Major programs within GSA

, as a part of its Integrated Acquisition Environment e-government project, awarded a $24.3 million contract to Global Computer Enterprises Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., in April. GCE will build a new system to collect and report data in real time through the Web. The system will be more accurate and easier to use than the current FPDS, and provide agencies and vendors with more information than the current system. GSA officials expect to launch the system in October.. Under this Quicksilver e-government initiative, GSA is building a governmentwide gateway for agencies’ users to verify their identities. It also will make it easier to conduct transactions across agencies. GSA’s project team deployed the gateway prototype in April, and a handful of agencies are using it, including the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center. The Office of Management and Budget and GSA are developing policy for authentication needs.. GSA hired Acton Burnell Inc., which was bought by CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., to develop a repository system that will give software developers and users easy access to existing logical and physical metadata. This data is required to speed development of software while ensuring that the developers meet requirements for data standardization. . GSA this summer will begin using a content management system from Vignette Corp. of Austin, Texas. The application will let GSA update the governmentwide FirstGov Web portal more quickly and easily. In the past year, GSA also added a new search engine, hosting services and a Web application server.