The Federal Acquisition Service and Internal Revenue Service are looking into modernizing their technical assets to modify and streamline their contracting processes, Federal News Network reported Monday.General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy noted at the 2018 ImagineNation ELC conference that she aims for FAS to rethink procurement operations as it simplifies its schedules program.
She added that technologies such as robotics process automation, machine learning and business process re-engineering will help contracting officers focus on procuring systems according to specific data and business needs.
FAS Commissioner Alan Thomas also disclosed at the conference that the service will leverage GSA’s CIO Application Maintenance, Enhancements, and Operations recompete effort to modernize contracting systems.
“Within six months, we will have the requirements for our new contracting writing system out to industry, and by the back half of 2019, we expect to begin delivering new capabilities,†he said.
Meanwhile, IRS has procured a robotics process automation system to review the financial and business transactions of contractors.
Tim Shaughnessy, a senior program analyst at the IRS, explained that the bot will be in charge of monitoring a vendor’s status on the System for Award Management or SAM.gov website and other platforms, as well as collect proposals from interested vendors.
IRS has also started testing a pilot program under Parts 12 and 13 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to help agencies speed up the review process for new systems procured through contracts worth less than $7M.
