Items commonly purchased through this program include "office supplies, computer software, and grounds keeping services".
[4] Additionally, over 100 regulations were made inapplicable to SAP purchases, as these provided a large barrier to entry for new vendors.
[2] 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.
[5][7] 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 had advocated for acquisition reform by appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman 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 plank.