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New procurement data system to debut at end of month
General Services Administration officials said Wednesday that a revamped system for providing access to information on federal prime contracts will be available to the public by the end of the year, as scheduled.
The system, known as Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, is being developed by Global Computer Enterprises of Reston, Va., under contract with GSA.
GSA and GCE officials introduced the system during a public forum Thursday at the agency's headquarters in Washington. But they were unable to demonstrate many of its key features, because of technical glitches. Company and agency officials said FPDS-NG would be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2005.
When FPDS-NG comes online, it will contain 13 million records of agency contracting actions, dating back to 1979. The system will feature a series of standardized reports, along with a tool allowing users to create customized reports.
Eventually, all agencies are expected to implement online systems to update their contracting information in FPDS-NG continually. Progress in implementing such systems has varied from agency to agency, a GCE official said.
FPDS-NG ran into criticism earlier this year from firms that rely on procurement data information (including Eagle Eye Publishers Inc. of Fairfax, Va., which compiles the data used in Government Executive's annual Top 200 Federal Contractors issue). The companies alleged that GCE had too much control over the data and wanted to charge for access to it.
In August, GSA announced that the system would be free to the public. Firms that seek to repackage and resell the data can pay a $2,500 fee to GCE for real-time access to FPDS-NG records.
GSA officials emphasized Thursday that the new system will be self-service, and that employees would no longer be able to generate customized reports on agencies' contracting activities, as they have in the past. But, they said, GSA will retain control over the data contained in the system.
COMMENTS
- The agency I am with has been on the FPDS-NG system since the beginning of FY05. It's been a learning process for both management and the people who use it on an everyday basis. The word helpdesk in terms of this contractor is a misnomer, mainly because we (my agency) had to develop our own in house manual to combat problems we had with our procurement system and FPDS-NG. Not to say the helpdesk trouble shooter's are not friendly, because they are. But they just could not seem to solve my specific problem. So in turn, I had to solve it myself, meaning I took time away from my day to work on issues that the government pays the contractor to solve. It makes me wonder what was in the SOW that was provided for the contractor's to bid on. I *pray* that someone wrote in a CLIN for trouble shooting agency/user issues. Before the glitches were ironed out, and our manual was distributed, the CO's and contract specialists were very frustrated with the system. Many people were on work stoppages for contract awards because the FPDS-NG system and our organic system did not "talk" to one another. This lead to a very tense environment in the office. GovExec.com reader Posted December 20, 2004 10:44 AM
- "Technical glitches"???? There have been nothing but technical glitches since this contractor was awarded the FPDS-NG. Besides demonstrating incompetence, the contractor then advised the government and public that reports that had previously been available free of charge would cost up to $10K .... When will GSA terminate this contractor? Besides the incompetence and blatant selling of public information at $10K a pop, the system the government will now receive has fewer capabilities than the old system ... specifically the inability to capture socio-economic data for small business utilization. Terminate quickly before it gets worse and additional millions are poured down this hole attempting band-aid fixes to this problem. Don't even get me started on the disasterous eSRS ... Concerned Federal Employee Posted December 17, 2004 9:10 AM
