GSA opens access to contract data

Beginning Oct. 1, the General Services Administration will provide the public with free access to some federal contract information through the Federal Procurement Data System­Next Generation.

FPDS-NG data will be more up to date than was previously available. About half of reporting agencies will use a machine-to-machine interface to send data.

By Dec. 31, all fiscal 2004 contracting information is to be available through FPDS-NG, although access to some data may continue to be delayed by up to 90 days for security reasons.