GSA to Offer Cloud-Based Contract Writing System Next Year
Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com
By
Frank Konkel
The pay-as-you-go system will offer guidance as well as reduce costs, according to GSA.
The General Services Administration will offer a new service to federal agencies next year designed to speed up contract writing.
According to a blog post published this morning, GSA will launch a cloud-based shared service contract-writing system that will “offer federal agencies a turnkey, comprehensive, contract writing and administrative solution.”
The commercial-off-the-shelf application will offer agencies an incentive to move away from standing up and maintaining their own contract writing systems, and its pay-as-you-go offers scalability and flexibility, according to GSA. In addition, high-volume users are eligible for tiered volume discounts through GSA’s buying power.
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“Offering CWSS as a shared service to federal agencies is another step forward in GSA's mission to provide innovative acquisition solutions that reduce costs and deliver a more efficient contracting process for government,” said Federal Acquisition Service Deputy Commissioner Kevin Youel Page, in a statement. “As a [cross-agency priority] initiative, CWSS fits into a broader, strategic, governmentwide 'buy-as-one' approach to acquisition. CAP is focused on developing products and services that increase effectiveness in the government’s acquisition process by leveraging the cloud for enhanced performance, data sharing, and service delivery; all with an eye towards helping agencies buy smarter to meet their core missions."
The service is expected to be available by the end of 2017’s third quarter.
Agencies can make use of the service through interagency agreements, with back-end work provided by Reston, Virginia-based Distributed Solutions, Inc. According to GSA’s statement, CWSS will “guide contracting and program offices through the contract process” from beginning to closeout, “providing real-time notifications of both work in progress and metrics as actions progress through life cycle states.”
Meanwhile, GSA will handle security accreditation and ongoing operations and maintenance—areas where individual agencies spend significant dollars on their own systems.