Upgrade of Procurement Data Systems Is Set to Begin GSA plans to award a contract this month to begin an ambitious overhaul of the government’s much-maligned procurement databases. The contractor will begin consolidating eight databases into a single Integrated Acquisition Environment. The project has been underway since 2001 and the contract award has already been delayed at least once. Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra promised “game-changing technologies.” “It’s a once-in-a-decade opportunity to get this right once and for all,” he testified at a Sept. 29 hearing of the contracting oversight subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. But federal technology specialists say the project faces considerable risk. “There is no one in charge—or maybe the problem is that everybody is in charge,” said Adam Hughes of the watchdog group OMB Watch. The government’s procurement databases include FedBizOpps, the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, the Past Performance Information and Retrieval System and the Excluded Parties List System, among others. Hughes described them as antiquated and unreliable. Each of the eight systems was developed independently, using different software and hardware platforms. They are operated by different contractors. The Federal Procurement Data System, which contains official records of contracts awarded, is “the backbone” of the group of systems, said William Woods, who follows acquisition issues for the Government Accountability Office. But FPDS has long been criticized for inaccuracies, including many instances where large businesses were listed as small. “The system is not reliable,” Woods testified. “The system is better now than it used to be, but it is still not where it needs to be.” The Past Performance Information and Retrieval System is supposed to be the source for contracting officers to check a company’s performance history. But Woods said less than one-third of all contracts have been entered into PPIRS. The Excluded Parties List System is the official source of information about companies that have been suspended or debarred from federal contracting. Woods said excluded companies are still receiving new contracts, in part because the EPSL search engine is poor. For example, a contracting officer looking for “XYZ, Inc.” must include the comma or else the company will not show up in a search, he said. Kundra said the goal of the Integrated Acquisition Environment is to improve data quality, transparency and usability. He acknowledged, “History is littered with massive failures of technology projects in the federal government.” But industry groups cautioned that the Obama administration’s push for transparency could lead to disclosure of proprietary information. “The prime fear in the minds of the contracting community about further development of government contractor databases is that information regarding the products or services companies may offer and how companies bring those products and services to market will be made public and that publication will cause them irreparable harm,” said Trey Hodgkins, vice president of the IT trade association TechAmerica. As to who is in charge, Kundra said the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy “is driving the policy and strategy,” while GSA will award the contracts and operate the new system. But neither OFPP nor GSA has a permanent director, although individuals have been nominated. Kundra said end users will be consulted through an interagency “change board” that will track the project’s progress. “If you accomplish what you say you are going to accomplish, it will be a great day,” said subcommittee chair Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.