GSA OGP’s Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings (www.gsa.gov/hpgb) has just released its Green   Building Certification Systems review report.   This report is the first step in an extensive review process — including a public comment period – that evaluates tools that could help federal agencies meet their goals for maintaining and constructing more sustainable and efficient buildings.  The findings of this process will help government agencies meet federal requirements for green construction, save taxpayer dollars and meet the goals of President Obama’s Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance (EO 13514).   The full report is available at http://www.gsa.gov/gbcertificationreview and the press release is available here.

This report also will be a major topic at the second Green Building Advisory Committee (GBAC) meeting which is coordinated by the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings in accordance with The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA).   The GBAC will be held on May 9, 2012 from 9:30am to 4:00 pm at 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800 in Washington, DC.  It is open to the public, as a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) meeting.  Agenda and meeting materials will be posted on the GBAC site.  Questions about the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings or the GBAC may be sent to greenbuildings@gsa.gov.    We look forward to your feedback and comments.

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In the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) of GSA, we have been working closely with Kshemendra Paul and industry partners through the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), a non-profit, public/private partnership focused on IT in government. OGP’s strategic direction is to ensure that government-wide policies encourage agencies to develop and utilize the best, most cost effective management practices for the conduct of their specific programs, and information technology is one of the areas that our policymaking authority covers.

Together, we have identified a gap in our knowledge of how to integrate standards into the acquisition process to better provide capabilities, such as data correlation. To address this, we are working with ACT-IAC to write a white paper on the topic that should help establish the best practices for standards-based acquisition that are essential for deploying interoperable technology solutions.

The intent of this whitepaper is to provide the perspective of the industry partners and vendors who work with the federal government on standards-based activities. The whitepaper should also include recommendations with activities for what needs to be accomplished to close the standards gap as well as what the core set of technical standards should be. Finally, we also hope to better describe how the federal government can make existing acquisition processes more simplified and transparent.

Federal acquisition policies must facilitate and reward collaboration between the government and industry that results in collective development of tools and technologies. By closing this standard gap and then aligning our acquisition requirements across the federal government, we can:

• Leverage existing capabilities that the federal government already possesses;
• Maximize our purchasing power in acquiring new products;
• Better manage the risk inherent in integrating common solutions throughout the federal government; and
• Make purchasing decisions that are responsive to new and evolving standards.

We encourage you to consider get involved in this effort. ACT-IAC is seeking responses to this survey from the public through May 4, 2012 at 5 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan D. Addelston, Co-Chair, Information Sharing Committee of the Collaboration and Transformation Shared Interest Group, ACT-IAC.

-  Kathleen Turco, Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Government-wide Policy

(Kathleen also serves on the Executive Board of the American Council for Technology)

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This week, OGP’s Office of Technology Strategy/Acquisition Systems Division released a Sources Sought notice on the Federal Business Opportunities site to measure availability of other agencies and industry members to provide a unique identification process in support of governmentwide acquisition systems. The goal is to provide these systems with necessary data and information on current and potential awardees. The capability to provide a unique identifier at registration to entities and individuals seeking to do business with the government is an important part of the acquisition process. OGP’s mission is supported by the ability to maintain integrity and efficiency throughout governmentwide processes. With a unique identification system, GSA can collect data regarding location, performance, and company hierarchical information that is necessary to tracking entities and individuals who receive contracts, grants, and loans from the government.

In order to maintain a competitive environment, this Sources Sought was released to explore options for attaining these services from one or a number of industry competitors. OGP is also interested in attaining responses from other agencies that may have their own unique identification systems, so that all viable options can be explored. Staying committed to saving tax-dollars while increasing efficiency and transparency is everyone’s priority at GSA. Through thorough data collection and operation of a quick and easy registration process for both existing and potential awardees, the acquisition process supports both of these priorities.

This Sources Sought asks for responses by Monday, November 7, 2011 and a team led by Chris Fornecker in the Acquisition Systems Division will then work on compiling analysis and recommendations for further action to ensure that GSA continues to be committed to the goals and missions of the Executive Branch. The Sources Sought notice can be found on www.fbo.gov by searching for “IAE-0002.”

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