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Integrated Acquisition Environment “IAE Quarterly”
February 2009
List of Articles Welcome Kudos! FBO and the Next Generation of IAE FPDS V.1.3 Greatly Increases Functionality for Users Managing Risk in IAE How IAE Supports Transparency and USAspending.gov How IAE Supports the Contracting Professional IAE Services Updates
Welcome Happy New Year! and welcome to the February 2009 Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE) newsletter, “IAE Quarterly,” your source for information about IAE. With this issue IAE is launching a new service called GovDelivery Email & Digital Subscription Management (EDSM). The service introduces the IAE community to limited Web 2.0 capability, and is currently used successfully across many federal agencies to improve communication, collaboration, and outreach with stakeholders using technologies like directed emailing and blogging. If you would like more information on GovDelivery’s EDSM service go to www.govdelivery.com. Be sure to let us know what you think of the new format or how we can revise it to better meet your needs. Click here: IAE Subscriptions to subscribe to future IAE notices. This “IAE Quarterly” is packed with interesting research articles and updates on the IAE services. Emails, comments, suggestions, and articles for the newsletter may be forwarded to the Editor at judy.steele@gsa.gov or integrated.acquisition@gsa.gov.
Kudos!
FBO and the Next Generation of IAE As part of the ongoing integration and aggregation of IAE, we are now moving from application stovepipes to a collection of services focused on transparency, simplicity of design, and the business process. The delivery of the new FBO in April 2008 began the process of delivering service-centric, open architecture and aggregation of business applications. The consolidation of FBO and FedTeDS is projected to save the government over $1.6 million annually. Moving to aggregation and consolidation reduces duplication and will improve data integrity.
Features of the new FBO include:
Several users interviewed for this article indicated that the new FBO is more user friendly and the help desk is more responsive now.
The next generation of IAE services will emphasize integration versus individual applications. Consolidation of web services currently duplicated across the enterprise in each application, such as authentication, help desk, hosting, and web services, will be reduced or eliminated (as successfully deployed in the FBO/FedTeDS consolidation). The functions performed by the current IAE applications will be migrated to a set of acquisition business services that will be implemented consistent with Service-Oriented Architecture concepts and technology, and will leverage open source software and open source software development methodologies as much as possible.
The next generation of aggregated IAE business services will make it easier for vendors and citizens to do business with the government, make it easier for government contracting officers to use IAE, and make it easier for IAE to adapt to new requirements. Aggregating and leveraging a set of common services such as reporting and database management will greatly simplify the IT infrastructure. Managing a few databases, as opposed to the current need to manage eight, will reduce redundancy and ultimately improve data accuracy and reduce the cost of operating shared services. The goal is to ensure credibility and confidence as we move to a new data economy and an era of more government transparency. For more information on FBO, contact Richard Clark at richard.clark@gsa.gov.
FPDS V.1.3 Greatly Increases Functionality for Users Version 1.3 of the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), which was implemented June 27, 2008, has greatly improved functionality for users. Highlights of the new version include:
V.1.3 also creates the Interagency Contract Directory (www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory), a search tool to a central repository of indefinite delivery vehicles (IDV) awarded by federal agencies where the IDV is available to be used at both the intra-agency and the inter-agency levels. The new central repository will provide the federal agencies with visibility of all IDVs available to them. Placing orders against existing contracts saves the government money, optimizes the efforts already expended to negotiate a contract, and eliminates the effort required to negotiate and award a new contract.
V.1.3 also has functionality which will enable FPDS to receive data from the GSA SmartPay banks and/or credit card associations like VISA and MasterCard. Now agencies have visibility for all purchases, contracts and purchase card transactions.
At the end of December 2008, there were more than 7,389,600 contract actions in FPDS totaling over $486,328,156,991. FPDS was in use by over 3,260 federal contracting offices from more than 158 agencies. The draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Architecture and Operations Support Contract (AOCS), which will transition the operation and maintenance of the current FPDS into it, was issued the first quarter of FY 2009, and the RFP will be released the second quarter of FY 2009. For more information, contact Kate Oliver at kathleen.oliver@gsa.gov.
Managing Risk in IAE With the change in administration and discussion of the creation of an “IT Czar,” the topic of risk avoidance in IT acquisitions by the federal government is once again a “hot topic.” The Industry Advisory Council Transition Study Group has drafted several articles about the need for the federal government to be more innovative. The IAC has said that federal government “procurement practices and management reward caution not risk.” They also state that “Agency program and executive managers must be educated in managing and encouraging innovation and risk, and better options for encouraging risk acceptance and risk sharing with industry must be developed.” (“Returning Innovation to the Federal Government with Information Technology,” IAC Advisory Council, Dec. 11, 2008).
Risk is a measure of the ability to achieve overall program objectives within defined program requirements and constraints. Each IAE service is monitored for risk. Risk management is a program management tool used to assess and mitigate events that might adversely impact the program. All E-Government initiatives are required by OMB Circular A-11 to have risk management plans and meet other requirements such as those in Circular A-127 (internal risk). However, technology must work as an enabler, as a complement to internal controls. In the early stages of the IAE initiative implemented in 2003, the key risk component was maximizing and expediting service while minimizing expense—funding was limited. Part of the risk strategy was determining what the agencies would agree to.
Innovation must be part of the process for modernization while also following appropriate risk management. Being a Project Manager (PM) on a large cross-agency project comes with a high project and personal risk. PMs are faced with change management challenges (cross-agency collaboration); technical obstacles (new technologies and interface issues); and complex project management issues. Constructing an environment that allows for risk–taking is important as it can lead to innovative solutions. Leadership must support PMs when they try new, innovative approaches, particularly when PMs implement sound risk management processes and take risks that are informed.
Risk should be viewed as a challenge and potential opportunity; not as an obstacle or problem. Program management, like life, is about managing change, and both are fluid. You have to identify problems and make solutions to manage the rate of change. You have to decide, for example, if you implement “a” then what are the outcomes--“b.” Look at the business landscape—what will it look like—will it be impacted negatively or positively? The focus needs to be on setting business approaches first, then defining enabling technology. Not every problem requires a technology solution. Credibility and confidence are the keys to a healthy model.
Privacy and security issues are part of risk management. IAE risk assessments indicate that the portfolio is at Level 2, meaning that a user name and password is a prudent approach to protect information for the majority of its business applications. IAE’s approach to security is proactive, having a full-time Information Systems Security Officer on staff to monitor the security environments supporting IAE. Our risk mitigation strategy includes regular monthly security scans to identify potential vulnerabilities--monitoring security announcements and managing security challenges, either man-made or software related. Additionally, IAE performs annual risk assessments on each application to ensure risk assumptions are current. Our operational security environment is mixed, since different applications exist under different security criteria. Some are still under the auspices of the Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) and some fall under the standards of the National Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (NIACAP). Additional challenges from a security perspective are IAE’s dual nature as both a receiver of information (data consumer) and an originator of information (data provider). This requires careful protection of information received from sources not under our control, while being careful that the security of recipients of the information we provide is not compromised. IAE adjudicates these issues through annual Information Security Agreements with business partners designed to protect the information based on the system of record.
The IAE platform also follows all relevant standards for privacy. The majority of the information in our systems is corporate information. The IAE systems carefully safeguard financial data and competitive positions recognizing the privacy relationships involved and protecting them under the Privacy Act and Trademark Infringements Act, especially regarding Freedom of Information requests. In accordance with the Privacy Act, privacy considerations are also revisited annually. We also follow standards developments for possible use in IAE systems. For example, standards being developed by the e-Authentication initiative to improve authentication and authorization are being analyzed for use in each of the IAE systems. System of records notices have been published for several of the IAE component systems.
The next generation of IAE services has developed to meet the challenges of program costs limited by budgetary constraints. Other challenges include the need to: shorten the time to implement changes to increase flexibility, leverage economies of scale, better allocate resources, improve data accuracy, and increase transparency. Innovation has resulted in risk mediation; with increased risk has come increased success (as detailed in the article above on FBO). (This article was based on an interview with Earl Warrington.)
How IAE Supports Transparency and USAspending.gov USAspending.gov was rolled out in December 2007 to fulfill the requirement in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA) to establish a free, public, online searchable database containing entities and organizations receiving federal funds. FFATA was signed by the president on September 26, 2006, and the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) quickly moved to establish a website (www.FederalSpending.gov). The intent of FFATA (“The Transparency Act”) is to provide the public information about how their tax dollars are spent and the ability to look at contracts, grants, loans, and other types of spending across many agencies. The goal is to improve fiscal accountability and transparency in the federal government.
USAspending.gov currently provides information on federal awards including grants, cooperative agreements, loans, contracts, purchase orders, task orders, and delivery orders. Upon completion it will include the collection of purchase data, subcontract, and subgrant data. USAspending.gov presents data in a different way than in many transactional databases so that the data is easily understandable and accessible.
Information provided for each federal award includes:
IAE has supported OMB in its efforts to implement FFATA. The Act requires federal agencies to post all federal financial assistance awarded each month. This requires agencies to report on all contracts, grants and loans that were awarded during the preceding 30 days. The IAE Division is a major player in this task, because it manages the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), the electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS), the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and the contract providing the Unique Identifier of the entity with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), which are four key components for reporting federal funding.
Over the past year, the IAE Division has improved the major resource for grants and loans, the CFDA. The CFDA is the cornerstone of information on domestic assistance. It provides stakeholders the following information:
All federal agencies are required to submit and update information on the assistance programs which they administer so that information can be posted on the CFDA web site at www.cfda.gov. Program information is provided to inform potential applicants of the kinds of assistance programs available, how to apply for assistance, and who is eligible to apply. Due to staff turnover and retirements in 2006, the CFDA program experienced a period of time when agency program information was not kept up-to-date on the CFDA web site. The CFDA program was transferred to the IAE Division in 2007, and has since made significant improvements in performing its mission. The CFDA staff caught up with program publications and published two editions of CFDA data during FY 2009. Additionally, a CFDA Users’ Group was established for the grants community that is involved in generating or using CFDA data. CFDA is also actively working with OMB staff to improve the accuracy of program data through budget review.
Among the various functions available to CFDA users and customers are:
. This translates into giving the public the most up-to-date information on federal domestic assistance. The CFDA is a key data point to any system development for governmentwide reporting and is key to the reporting of the Transparency Act. A system development is in progress to provide additional functionality and greater automation in mid-2009.
FPDS has all but one of the existing data elements needed for USAspending.gov and is mandated by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) statute. By 2010 eSRS will provide subcontractor award data for actions over $25,000. This data will be published at USASpending. eSRS has a pilot in progress receiving summary data on contracts greater than $500 million from FPDS and is mandated by FAR Part 52. OFPP will examine lowering the threshold to include more participants, and OMB in general is considering extending the pilot as authorized in the statute.
Users of IAE systems need to be aware that if they provide data to FPDS and eSRS, then no further processes are required—USAspending.gov will receive that information. FPDS already has 13 of the 14 data elements required by the Transparency Act, and is being modified to collect the new one—“Program Source.” “Program Source”—the only element not in FPDS—is not created when contracting officers (COs) write a contract. This data field uses the finance data element commonly called the “Treasury Accounting Symbol.” Since COs are not used to seeing the data element created and maintained in the finance line of accounting, COs will have to be instructed on how to capture it correctly so it can be entered into FPDS. Users also need to be aware that the information in FPDS and USAspending.gov will never match exactly because data is constantly being updated in FPDS, whereas it is only updated in USAspending.gov every thirty days. The desire to make the information easier to use results in the trade off of “real-time” delivery.
With an emphasis on transparency, IAE is making its change control process more publicly visible. IAE is now using an open-source, web-based, automated issue tracking tool to provide more than 600 stakeholders with transparency into IAE’s Change Request (CR) development lifecycle process. It provides a customizable, automated dashboard and allows for performance measurement through configurable, real-time reports. The stakeholders are notified of updates by system-generated emails. Through IAE’s coordinating function with other procurement management systems, it can ensure consistent use of data definitions, which is critical for reporting governmentwide data. Central communications, contract metrics, and a solid integrated change management system are now provided by the IAE systems.
OMB has asked IAE to manage the creation of the data dictionary for FFATA. This data dictionary incorporates all the data reported to FFATA for grants, loans, and contracts. IAE can collaboratively work with government agencies and contractors supporting the Transparency Act through its established management process, change management process, governance structure, and communications arm. The goal is to make procurement information easier to locate and use, with data that is timely and accurate. For more information, check out the website at www.USAspending.gov. (Research for this article provided by Sandy Swab.)
How IAE Supports the Contracting Professional The Acting Administrator of GSA has supported IAE and e-Government as a way to use technology to achieve excellence in government contracting. The suite of shared services IAE provides helps contracting officers do their jobs and agency contract writing systems can access these shared services as needed during the acquisition lifecycle. But how, specifically, has IAE made the job of the contracting officer or acquisition professional easier and more efficient?
With a few keystrokes, IAE systems facilitate all phases of the federal acquisition life cycle, starting at www.acquisition.gov. FedBizOpps (www.fbo.gov) shortened the lead time for issuing solicitations by at least 15 days. FAR 5.2 allows for contracting officers to assume a notice is posted one day after entering on FBO. The new FBO, released March 31, 2008, includes the functionality of the Federal Technical Data Solutions (FedTeDS). This functionality allows federal agencies to securely disseminate sensitive acquisition-related technical data for solicitations to approved business partners. Contracting officers can determine whether to restrict access specifically, require vendors to request access or just get reports on who accessed the data. FedTeDS eliminated the need to print technical drawings and specifications and staff a secure room to monitor contractor review of documents. A Procurement Analyst from the Corps of Engineers in Seattle, Washington, found FedTeDS to be especially useful for two-phase solicitations with a public and a limited phase. 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.”
Wage Determinations Online (www.wdol.gov) replaced the need to fill out almost all Standard Form (SF) 98s and reduced the wait time to obtain a wage determination from the Department of Labor from months to almost nothing. WDOL.gov also includes an application to facilitate integrating wage determinations into agency contract writing systems. The Central Contractor Registration (www.ccr.gov) provides one location where contracting officers can quickly obtain reliable company information such as financial information and company demographic information required before award. This allows for faster invoice processing and approval and a reduced paperwork burden. Registrant data is up-to-date, many search options are available, and registrant data can be accessed 24/7 through public and government-only access. CCR registrant information is passed to the SBA, in real time, to validate certifications for 8(a), HUBZone and Small Disadvantaged Business. CCR also replaced the SF 3881 and SF 129 by centralizing both Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and Bidder’s Mailing List data.
The Online Representations and Certifications Application (www.bpn.gov/orca) produces Section K (Representations and Certifications) of the contract in a PDF format for easy insertion or attachment into the contract document. Contracting personnel have access to over 85,000 vendors Reps and Certs at their desktop. Contracting officers receive the information "real time" and don't have to wait for the vendor to fax or mail the information with their proposal(s).
The online Excluded Parties List System (www.epls.gov) allows users to search, view, and download current and archived exclusions to make them aware of administrative and statutory exclusions across the entire government, suspected terrorists, and individuals barred from entering the United States. EPLS makes the job of agency debarment officials much easier as it simplifies the entering of debarment and suspension information. The Past Performance Information Retrieval System (www.ppirs.gov) consolidates contractor report cards collected from across the federal government into a single searchable database. These report cards offer federal source selection officials the in-depth performance information they need to make sound procurement decisions. Records can be searched by contract, contractor, agency, dates of performance, dollar value and other criteria. PPIRS also makes it easier for contracting officials to submit regular assessments of their contractors.
The Federal Procurement Data System (www.fpds.gov) allows users a greater ability to submit information quickly and receive reports quickly. FPDS replaced the SF 279 and SF 281 manual contract reporting. One contracting officer said, on her first use of the Ad Hoc Reports Tool, “I just went into FPDS to run an ad hoc that I’ve been creating each month...and was introduced to the new reporting tool. So far, I am impressed…I like the format and the data is easy to manage…This is really good stuff!” The release of FPDS, V.1.3 added even more functionality (see prior article). The Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (www.esrs.gov) streamlines the reporting of small business subcontracting activity by large federal prime contracts and makes it much easier for agencies to monitor whether prime contractors are fulfilling their mandatory subcontracting plans. It provides one stop reporting for primes as well as easy access for government personnel.
By using the IAE systems, contracting professionals are making purchasing data available that cooperates with other end-to-end commercial electronic processing to support agency payments, accounting, performance reviews, and contract data reporting. Using the IAE systems ensures efficient and effective acquisition and use of assets. The impact of IAE and Acquisition Central will continue to push acquisition forward in 2009.
IAE Services Updates
CCR/FEDREG
EPLS
ESRS
FBO
FPDS
ORCA
WDOL
PERFORMANCE DATA
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