Chief Acquisition Officers Council 2025 Acquisition & Program Management Excellence Awards Request for Nominations The Chief Acquisition Officers Council (CAOC) is seeking nominations for the 2025 Acquisition and Program Management Excellence Awards to recognize acquisition professionals who contribute to outstanding improvements in the Federal Acquisition System.
The Trump Administration has issued a series of executive actions to restore common-sense to federal procurement to drive more efficient and effective mission delivery.
Executive Order 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement Executive Order 14240, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement Executive Order 14271, Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts Achieving these goals -- and excellence from the Federal acquisition system more generally -- depends on the ability of the acquisition workforce to provide strategic advice to their customers and timely execution on merit-based strategies that deliver the best value to the taxpayer.
Nominations are being solicited for Federal employees engaged in team or individual activities that led to excellent results in any of the following acquisition areas from October 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. Results from FY 2024 acquisitions will be considered if the achievements exemplify the types of stewardship goals described in the Orders above.
The deadline for nominations is August 11, 2025. NOTE: The deadline will not be extended. Information on the nomination can be found at AE2025-Award-Submission
Acquisition Excellence Award – Two Awards
One award will be given to an individual and one award will be given to a team. The awards can be in any of these categories.
Category #1 – Strategic Acquisition: The nominee has advanced an acquisition strategy to drive more timely awards, greater competition, and/or lower cost while still obtaining strong overall value. Solutions can be in any acquisition area, and could involve: 1) supporting the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) and OMB Memorandum M-25-26 , such as by making contributions to practitioner albums and other tools that give the workforce tips on best ways to rely on good business discretion to achieve better outcomes1 , 2) developing or adapting new strategies or tools to maximize the acquisition of goods made in America, 3) increasing the participation of new entrant small businesses through use of strategies that reduce barriers to entry, such as through strengthened procurement forecasts or techniques described in the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations, 4) utilizing an acquisition collaboration workshop to build better requirements, 5) developing innovative acquisition training and development for the workforce, and/or 6) accelerating internal capacity to facilitate innovative solutions.
Category #2 – Procurement Consolidation and Category Management: The nominee demonstrated excellence and success in procurement consolidation and category management practices. These initiatives include, but are not limited to: 1) increasing use of best-in-class contracts (BIC) in furtherance of consolidated procurement, 2) implementing effective supplier engagement and demand management strategies, 3) using the principles of category management to create strategies and incentives that facilitate new or stronger opportunities for domestic sourcing and/or manufacturing, and/or 4) supporting the RFO, such as by contributing tips for the effective and efficient use of BICs.
Category #3 – Cost Efficiency and Performance Accountability: The nominee used applied data analytics results and insights and/or emerging technology to improve the overall acquisition lifecycle and achieve cost efficiencies or performance accountability in the agency or across the Federal enterprise. The nominee demonstrated success in business processes, policies, and/or workforce, such as, but not limited to, 1) strengthened program performance by shifting its contract support from a cost-type to a fixed-price or hybrid contract, from a non-commercial to commercial acquisition, or from a non-competitive to competitive contract, 2) developing innovative business processes resulting from identification and use of data, and/or 3) using emerging technologies to create efficiencies in programs, polices, and practices.
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1 Consistent with M-25-26, agencies can also support the RFO by testing the broadened discretion granted by RFO deviations.
Lisa M. Wilusz Program Management Excellence Award – One Award
An award will be given to either an individual or a team.
This award is in honor of Lisa M. Wilusz, the Director of the Office of Procurement and Property Management at the Department of Agriculture, who passed away in April 2017. Lisa had over 20 years' experience in the federal government and at USDA was responsible for providing leadership, oversight, and policy in the areas of procurement, property management, environmental stewardship, and employee safety.
Program Management: The nominee demonstrated success in balancing the many factors that influence cost, scope, and schedule, while controlling risks. In addition, ensuring overall positive performance of the program, as well as its respective sub-programs and projects by using critical thinking and innovative techniques to solve management or oversight challenges in direct alignment with the organization's strategic goals. Success should be demonstrated by 1) specifically describing the nominee as utilizing at least five of the standards and principles listed in Table 1 of OMB memorandum M-18-19 , Improving the Management of Federal Programs and Projects through Implementing the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA) , and why having competency in these areas was critical to success, 2) completing a major project of program within 5% of the original cost and schedule estimates, or 3) successfully implementing Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memorandum on Position Coding Guidance and Competency Model (August 2, 2023) and demonstrating the impact of that implementation.
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2 The standards and principles include: Change Management; Stakeholder Engagement and Coalition Building; Contracting and Acquisition Management; Customer Service; Financial Management; Human Capital Management; Information Management; Performance Management; Portfolio Management; Process Improvement; Project Management; Requirements Development and Management; Risk Management; and Strategic Planning.
Judging Process
Nomination packages will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Criterion #1 - Results: The team or individual demonstrated results that exceeded original expectations.Criterion #2 - Impact: The impact of the effort was substantial and provided significant value to the agency, taxpayers, and/or other beneficiaries.The deadline for nominations is August 11, 2025. NOTE: The deadline will not be extended. Information on the nomination can be found at AE2025-Award-Submission
Nominations will be judged using a two-step process:
Step 1: The initial nominations will be judged by senior government professionals and narrowed down to the highest rated nominations.Step 2: A panel of executive judges will select the winners.The awards will be presented at Imagine Nation ELC 2025 in October 2025. If you have additional questions regarding the awards, please contact Joanie Newhart, Associate Administrator of Acquisition Workforce Programs, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) at jnewhart@omb.eop.gov
