SAT for small businesses, GSA's proposal would not require set-asides for commercial products and services contracts between $350,000 and the new SAT (which would increase to $10 million over 5 years).
- Breakdown: This proposal (which was also made in 2025) could reduce the number of contracts awarded to small businesses, although GSA argues that "longstanding regulatory set-asides would continue to facilitate access to meaningful opportunities for responsible small businesses that are able to submit competitive offers." GSA is likely referring to the regulatory "Rule of Two" requiring agencies to set aside acquisitions above the SAT. See FAR 19.502-2(b).
Raise the FAR Subpart 13.5 "Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services" from $9,000,000 to $50,000,000
- Summary: A separate subpart of FAR Part 13 provides for simplified procedures (differing in some respects from those for procurements below the SAT) for commercial products and services between the SAT and $9 million. Like its 2025 counterpart, GSA's 2026 proposal would increase this threshold to $50 million by September 2030. See FAR Subpart 13.5. GSA estimates this "would make up to an additional $63.5 billion involving almost 9,000 transactions subject to streamlined buying."
- Breakdown: Similar to the increase in the SAT above, this proposal would increase the number and value of commercial contracts not subject to typical competition and post-award compliance requirements.
Permit Agencies to Defer Consideration of Price Until Task Order Competition, Including for Fixed-Price and Cost-Reimbursable Orders
- Summary: Procurement law generally requires agencies to consider price when awarding contracts but permits them to defer doing so until task order competition for multiple-award contracts where "each qualifying offeror" will receive an award and "will feature individually competed task or delivery orders based on hourly rates[.]" 41 U.S.C. § 3306(c)(3). According to GSA, its proposal "would restore the original intent" of Congress that this authority not be limited to time-and-materials (T&M) and labor-hours (LH) task orders.
- Breakdown: As GSA states in its proposal (which is similar to one it made in 2025), its goal is to undo the U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision in the Polaris protest. In that case, the court held that T&M and LH orders must make up a "predominant" portion of the task orders issued under the contract. SH Synergy, LLC v. United States, 165 Fed. Cl. 745, 782 (2023). GSA argued that this interpretation of the statute "has essentially made" the statutory authority to defer consideration of price "unusable" because T&M and LH "are not the Government's preferred contract types for services."
- Bonus Breakdown: In contrast to the 2025 version of this proposal, GSA now proposes to expand this authority (i.e., the ability to defer consideration of price under competition at the order level) to Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) established against MAS contracts.
MAS Program
Continue Moving to Best Value in Support of Transaction Data Reporting
- Summary: In addition to the MAS-related issues noted above, GSA proposes to amend federal statutes, from requiring the MAS program to "result in the lowest overall cost alternative to meet the needs of the Federal Government" to instead "result in the award of best value products and services for the Federal Government." GSA proposed this same change last year as well.
- Breakdown: As Venable has noted before, this relates to a long-standing disagreement between GSA and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding whether MAS contractors should have to adhere to the Price Reductions Clause, or instead participate in Transactional Data Reporting (TDR), which GSA views as less burdensome for contractors. Congress already amended Title 10 of the U.S. Code in the FY26 NDAA to reflect GSA's preference on this topic, and GSA is now requesting similar amendments to Title 41 (as well as additional changes to the NDAA language passed last year).
Other Exports of DoD Authorities to Civilian Agencies
Increase Major Systems, Competition-Related, and Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Thresholds
- Summary: GSA proposes to "increase certain procurement thresholds in title 41 to match recent increases to corresponding thresholds in title 10 that were made by section 1804 of" the FY26 NDAA, which related to "the applicability of procurement procedures for major systems; the use of procedures other than competitive procedures; and submissions of cost or pricing data." This is the first time GSA has submitted this proposal.
- Breakdown: GSA would raise the Title 41 (civilian) threshold "for when a procurement qualifies as a 'major system,' which triggers enhanced management oversight, planning, and control throughout its life cycle" to match the Title 10 threshold (defense). GSA would do the same for civilian thresholds related to "when the Government can make a purchase without having provided multiple contractors a chance to compete for the procurement" and thresholds that "determine when CAS applies[.]"
Make Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) Authority Permanent for Certain Civilian Agencies
- Summary: For the first time, GSA is proposing permanent CSO authority for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), GSA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), aligning it with DoD's CSO authority.
- Breakdown: GSA's analysis notes that "CSO is a unique acquisition mechanism" that "eliminates the burdensome and time-consuming requirement of developing detailed statements of work or performance work statements." The procedures are flexible and grant the government significant flexibility and discretion. DoD and GSA have published guidance on the use and application of CSO authority.
Extend DoD's Advance Payment Authority to Civilian Agencies for Commercial Products and Services (Subscription-Based Offerings)
- Summary: GSA proposes for the first time to apply to civilian agencies the FY26 NDAA's authorization for DoD to make advance payment on certain commercial products and services. The rationale is that civilian agencies also need to adapt to the "the subscription economy," in which "customers pay for access and ongoing value delivery rather than ownership of a fixed asset," because for many offerings, "traditional pay-after-delivery terms is either impossible or results in significantly higher costs and reduced functionality."
- Breakdown: GSA's stated concern is that the advance payment statute (31 U.S.C. § 3324) is too restrictive and should be amended to reflect the FY26 NDAA's permission to make "payments for consumption-based solutions and subscription models without treating them as advance payments," which agencies have limited authority to make.