Alan Chvotkin, an executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, has said PSC supports transparency and adoption of a phased-in approach in the federal government’s implementation of e-commerce portals for procurement processes.

Chvotkin joined industry representatives and General Services Administration officials at a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the program design, implementation and buying practices for the proposed commercial online platforms in compliance with a provision in the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, PSC said Thursday.

“There are great opportunities to fulfill a promise that many of us who have been engaged in this procurement process have hoped for for a long time: for the government to take maximum advantage of commercial off-the-shelf items and make them available to the federal marketplace,” he said.

Chvotkin also offered recommendations for the implementation of e-commerce platforms, such as the need to leverage commercial providers’ capabilities and transparency in quality and price.

PSC said it will submit comments on the proposed online marketplaces to GSA.

GSA will accept feedback through Jan. 16.

The Government Accountability Office has called on federal agencies to allow chief information officers to assess and approve information technology contracts in an effort to increase CIOs’ oversight of agencies’ planned IT acquisitions.

GAO said in a report published Wednesday 14 of the 22 assessed agencies failed to involve CIOs in the review and approval of IT procurement plans and strategies in compliance with the Office of Management and Budget’s implementation guidance for the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act.

GAO randomly selected 96 IT contracts awarded by 10 federal agencies in fiscal 2016 and found that only 11 of them were assessed and cleared by CIOs and that the remaining unevaluated contracts were worth approximately $23.8 billion.

Of the 22 assessed agencies, 14 of them failed to comply with OMB’s guidance to involve acquisition offices to help determine IT procurements that should undergo CIO reviews, according to the report.

The report also found that most of the 22 agencies that GAO assessed were not able to identify all of their IT procurement contracts.

GAO discovered approximately $4.5 billion worth of fiscal 2016 IT-related contracts in addition to $14.7 billion in IT contract obligations identified by selected agencies, according to the report.

The General Services Administration has conducted its first public meeting to discuss the use of e-commerce portals by federal agencies to buy products and services in compliance with a provision in the fiscal 2018 defense policy bill, FCW reported Tuesday.

GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said the e-commerce portal seeks to help federal agencies build up their procurement processes and increase sellers’ federal market presence.

Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner of the office of strategy management at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the agency intends to have an implementation plan in place for the portal by March.

Representatives from online retailers said that striking a balance between regulations and federal economic and social priorities such as set-aside programs for minority- and veteran-owned businesses would help the e-commerce platform generate interest from vendors and federal buyers.

Brock Lyle, associate general counsel at Overstock.com, noted that GSA should establish “basic requirements” to ensure security of vendors seeking to offer products and services on commercial online tools.