GSA building cloud-based contract-writing service
The General Services Administration is building a cloud-based shared service to help federal agencies write contracts, the agency announced Tuesday.
Called the Contract Writing System-as-a-Service, the commercial off-the-shelf platform will “offer federal agencies a turnkey, comprehensive, contract writing and administration solution,” according to a GSA release. It should be up-and-running on GSA’s category management Acquisition Gateway sometime in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017.
“Offering [the Contract Writing System-as-a-Service] 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,” GSA Federal Acquisition Service Deputy Commissioner Kevin Youel Page said. “As a [Common Acquisition Platform] initiative, CWSS fits into a broader, strategic, government-wide ‘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 meant to guide agency contracting officers through the contracting process from the planning and requirements formulation until they make an award. Agencies can access it through an interagency agreement with GSA, who will provide the service through an already awarded agreement with Reston, Va.-based Distributed Solutions, Inc.
“CWSS will follow a workflow process methodology, providing real-time notifications of both work in progress and metrics as actions progress through lifecycle states, all while GSA handles security accreditation and ongoing operations and maintenance,” the release says.
GSA is ready to begin talking to agency partners who wish to buy a license under the program prior to its launch later in the fiscal year.
