By Jeff Erlichman

Organizations such as the Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) are helping government get the IT they need one customer at a time.

If you had a vision for Procurement, wouldn’t it be “a secure business environment that facilitates and supports cost-effective acquisition of goods and services in support of mission performance.”

Wouldn’t your goals be to: create a simpler, common, integrated business process that promotes competition, transparency and integrity; increase data sharing to enable better Procurement business decisions; and take a unified approach to obtaining modern tools to leverage investment costs for business related processes?

By doing that you could deploy a single point of registration and validation of supplier data accessed by all agencies – e.g. the CCR. You could implement a central point for consolidated collection and access of statistical and management information related to government acquisitions – e.g. Acquisition Central.

You could also implement a directory of GWAC and MAC contracts to simplify selection and facilitate leverage of Government buying and develop a standard glossary and vocabulary to facilitate exchange of data between and within agencies – e.g. BTA (Business Transformation Agency).

Finally you will be able to transform intra-governmental ordering and billing to enable universal electronic processes, reduce payment and collection problems, and enable swift and accurate revenue and expense elimination processes for preparing consolidated financial statements.

These are not pipe dreams. They are the stated vision, goals and objectives of the Integrated Acquisition Environment, one of 24 e-government initiatives in Bush’s Management Agenda. And while the Procurement community is not at the end of the journey, they have taken some significant steps along the way.

Acquisition Central
If you had an IT requirement and could start from scratch, with absolutely no knowledge of where to go and could use any contracting vehicle you wanted, then one of your first stops would be Acquisition Central (www.acquisition.gov). Here you will find all the information you need to begin your Procurement vehicle search, including information specifically for buyers and sellers. There is access to electronic acquisition tools as well as links to all pertinent federal rules and regulations; and there is specific information for those in Procurement/Contracting shops.

Choices, Choices, Choices
Then the investigative process begins. If I’m buying services does my agency have its own Multiple Award Contract (MAC) or IT IDIQ (Indefinite Quantity/Indefinite Delivery) contract, such as DHS EAGLE or Navy SeaPort?

If not what about using a GWAC (Governmentwide Acquisition Contract), such as GSA’s Alliant, NASA’s SEWP or NIH’s ECS?

If I am buying a commodity will the GSA Schedule do? Or will FirstSource if I’m in DHS or CHESS if I’m in the Army?

What if I need assistance to help me make this buy? Exactly how can someone like GSA’s Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) or Interior’s Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) provide the full spectrum of acquisition services I need?

End-To-End Service
An example of an organization that is helping make the vision real is Interior’s National Business Center’s Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD)

AQD director John Nyce told 1105 Government Information Group Custom Media that AQD is a full service organization for acquisitions. “That means we do everything from acquisition planning to picking the right kind of contracting vehicle, to executing the contract, then administering the contract with the support of the COTRs, the Contracting Officers Technical Representatives, up through and including closeout of the contract.”

Nyce said that AQD provides a highly skilled team that understands the complexities of the acquisition process. They bring a collective understanding of Federal Procurement policy.

“We work with customers to figure out what is the best acquisition vehicle to procure the products or services they need,” explained Nyce. “GWACs are just one of our many tools that we have available to buy the requirements of our clients in the most proficient and cost effective manner.”

Nyce said they are a big user of NASA SEWP IT hardware and software GWAC as well as NIH’s CIOSPIII GWAC. Plus he said “I think we were the only federal agency that was actually authorized to use the two DHS GWACs and they are called FirstSource and EAGLE, one is for services, and one is for products.”

Nyce said AQD uses GWACs as a means to make sure we buy using the appropriate vehicle when it’s appropriate; the same would be true for GSA Schedules or an agency IDIQ. “We would go directly to a vendor if the requirement calls for it.”

That’s customer service you can count on – and making the vision real.