The Chief Acquisition Officers Council (the Council) is established pursuant to Section 16 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as amended, 41 USC 403, et seq.

The Council consists of a diverse group of acquisition professionals in the Executive Branch established to provide a senior level forum for monitoring and improving the federal acquisition system. The Council promotes effective business practices that ensure the timely delivery of best value products and services to the agencies, achieve public policy objectives, and further integrity, fairness, competition, and openness in the federal acquisition system. The Council works closely with the Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to promote these business practices in the acquisition system.

Public Law 93-400, “The Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act”, as amended, created the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in 1974, and placed it in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OFPP was created, among other purposes, to provide Government-wide procurement policies “…which shall be followed by Executive agencies…” in the procurement activities.

“To further achieve effective, efficient, and economic administration of the Federal procurement system, (Public Law 98-191, dated December 1, 1983) the head of each executive agency ‘shall designate a senior procurement executive who shall be responsible for management direction of the procurement system of the executive agency'” In 1999, an interagency council, consisting of agency procurement executives was chartered and named the Procurement Executives Council (PEC). Its mission was to monitor and improve the Federal Acquisition System consisting of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which is the primary document, and agency acquisition regulations that implement or supplement the FAR.

OFPP issued a memorandum on December 14, 2014 detailing its top three priorities which are listed below. The memorandum, “Transforming the Marketplace: Simplifying Federal Procurement to Improve Performance, Drive Innovation, and Increase Savings,” can be found here.

• Buying as One Through Category Management
• Deploying Talent and Tools Across Agencies & Growing TalentWithin Agencies to Drive Innovation
• Building Stronger Vendor Relations

On January 16, 2003, a subsequent Charter was introduced at the PEC Executive Committee Meeting, to be effective February 20, 2003. The charter, in addition to some membership changes, includes a name change from Procurement Executive Council to Federal Acquisition Council (FAC) to provide greater flexibility and a more inclusive reach beyond procurement.

On June 1, 2004, a new Charter was effected further consolidating Council purpose, membership, liaison, and working groups. This charter renamed the Council as the Chief Acquisition Officers Council to better address end-to-end acquisition issues.