leveraging online systems to streamline documentation

The government (and the taxpayer) could be best served if procurement officials modernize their processes for managing and tracking procurement data. Why ’reengineer paperwork’ when the trend is to go paperless? I get the point—I’m just being a bit whimsical. The meaning of the message really: How can we improve our processes, decisions, and trust if we don’t have a piece of paper validating what we are doing? There are already systems available to the government today that reduce the need for reengineering paperwork by putting a substantial amount of data on online systems. With the click of a mouse, the Government automatically gains transparency into the decisions contracting professionals are making and is able to share that information quickly and anywhere. Certain online processes also benefit buyers by giving them the ability to respond to real-time feedback from industry experts. A process that gives a variety of vendors an opportunity to provide immediate feedback on solicitations enables buyers to make ‘on the move’ decisions that improve the solicitation process, such as when specifications are outdated or inaccurate. This expedites the solicitation process tremendously by reducing the amount of time required to gain industry feedback, make corrections, source the items, and ultimately deliver to the end user.