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GSA expands the pilot for the purchase of blockchain
In December 2017, the General Administration of Services completed its proof of concept by applying blockchain technology to the FAStLane proposal review process for IT 70 contracts. Now GSA is looking to take those lessons learned and apply them to the whole Multi-program.
GSA is creating a blockchain-based software layer on the agency's existing infrastructure that aims to make the process of reviewing GSA's schedules transparent and automate financial reviews and processes, creating savings in fixed costs.
"We have decided to expand the pilot project to include the entire MAS program because we are always looking to improve the experience of customers and suppliers by making it easier to work with the Federal Acquisition Service," said Bill Zielinski, deputy commissioner. GSA's assistant for IT category management and responsible for the IT category at government level, he told GCN.
The financial information of suppliers will be analyzed through a "smart contract" that compares their financial ratios with the average of companies with the same NAICS code. This almost instantaneous process "will allow our contract agents to have faster access to this financial analysis to make the determinations of liability," said Zielinski. "We believe this will result in more comprehensive offers at the time of submission and a reduction in the total number of offers referring to a financial analyst."
GSA's work is based on a standardized review process for all the programs developed in the last two fiscal years. The agency estimates that the blockchain pilot will save a financial analyst from 10 to 15 days when it comes to reviewing each proposal.
Zielinski said that GSA sees the potential for the use of natural language processing as a microservice connected to the blockchain layer. The GNP could "read" the terms and conditions relating to goods and services purchased in the context of program contracts to conduct data analysis.
GSA is also incorporating the automation of the robotic process into the acquisition process to accelerate the collection of pre-trade information.
About the author
Sara Friedman is a journalist / producer of GCN, covering the cloud, computer security and a wide range of other public sector IT topics.
Prior to joining GCN, Friedman was a reporter for Gambling Compliance, covering state issues related to casinos, lotteries and fantastic sports. He also wrote for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily on state telecommunications and cloud computing. Friedman graduated from Ithaca College, where he studied journalism, politics and international communications.
Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow it on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.
Click here for Friedman's previous articles.
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