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

Using these tools, the contracting officer has all the information necessary to make an award through one portal. By pressing "submit," with one touch the contractor is given authority to commence work, making contract execution immediate. Another file is sent to the warfighter's office for a team member to complete the documentation. Without further action, required reporting data are sent directly to FPDS. This concept may seem futuristic, but in keeping with the advances made in technology and e-Gov since 1995, the future may be closer than you think.

The goal of the e-Gov initiative was to offer citizens or businesses a single source for government information. That defines the mission of IAE--one-stop acquisition shopping.

Lisa Cliff is a senior consultant with Silo Smashers of Fairfax, Virginia, a technology and project management consulting firm, and is certified as a Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute. She has been communications manager for IAE since 2002 and was responsible for the launch and implementation of its initial marketing and outreach plan. Lisa can be reached at lisa.cliff@gsa.gov. Judy Steele is a former contracting officer with almost 30 years of experience in federal acquisition and procurement policy at the U.S. Air Force, National Park Service, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, U.S. Mint, and GSA. She is currently a program analyst in GSA's Office of Acquisition Systems and can be reached at judy.steele@gsa.gov. Please send questions or comments on this article to integrated.acquisition@gsa.gov.