The Internal Revenue Service plans to launch an automation tool to help contracting officers reduce the time spent on a vendor compliance procedure from hours to minutes, Nextgov reported Monday. The IRS started a pilot test of a bot to help contracting officers speed up a compliance process – contractor responsibility determination – that screens vendors for red flags such as business prohibitions and past bankruptcies.
Harrison Smith, chief procurement officer at IRS, said officers could perform the procedure per contract within two minutes using the new system, freeing up more time to spend on negotiating deals and establishing partnerships with vendors. The report said the bot uses a contractor’s DUNS number to automatically scan public databases and create a report about the company within minutes.
The IRS plans to introduce the new system to 308 contracting officers by June, the report added.
