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## E-Gov\'s Tools of the Trade: Acquisition made easy

10/25/04\
*By GAIL REPSHER EMERY*

### The collection of procurement initiatives known as the Integrated Acquisition Environment could give savvy contractors a leg up on competitors

Seventeen new tools could be the key to simplifying the cumbersome,
complicated federal procurement process.\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
Government officials, led by program managers at the General Services
Administration, are building programs and services such as a system for
tracking contractors\' past performance on projects and improved
reporting on new contracts and procurement data.\
![](media/image2.png){width="1.0416666666666666e-2in"
height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
The 17 tools come under the umbrella of the Integrated Acquisition
Environment, one of the 24 original, governmentwide e-government
initiatives launched by Mark Forman, former administrator of the U.S.
Office of E-Government and Information Technology.\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
Through IAE, government officials hope to increase competition for
government contracts, leverage existing acquisition systems and
eliminate duplicative systems, said Teresa Sorrenti, program manager of
the Integrated Acquisition Environment. Sorrenti works for GSA, which,
with a team of about 50 other agencies, is leading the initiative.\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
\"We had a lot of good work going on in the acquisition community, but a
lot of it was stovepiped,\" Sorrenti said. \"Like having a vendor file
in every agency. When a company changed its address, we had many people
updating that information in their files. We are working to eliminate
that duplication of effort.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="1.0416666666666666e-2in"
height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
Federal contractors could benefit greatly from many parts of IAE \-- if
they know how to use them.\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
One of the biggest IAE benefits is the availability of more
comprehensive, timely information about government purchases through the
Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, a database of federal
contracting activity. Ed Naro, a vice president with Northrop Grumman
Corp.\'s Information Technology unit, said he would use FPDS-NG to
identify trends in government buying.\
![](media/image2.png){width="1.0416666666666666e-2in"
height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
\"I would look at the data to understand who is buying what and how
much, to make sure we are positioned to provide what they want,\" he
said.\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
GSA executive David Drabkin, who oversees the IAE program, said a
contractor could use FPDS-NG to find which agencies are buying what the
contractor sells and how often they\'re buying it.\
![](media/image2.png){width="1.0416666666666666e-2in"
height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
\"With that kind of business intelligence, you can be much more
effective in your marketing and in allocating your bid and proposal
resources,\" Drabkin said. \"It will be the most accurate and timely
data we have ever had available.\"\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
MAKING A BETTER DATABASE\
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height="1.0416666666666666e-2in"}\
Building the IAE hasn\'t been easy. The difficulty of the governmentwide
effort was highlighted this month when FPDS-NG was not ready to come
online for the public as GSA officials had planned.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
The launch of FPDS-NG has been eagerly anticipated, because the old
database was riddled with errors and users had to wait months to get the
information they needed. The new database will provide better,
near-real-time data because it will flow directly from agency systems
into FPDS-NG. Previously, procurement data was entered manually, which
took longer and introduced errors.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Drabkin, GSA\'s deputy chief acquisition officer, said he was too
optimistic when he told reporters Aug. 25 that the database would be
publicly available Oct. 1 \-- three months earlier than planned.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Although FPDS-NG did go live Oct. 1 for members of Congress and federal
employees, the database doesn\'t yet have enough data in it to be
useful. It won\'t be open to the public until agencies finish loading
their data, which could be as late as Dec. 31, the originally scheduled
date, Drabkin said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Rod Lantier, who became FPDS program manager last month, said GSA
officials are working with the agencies and FPDS contractor Global
Computer Enterprises Inc. to get the data in on time.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"Only a major meltdown would prevent that,\" he said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Even with the wait until year\'s end, data for the previous fiscal year
will be available three months earlier than ever before, \"and it\'ll be
correct,\" Drabkin said. \"On Dec. 31, people are going to be wowed.\"\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
CUTTING PAPERWORK\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Several IAE tools eliminate paperwork, freeing contractors to do other
activities that build business, executives said. The Central Contractor
Registration is one of those tools.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Originally developed by the Defense Department, CCR holds company
information that is necessary for doing business with the federal
government, including bank account information for electronic payments.
As of October 2003, federal contractors must register in CCR to win
federal contracts, and agencies must use CCR. Previously, contractors
had to register in multiple systems.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
It is essential that contractors keep their information in CCR up to
date, federal officials said.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"It\'s in industry\'s best interest,\" said Mark Krzysko, who oversees
implementation of IAE tools at the Defense Department. Each agency uses
the information in CCR to send payments to the right accounts. Agencies
also use the information to e-mail a company contact when performance
evaluations are added to the Past Performance Information Retrieval
System, another IAE tool.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
If the contact person has left the company and data on the new contact
is not in CCR, other company officials won\'t know the system has been
updated, and they could lose an opportunity to dispute a negative review
or tout a positive one.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Another paperwork-eliminating effort, the Online Representations and
Certifications Application, will collect company information that is
used in the contract-writing process. An upcoming procurement rule
change will require companies to use ORCA by the end of November,
Sorrenti said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Previously, contractors had to submit their representations and
certifications with every contract document. They kept typewriters just
to fill out the forms. Now they will enter the information into the ORCA
database once annually, and it will be incorporated automatically into
contract documents.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"Industry groups get the most excited\" about this tool, Sorrenti said.
\"Now, they can get rid of their typewriters.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
GSA will soon award a contract for the Electronic Subcontracting
Reporting System, which contractors will use to report their
subcontracting activities. Previously, contractors used multiple
systems, and in some cases filed paper reports. When the system goes
live next year, they will use just one system.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"Individual agencies have good subcontract reporting systems, but if
you are a vendor, you don\'t want to go into 10 really good systems.
You\'d rather go to one,\" Sorrenti said.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Agency officials also want one system, said Krzysko, deputy director of
defense procurement and acquisition policy.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"They won\'t be chasing paper,\" he said. \"Right now, it\'s a very
laborious process.\"\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
The new system should help agencies better monitor whether prime
contractors are fulfilling their mandatory subcontracting plans, said
Paul Murphy, president of Eagle Eye Inc., a federal IT market research
firm in Fairfax, Va.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"For many years, small firms have complained that they don\'t get all
the money promised them,\" he said. \"Hopefully, this improved reporting
will help monitor compliance.\"\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
IMPROVING MARKET RESEARCH\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
In addition to the FPDS-NG procurement database, other IAE programs
could help contractors get better market intelligence, executives said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
These include Contract Award Documents Online, a system not yet in
development. Currently, contractors must request contract documents from
agencies under the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take
weeks or months.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Looking at a competitors\' contract \"would help us, because we could
see the scope of the project, the terms of the agreement and understand
better what the agency is buying,\" said Bill Cull, vice president of
government solutions for FileNet Corp., a Costa Mesa, Calif., software
company.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Building Contract Award Documents Online would make the contracting
process more transparent, but government officials are not sure whether
it\'s feasible because of the potential cost and time involved with
redacting proprietary information from the contracts, Sorrenti said.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Federal officials are reviewing 118 responses to an IAE request for
comment about posting contracts on the Web. Although many responders
approved of publishing all contract information on the Web,
representatives of several agencies and industry groups expressed
concerns about both the administrative burden of putting all contracts
online and the risk of inadvertently of releasing classified or
proprietary information.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"People feel they need more \[contract\] information and more timely
information, but posting everything might be too much,\" Sorrenti said.
\"We\'re looking at the cost to go all the way and to do something in
between.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Another tool that helps both government contracting officers and
contractors is the online contracts directory, which lists
governmentwide and multiple-agency contracts, said Earl Warrington, IAE
deputy program manager. Previously, there was no single place for
contracting officers to research all the contracts that they might use.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
The online directory, which lists contracts used by more than one
agency, will give greater visibility to contractors listed on
governmentwide acquisition contracts.\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"It\'s still going to be up to the contracting officer to make a good
decision about whether to use that GWAC or not,\" Warrington said, \"but
they\'ll know where that information is and be able to evaluate it, to
be as educated as possible when they enter into a business
relationship.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
CONNECTING THE DATA\
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height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Just looking at the complex chart of the 17 IAE tools can bring on
eyestrain, Northrop Grumman\'s Naro said. But when --- and if --- all 17
elements are built and interconnected, the federal acquisition system
will be much simpler, he said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Naro sees an even greater benefit arising from the large e-government
project, one he said many people haven\'t considered: By connecting the
many threads of procurement data it collects, the government could model
the entire acquisition system. Then federal officials could build a
simulation of the model and feed acquisition data into it. The model
could predict accurately the effects of policy and regulation changes on
the procurement process, Naro said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"It would allow us to do things more intelligently,\" he said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Staff Writer Gail Repsher Emery can be reached at
gemery@postnewsweektech.com.

### E-gov initiative puts the pieces together

The 17 pieces of the Integrated Acquisition Environment are detailed
below. Most IAE elements fall into one of three categories: the Business
Partner Network, Acquisition Information Reporting or e-Marketplace.
Information about the Integrated Acquisition Environment can be found at
[http://egov.gsa.gov](http://egov.gsa.gov/) .\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
**BUSINESS PARTNER NETWORK**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
1. Online Representations and Certifications Application. Through this
Web site, contractors will provide their representations and
certifications information online once, instead of through a paper
process that was required with every large contract award. An upcoming
procurement rule change will require contractors to begin using ORCA at
the end of November.\
**www.bpn.gov/orca** \
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
2. Federal Registration. This system collects information about federal
offices that act as trading partners. FedReg sends this data to the
Intragovernmental Transactions Exchange System, so that information
about each participant can be included with each transaction. This
process improves federal accounting.\
**www.bpn.gov/far** \
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
3. Central Contractor Registration. As of October 2003, all contractors
are required to supply company information to this database in order to
win federal contracts. In December 2003, the Small Business
Administration\'s registration system for small businesses merged with
CCR.\
**www.ccr.gov** \
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
4. Excluded Parties Listing System. This Web site identifies companies
and other parties barred from receiving federal contracts or certain
subcontracts and from some federal financial and nonfinancial assistance
and benefits.\
**www.epls.gov**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
5. Past Performance Information Retrieval System. This database,
launched in July 2002, is a governmentwide source for information on how
companies have performed on government contracts. Federal acquisition
officials use it as part of the evaluation process when awarding
contracts. Contractors can access the system to review their report
cards and dispute findings.\
**www.ppirs.gov**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
6. Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System. The General Services
Administration will soon award a contract for system development.
Officials hope the system will be complete by March 2005. Contractors
will use it to record their subcontracting actions; agency officials
will use it to track contractor compliance with subcontracting plans.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
**ACQUISITION INFORMATION REPORTING**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
7. Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation. Agencies have begun
loading contracting data from fiscal 2004 and previous years into the
database. Agencies and Congress can use the database; it will be opened
to the public by Dec. 31.\
**[https://www.fpds.gov](https://www.fpds.gov/)**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
8. Contract Award Documents Online. GSA will soon publish a white paper
that examines the feasibility of putting federal contract documents on
the Web.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
9. Intragovernmental Transaction History. This database will track
intra-agency payments, such as rent transactions. It is not yet in
development.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
10. Purchase Card Information. GSA is collecting information from banks
on how government credit cards are being used. This information will be
incorporated into FPDS. It will result in better analysis of federal
spending, especially purchases from small businesses.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
**E-MARKETPLACE**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
11. Interagency Contracts Directory. The database was created in October
2003. It is an online directory of governmentwide acquisition contracts
and other multiple agency contracts. www.contractdirectory.gov\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
12. Online Purchasing. Responses to a request for information about
online purchasing are being reviewed, and shopping cart and contractor
data in government catalog systems are being compared. Officials want to
standardize the data so contractors can provide the same information to
each one. The effort could result in a Web-based gateway to all
government catalogs.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
13. Federal Technical Data Solution, or FedTeDS. This database provides
agency and contractor representatives access to sensitive documents
needed in the contracting process, such as diagrams of federal
buildings.\
**www.fedteds.gov**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
14. Wage Determination Online. This Web site launched in October 2003.
It is a single location for federal contracting officers to determine
the wages that should be paid on federal contracts.\
**www.wdol.gov**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
15. Federal Business Opportunities, or FedBizOpps. A recompete
solicitation was issued in May. Responses are being reviewed. This
database lists federal contracting opportunities, awards and changes to
solicitations. The transition to a new FedBizOpps should be complete in
February 2005. **www.fedbizopps.gov**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
**ADDITIONAL INITIATIVES**\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
16. IGT Exchange. A pilot project for all intragovernmental rent
transactions, as well as IT services transactions greater than
\$100,000, began in October 2003. The participating agencies \--
Interior Department, GSA, National Science Foundation and Patent and
Trademark Office \-- processed these transactions through the IGT
Exchange. The Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the project
to determine a schedule for governmentwide rollout.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
17. IAE Portal. This Web site will provide access to the 16 other
elements of the Integrated Acquisition Environment. It is not in
development.

### Market research firms: Public databases will help our business

Companies seeking to improve their knowledge of the federal IT market
will be able to get a direct hookup to the government\'s procurement
data early next year. Firms that pay the one-time, \$2,500 fee for
access to the new Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation will
be able to search all federal procurement data and run their own
reports, instead of paying market research firms to do the work for
them.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
And if the Contract Award Documents Online database is developed,
contractors also will be able to view federal contracts without paying
market research firms to obtain the documents via Freedom of Information
Act requests.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Market research firms, however, aren\'t worried about customer
defections. Their executives said if the government delivers what it has
promised \-- more accurate and timely procurement information \-- their
businesses will grow.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"We think it\'s going to enhance our business,\" said Paul Murphy,
president of Eagle Eye Inc., Fairfax, Va. \"This will free up our time
to do stuff we\'ve had in the pipeline for months.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Eagle Eye is one of several market research firms in the Washington
region that help contractors sell to government by providing business
intelligence, databases for tracking opportunities and other specialized
services. Because the market research firms supply much more than the
raw data from FPDS, they don\'t expect contractors to stop using their
subscription services.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"The analysis on top of the data is where our value-add is,\" said
Kevin Plexico, executive vice president at Input Inc., Reston, Va. \"We
have analysts calling the agencies every day, using FedBizOpps, getting
interviews and information from clients and other companies, and getting
information from the press.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Federal Sources Inc., McLean, Va., also integrates FPDS data into its
subscription service. Subscribers can research their competition to find
out what contracts they\'ve won, what agencies they operate in and how
much revenue is going to their competitors\' various business units,
said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president of the company.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"With our hundreds of years of market knowledge combined, we have a
real good idea of where that data originates, why it is reported the way
it is reported and what it really means,\" Bjorklund said. \"We will
study 15,000 records to make sure we are interpreting the data correctly
and providing additional layers of understanding to our clients.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Plexico said the new FPDS data will improve the company\'s reports and
analysis.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"There\'s an opportunity to integrate the information in such a way
that creates new value for clients,\" he said. \"We can tie an award
announced in FedBizOpps to spending in FPDS and the contract document.
We could predict what will be spent, when it will be recompeted and who
is likely to compete and win.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Murphy said he thinks market research firms that obtain contract
documents for clients via Freedom of Information Act requests may see
their revenue decline in that area if Contract Award Documents Online is
developed, however.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"There\'s a lot of stigma attached to FOIA-ing documents,\" he said.
\"The agencies view it as an administrative burden, and companies don\'t
want to antagonize agencies by constantly FOIA-ing documents. It\'s
partly why Input and Fed Sources offer these services \-- to insulate
companies from the agencies.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
But Bjorklund said he thinks any effect on Federal Sources\' business
would be minimal because of the way his company bundles disparate pieces
of information to help clients find what they need.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"The advantage for our customers is that when they see a contract
action in FPDS, they can drill down and get the contract document,\"
Bjorklund said. \"We FOIA virtually every IT and professional services
contract of significance.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"When a company is thinking about a make-or-buy decision, my belief is
that they are going to make a smart business decision and outsource it
to someone like us,\" Bjorklund said.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Staff Writer Gail Repsher Emery can be reached at
gemery@postnewsweektech.com.

### Procurement data delays rile researcher

If the General Services Administration opens the Federal Procurement
Data System-Next Generation to the public by Dec. 31 as planned, that
still won\'t be soon enough for Paul Murphy, president of Eagle Eye
Publishers Inc. in Fairfax, Va.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Murphy relies on federal procurement data for the business and market
intelligence that Eagle Eye provides to federal contractors. Like all
FPDS users, Murphy has not been able to get any fiscal 2003 or fiscal
2004 data while the new database is being developed.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"You don\'t bring a system down for a year and a half while you are
bringing a new system up,\" he said. \"The public has a right to know
\... how agencies are spending taxpayers\' dollars.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Murphy filed two Freedom of Information Act requests to GSA seeking
fiscal 2004 procurement data from FPDS, but GSA officials have denied
his requests, saying the information is proprietary to Global Computer
Enterprises Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., the contractor building the
database.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
\"With respect to the release of the fiscal 2004 prime contract
transaction records in the FPDS-NG database, we have determined that
releasing this information would reveal insight into GCE confidential
intellectual property,\" GSA executive M.J. Jameson wrote to Eagle
Eye\'s attorney last month.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
But Jameson also wrote that \"GSA is obligated to disseminate
procurement data pursuant to statute.\" When FPDS-NG is opened to the
public, \"Eagle Eye can obtain essentially the same information it is
seeking under its FOIA request,\" she said in the letter.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
When asked to explain what is proprietary about the records Eagle Eye
requested, and to explain the difference between the data Eagle Eye
requested and the data that will be publicly available through FPDS-NG,
GSA executives said through spokeswoman Eleni Martin: \"We do not
discuss matters involving the proprietary data of a contractor.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
GCE officials did not respond to phone calls about the database.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
Murphy argued that \"there is not one electron\'s bit of difference
between the data they say they will give us and the data they say is
proprietary. \... It\'s critical that all public data remain in the
public domain, no matter how the government chooses to process it.\"\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
In an interview, GSA executive David Drabkin said GSA cannot provide
what he called raw procurement data because the agency doesn\'t collect
it anymore. With the new FPDS, the data is transferred directly from the
agencies to GCE.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
And when the data is passed to GCE, \"it\'s automatically reconfigured
in a code which GCE wrote, which is proprietary to them. The way it is
arrayed in the database is proprietary,\" said Drabkin, deputy chief
acquisition officer at GSA.\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}\
--- Gail Repsher Emery

![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="9.236111111111112e-2in"}![](media/image3.jpeg){width="3.1256944444444446in"
height="2.438888888888889in"}

Teresa Sorrenti leads the effort to build the Integrated Acquisition
Environment.

Earl Warrington (rear) is her deputy, Rod Lantier (right) is the program
manager

for the FPDS-NG procurement data system.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="1.1458333333333333in"
height="1.1756944444444444in"}

Even with the wait until year's end, data for the previous

fiscal year will be available three months earlier than

ever before, "and it'll be correct."

--- GSA executive David Drabkin\
![](media/image2.png){width="8.333333333333333e-3in"
height="8.333333333333333e-2in"}

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="1.1458333333333333in"
height="1.1756944444444444in"}

"It's still going to be up to the contracting officer

to make a good decision about whether to use that

GWAC or not, but they'll know where that information

is and be able to evaluate it, to be as educated as

possible when they enter into a business relationship." \|

Earl Warrington, IAE deputy program manager