Reducing Procurement Administrative Lead Time Using Modern Business Practices

The hallmark of a world-class acquisition system is timely delivery of products and services with good value and customer satisfaction. This requires a concerted effort to reduce friction in the acquisition lifecycle so that the Federal Government can consistently deliver items at the same speed and ease as the commercial marketplace while effectively managing delivery expectations for non-commercial products and services. This memorandum takes an important step toward measuring the timeliness of federal procurements by establishing a common definition of “procurement administrative lead time” (PALT) and providing guidance on steps agencies should take to reduce PALT in their acquisition activities through modern business practices that shorten the time from the identification of need to delivery of value.