Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) are a set of streamlined procedures for

government procurement in the United States In the United States, the processes of government procurement enable Federal Government of the United States, federal, State governments of the United States, state and local government bodies in the country to acquire goods, services (including c ...

that reduce the administrative burden of awarding procurements below a threshold value, which, as of 2023, is $250,000. The procedures are described in .

Procedure

SAP allows informal quoting and competition procedures for simple, small-dollar-value purchases. For example, quotes may be submitted in oral rather than written form, and quoted prices may be directly compared by contracting officers rather than by conducting negotiations. Items commonly purchased through this program include "office supplies, computer software, and grounds keeping services". Also, the winner may be chosen directly by a contracting officer rather than a source selection team. SAP purchases between the micro-purchase threshold and the SAT threshold must be set aside for

small businesses Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

. Acquisitions under SAT/SAP can be sole-sourced under certain thresholds and are often not publicly posted. Additionally, over 100 regulations were made inapplicable to SAP purchases, as these provided a large

barrier to entry In theories of competition in economics, a barrier to entry, or an economic barrier to entry, is a fixed cost that must be incurred by a new entrant, regardless of production or sales activities, into a market that incumbents do not have or hav ...

for new vendors. As of 2019, the threshold for SAP is $250,000; acquisitions under this amount must use SAP, with certain exceptions. The procedures may also be used for certain commercially available items acquisitions that do not exceed a higher threshold of $7 million, although these purchases require extra scrutiny including performing

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers. It involves understanding who they are and what they need. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining com ...

. For the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

the threshold is higher for acquisitions "to support a contingency operation or defense against or recovery from nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack". Below the micro-purchase threshold, generally $10,000, purchases may be awarded in the absence of competitive quotes "if the contracting officer or designated official considers the price to be reasonable", and use of a Government Purchase Card is preferred.

History

SAP was authorized by the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA), and expanded by the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996. The procedures were developed in the context of the

National Partnership for Reinventing Government The National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) was a U.S. government reform initiative launched in 1993 by Vice President Al Gore. Its goal was to make the federal government "work better, cost less, and get results Americans care about" ...

, an initiative of the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

to increase government efficiency that began in 1993. This was part of a push to reduce costs and development time by favoring commercially available products instead of ones custom-designed to unique specifications. Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

had advocated for acquisition reform by appearing on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'' and smashed a government acquired ashtray to demonstrate a regulation that glass ashtrays must not break into more than 35 shards of glass when broken over a

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

plank. SAP funding has grown even while total federal contracting expenditures have fallen, hitting a 10-year peak in 2016. As part of the

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (; NDAA 2017Pub.L. 114-328 is a United States federal law specifying the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for Fiscal Year 2017. History The Nation ...

, the

's ability to use SAP was expanded.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Government procurement in the United States United States administrative law