Interagency acquisition office offers cloud-based order monitoring

The assisted-acquisition organization inside the Interior Department wants to make life simpler for its customers to order and then track those orders.

The Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) launched the Electronic Servicing Environment (ESE) as a secure way for clients to monitor, in real-time, AQD’s handling of their projects, according to the business agency inside Interior’s National Business Center. AQD was formerly known as GovWorks.

With ESE, agencies can ask for support from AQD and then keep an eye on the status of their procurement projects at any time by using the Web-based management tool. ESE also features transparent business processes, electronic workflows and e-mail notifications to update customers. ESE also links customers to important forms, templates and status information, according to AQD.

John Nyce, AQD’s associate director, said his organization is using ESE to improve business processes and offer clients more benefits.

“This application provides AQD clients and our own staff with increased collaboration and transparency throughout the initial phase of an acquisition,” Nyce said.

ESE runs on the National Business Center's cloud computing infrastructure, which provides a highly efficient and high-performing computing platform, officials said.

AQD designed the new infrastructure to comply with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s 2008 interagency agreement guidance. Interagency contracting and assisted acquisition services, which allow one agency to conduct an acquisition for another agency, expanded quickly in recent years, and OFPP officials decided to issue guidance to help agencies reach successful agreements.

In the guidance, OFPP officials told both the agency seeking help with an acquisition and the agency that would actually handle the task to collaborate closely until the project was completed. The guidance also tells both agencies to keep a constant eye on the project.

“Surveillance should ensure that the government receives the value for which it contracted,” the document states.