Get To Know FedTeDS: Another Place to Register All federal agencies would begin distributing sensitive but unclassified contracting information through the Federal Technical Data Solution website, www.fedteds.gov, under a proposed rule issued Nov. 1 by the Federal Acquisition Regulation councils. FedTeDS is a secure site designed to control access to documents such as technical specifications, maps, building designs, schedules and the like that are not suitable for distribution through the publicly-accessible FedBizOpps site. Only companies that are registered in the Central Contractor Registration may gain access to FedTeDS. Acquisition officials say the departments of Defense and Homeland Security have been using the site for more than a year, and its use is spreading to other agencies. The FAR councils said agencies will still post their contracting opportunities on FedBizOpps, and will provide a link to FedTeDS for any sensitive, unclassified information. “As a freely accessible website, [FedBizOpps] is inappropriate for disseminating information that requires additional controls to monitor access and distribution,” the councils said in their Federal Register notice. Registered vendors can only see the contract information in FedTeDS by following the link from FedBizOpps, because there is no search capability within FedTeDS. For acquisitions that are exempt from posting in FedBizOpps, such as GSA schedule opportunities or purchases under $25,000, an agency can send specific vendors an e-mail with a direct link to the information in FedTeDS. This allows an agency to avoid sending large attachments through an unsecured e-mail system. FedTeDS was launched in February 2003 as part of the Integrated Acquisition Environment, which is one of President Bush’s E-Government initiatives. The proposed rule is FAR case 2004-007. Comments are due by Jan. 5.