Fulfilling the Promise of e-Gov Initiatives—Part II: the integration of federal acquisition processes has already improved services—and the near future looks even brighter

Public Manager, The, Winter, 2007 by Lisa Cliff, Judy Steele

In Part I of this two-part series, we describe how the Integrated-Acquisition Environment (IAE), managed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), is living up to the e-Gov promise. We showed the systems that have been shut down, paper forms replaced by automated systems, and benefits to agencies and the public and excerpted interviews with satisfied customers.

In Part II, we briefly describe the IAE systems and legacy systems shut down, give more feedback from customers, and take a peek into future initiatives aimed at accommodating young acquisition professionals and the ways they get their information. Of the nine systems discussed, all but two are required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). (Information may change by the time this article is published, so please check the Acquisition Central Web site at www.acquisition.gov for the latest updates.)

IAE Systems

Federal Business Opportunities

Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps,www.fedbizopps.gov or www.fbo.gov) is the single point of entry for federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. This online system, which allows immediate publication, has eliminated the fifteen-day waiting period for posting in the Commerce Business Daily and greatly shortened acquisition lead-times. FAR Part 5.2 allows contracting officers to assume a notice is posted one day after entry in FedBizOpps. FedBizOpps also replaced the Department of Defense (DoD) Business Opportunities Web site (www.dodbusopps.com, retired September 2003) to achieve the government's common goal of a single federal point of entry.

Through this easy-to-use Web site, commercial vendors seeking federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor, and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire federal contracting community. Vendors can also sign up for e-mail notification of solicitations on the basis of specific criteria. More than 27,000 government buyers are registered to use FedBizOpps, and more than 750,000 vendors have registered to receive e-mail notification of procurement opportunities. More than 52,000 active synopses and solicitations are posted on FedBizOpps, and more than 300,000 e-mail notifications go out every day.

Upon system launch, the new FedBizOpps contract will further consolidate services. This acquisition is designed to leverage vendor data from the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) for developing "interested vendor lists" without requiring additional data entry or upkeep. It also will fully integrate the Federal Technical Data Solutions (FedTeDS) business process into the system, at which point that legacy system can be decommissioned. The new contract will enable FedBizOpps to feature a "BidReturn Module," which will allow vendors to return bids or proposals to a single government point in FedBizOpps for pickup by the agency.

Federal Technical Data Solutions

FedTeDS (www.fedteds.gov) is an online system federal agencies use to securely disseminate technical drawings, specifications, and other documents that may contain sensitive acquisition-related material to approved business partners. This user-friendly system, which counts more than 46,000 users, has proven a real help to government and industry. FAR Part 5 requires contracting officers to make solicitation-related information that requires limited access or distribution available to offerors electronically via FedTeDS, unless certain exceptions apply. Under IAE, FedTeDS is a companion site with FedBizOpps. Contracting officers can use this system to institute multiple levels of security to control and monitor access to their documents.

A procurement analyst from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle, Washington, finds FedTeDS especially useful for two-phase (public and limited) solicitations. She said, "After the public phase has completed, just change the 'Explicit Access' to 'Yes,' then add your competitive range proposers as 'Interested Parties.' From that point on, only the people you designate can see the data, which allows the second phase to use the same URL as the original one." She also finds useful the automatic linking from FedBizOpps to FedTeDS.

Wage Determinations Online

Per FAR Part 22, Wage Determinations Online (www.wdol.gov) is the source for Service Contract Act (SCA) and Davis Bacon Act (DBA) wage determinations and contractor labor standards information issued by the U.S. Department of Labor. The DBA requires contractors on federally funded construction projects to pay their construction workers no less than the locally prevailing wage. The SCA requires contractors performing services on most federal contracts to pay service employees no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality. The wage determinations are incorporated by the contracting agencies into covered contracts. Instead of waiting for a response from a paper request, contracting officers and the public can go directly to wdol.gov and access the appropriate wage determination for a contract action. The wdol.gov and "e-98" processes replace the paper Standard Forms (SFs) 98 and 98a.Generic wage determinations are available immediately. An SCA "wizard" questions the user to ensure the appropriate SCA determination is obtained. The site--which, as of December 2006, compiled more than one million hits--also includes an application to facilitate integrating wage determinations into agency contract-writing systems.