U.S. General Services Administration
GSA’s Common Acquisition Platform Program to Launch Contract Writing System-as-a-Service
New Cloud Solution Will Provide Agencies with Reduced Costs, Increasing Efficiency and Effectiveness
WASHINGTON, DC — The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Common Acquisition Platform (CAP) program will be launching a new cloud-based shared-service contract-writing system for federal agencies. The CAP Contract Writing System-as-a-Service (CWSS), a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) application anticipated to be available by Q3 FY17, will offer federal agencies a turnkey, comprehensive, contract writing and administration solution. This new service will reduce costs, and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the contract writing process while also offering an integration with financial Federal Shared Service Providers (FSSPs).
Federal agencies can gain access to the CWSS solution through interagency agreement with GSA, which will be responsible for service provision under already awarded agreement with Distributed Solutions, Inc. (DSI) of Reston, VA.
"Offering CWSS 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,” said FAS Deputy Commissioner Kevin Youel Page. "As a CAP 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."
CWSS will guide contracting and program offices through the contract process from planning and requisition creation to solicitation publishing, award, and closeout. 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.
Other benefits include:
- Tiered volume discounts available based on usage levels and enabled through the buying power of GSA.
- Established fee structure to configure, implement, and build associated interfaces around customized business process workflows and integrations with individual agency financial system(s).
- Firm-fixed-price software-as-a-service model, allowing “pay-as-you-go” for flexibility and scalability.
- Facilitates compatibility with financial management guidelines, integration with Integrated Award Environment systems, and will support compliance with emerging federal procurement data standards.
GSA is now ready to begin the conversation with federal agencies interested in purchasing licenses in preparation for CWSS rollout later in FY17. To sign up to receive CWSS updates, please enter your email here (link is no longer valid). For more information on CAP and CWSS, please visit interact.gsa.gov/ or the CWSS webpage.
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