White House, GSA move to streamline procurement process with new data tool

A new procurement tool launched by the White House and the General Services Administration will streamline market research for federal agencies and act as a “complement” to the current request for information process, an Office of Federal Procurement Policy official said in an interview Thursday.

The Procurement Co-Pilot tool, an online platform for federal use unveiled last week, uses publicly available government data from platforms such as SAM.gov and the GSA’s Transactional Data Reporting program, providing a web application that supports “robust pricing and contract research” for acquisition professionals and program managers, OFPP senior advisor Christine Harada told FedScoop. 

Harada said OFPP, which is housed within the Office of Management and Budget, envisions the new tool dovetailing with the existing RFI process that agencies currently use within the Federal Register. That process, she said, is a “tried and true” — albeit slower — method, but still helpful to agencies looking to “broaden the net as much as possible.”

The new tool “is not intended to replace” the old process, but is “actually meant to complement and supplement RFIs,” Harada said.

“Obviously, this has a lot of tremendous benefits for the federal contracting community, because it puts all of this information truly at our fingertips and we can find it now in real time,” she added. “But I think there’s also a really great benefit for companies as well.”

The OFPP’s product launch follows the Strategic Management of Acquisition Data and Information letter, or Circular A-137, that OMB released in May. The circular called for the establishment of a “centralized data management policy framework” to encourage data sharing between agencies, a “Hi-Def Environment (HDE)” for users to access data, and tools and resources for decision-making involving acquisition specifically.

Kristen Wilson, a strategic acquisition data management lead within OFPP, said in an interview with FedScoop that the office intends to engage with agencies’ chief data officers, chief information officers and chief acquisition officers to develop and implement a comprehensive data governance plan. 

“We’re not telling agency CDOs what to do in their data strategy within their agencies,” Wilson said. “We’re specifically just addressing how data gets shared into the [HDE] — and this is a governmentwide effort versus an agency-specific effort.”

In the circular, OMB highlighted critical data modernization efforts in progress, such as The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, often referred to as the Evidence Act. OMB maintains that there remains a need for enabling accessible data across the entire government. 

GSA did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.