beta.SAM.gov | The Contracting Education Academy

February 14, 2020 By cs

Federal contracting community shreds FBO replacement site in letter to GSA

“If this had the same notoriety as Healthcare.gov, people would have been fired.”

The transition of the federal contracting opportunities website from Federal Business Opportunities, better known as FedBizOpps or FBO, to the Contracting Opportunities page of beta.SAM.gov caused concern ahead of the migration and frustration after the move. Three months after the transition finished, the government contracting community’s anger has yet to be assuaged.

Last week, the Professional Services Council — an industry group representing 400 federal contractors — sent a letter to the General Services Administration detailing its members’ concerns and asking for immediate action.

“It was … with consternation and concern that PSC watched the dissolution of GSA’s FedBizOps portal and the difficult transition to beta.Sam.gov as its replacement,” PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel Alan Chvotkin wrote in the letter to Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne. “Regrettably, initial ‘bumps in the road’ have continued beyond the functionality that GSA announced would not be carried over from the old system, and our members asked that we bring their views to your attention.”

PSC members decried the new site, with many telling GSA they would prefer to see the old FBO site recommissioned.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/02/federal-contracting-community-shreds-fbo-replacement-site-letter-gsa/163076/

See our earlier articles on this subject at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/?s=beta

See GSA memo regarding transition of FBO.gov to beta.sam.gov at: FBO Has Transitioned to Beta 2

Hints for using the new Contract Opportunities function in beta.SAM.gov are here: https://interact.gsa.gov/blog/helpful-hints-new-contract-opportunities-function-betasamgov-how-use-search-filters

February 13, 2020 By cs

Procurement reporting tool is moving to SAM, but FPDS.gov isn’t going anywhere

GSA is moving the central reporting function of the Federal Procurement Data System to beta.SAM while Treasury works to improve the quality of data reported through the site.

As the General Services Administration continues to develop a one-stop website for all federal contracting at beta.SAM.gov, the main reporting functions of the Federal Procurement Data System, or FPDS, will be added to the site in March. However, the current FPDS website, fpds.gov, isn’t going anywhere any time soon and is slated for an upgrade.

Several procurement websites and apps have already been migrated to beta.SAM.gov, including Wage Determination Online, or WDOL, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, or CFDA, and the government’s main contract opportunities site Federal Business Opportunities, better known as FedBizOpps or FBO.

FPDS is next on deck, with the four main reporting functions—administrative, static, standard and ad hoc—prepped to migrate to SAM by March 16. But for the time being, fpds.gov will remain.

“All other functions—search, agency contract award data entry, data extracts—will remain at fpds.gov as the site is not retiring at this time,” a GSA spokesperson told Nextgov.

That said, users will no longer be able to run any reports on fpds.gov.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/02/procurement-reporting-tool-moving-sam-fpdsgov-isnt-going-anywhere/162904/

February 10, 2020 By cs

GSA is hiring a contractor team to work on Login.gov

The single sign-on platform needs improved security, scalability and availability as the program pushes for broader use across government.

Since 2017, the team at 18F — part of the Technology Transformation Service in the General Services Administration — has offered a single sign-on platform available to all agencies: Login.gov. As the platform gains wider use through the federal government, TTS is looking for a team of contractors to support continued development and improve the user experience with the site.

Login.gov was launched in 2017 to function as a single credentialing portal for citizens and other users interacting with the government through agencies’ websites and apps. Rather than require users to create unique log-ins for every service, Login.gov would allow people to create a single account that could be reused infinitely across the federal government.

To date, the platform is used by 17 agencies for more than 60 apps, according to figures on the Login.gov site.

As GSA looks to spread the use of Login.gov throughout the public sector, TTS released a request for information to inform the creation of a new support and development contract. The RFI for the Engineering Support Services contract posted to eBuy included a statement of need, provided to Nextgov by market intelligence firm The Pulse of GovCon.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/02/gsa-hiring-contractor-team-work-logingov/162874/

February 3, 2020 By cs

GSA’s procurement database is heading to a new home

The General Service Administration’s procurement database will be migrating to the agency’s new contracting website by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2020, according to a GSA news release.

The Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which collects and reports procurement data from federal agencies, will be transitioned over to the new beta.SAM.gov website, the new GSA site that lists federal contracts and other contract data.

The migration is part of a larger GSA effort to consolidate its legacy websites to a single site.

The FPDS site serves several purposes for contractors and researchers. On the site, users can research procurement data, validate procurement vehicles and modify transactions.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/2020/01/24/gsas-procurement-database-is-heading-to-a-new-home/

See fact sheet on transition here: FPDS Reports Are Transitioning – Fact Sheet – 01.2020

January 3, 2020 By cs

A busy 2020 for GSA

During the first three months of the New Year, the General Services Administration will have its hands full as some of its most ambitious projects move ahead.

In the first quarter of the 2020 calendar year, the agency is slated to test a small conceptual version of its Amazon-like e-commerce portal, push out solicitations to vendors about its buying schedule awards consolidation and begin throttling continued agency customer use of its old telecommunications contracts in favor of its next-generation vehicle.

It will also continue to get control of a bumpy transition from the FedBizOpps contract information site to the new beta.SAM.gov. portal.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/12/20/gsa-busy-first-quarter-rockwell.aspx

“If this had the same notoriety as Healthcare.gov, people would have been fired.”

GSA is moving the central reporting function of the Federal Procurement Data System to beta.SAM while Treasury works to improve the quality of data reported through the site.

The single sign-on platform needs improved security, scalability and availability as the program pushes for broader use across government.

The General Service Administration’s procurement database will be migrating to the agency’s new contracting website by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2020, according to a GSA news release.

During the first three months of the New Year, the General Services Administration will have its hands full as some of its most ambitious projects move ahead.

Search this Website