U.S. General Services Administration
FAS R9 Drives Cutting-Edge Market Research Technology
GSA is using artificial intelligence (AI) software to assist our federal customers with market research. The technology has the power to generate billions of dollars of added value by helping federal agencies avoid manually sorting through hundreds of thousands of products in GSA catalogues and service offerings on its schedules.
"It's a free service that GSA provides to our customers to assist them in doing market research to simplify the acquisition process," said FAS R9 Deputy Regional Commissioner Bill Villarroel. "Market Research As a Service, or MRAS, uses behind-the-scenes robotics process automation (RPA) software to pull keywords from the description of their project requirements."
The software provides customers with data in three key areas - Rapid Review, Request for Information, and Product Market Research Tool. In a matter of hours, the software sorts through huge volumes of information, producing lists with the most closely matched information for customer's review. MRAS software also makes the market research available to GSA clients which includes all federal agencies.
In short, MRAS can sort through millions of products and identify, within 24 - 48 hours, the top GSA solutions. By putting this software at customer's fingertips, an individual or team avoids spending months or weeks manually sorting through data.
No stranger to modernization, GSA leads the way in applying new technology as a mission enhancer. The FAS R9 team, in-turn, brings those innovative capabilities to regional customers with its Customer Service Directors (CSDs) driving successes like MRAS.
As the agency-wide leaders in the national customer training for MRAS, the R9 team that includes Michele Tobin and Michelle Stansberry has been instrumental in the explosive growth of this pioneering technology across the federal government. GSA's MRAS capability has supported the needs of more than 390 customers with a lifetime value of $6.4 billion, with a figure north of $1 billion credited to R9 this fiscal year alone.
"This is game-changing, cutting-edge technology and GSA is the first to use it from an agency perspective," said Villarroel. "Customers have long desired ways in which to both simplify the market-research process that is often slow and filled with complex requirements. MRAS can gather the desired research on demand and in a fraction of the normal time required."
For upcoming training, please visit www.gsa.gov/events or contact your local Customer Service Director. For more detailed information on the program or to submit a request, please visit www.gsa.gov/MRAS.