GSA to offer one-stop shop

The General Services Administration plans by October to make the Electronic Posting System the single point of entry for electronic grants applications and solicitations.

EPS provides vendors with online access to governmentwide business opportunities that are worth $25,000 or more.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is considering making EPS the single point of entry for companies seeking governmentwide business opportunities.

But even without a OFPP mandate, at least 14 agencies are already using EPS to distribute information.

"The goal is to enhance EPS to provide a single place for grants recipients to access grant information," said Mary Mitchell, deputy associate administrator of GSA's Office of Electronic Commerce.

EPS, which looks like a single system to the user, really is a highly distributed environment. It eventually will interface with the Federal Commons, an interagency initiative that intends to provide a common interface to grants recipients that include universities, research institutions, small businesses, and state and local governments.