To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a circular today that aims to drive a new acquisition data management strategy to improve the contracting process for Federal agencies.
The circular, entitled “Strategic Management of Acquisition Data and Information,” is meant to improve agency access to reliable government-wide acquisition data and information by helping to eliminate duplicate data, tools, and efforts.
“I am excited about it [because it] makes our Federal data a government asset. It’s not an agency asset, it’s a government asset that we can use on behalf of the entire enterprise that agencies must share as part of that enterprise,” OMB Deputy Director for Management Jason Miller told reporters today.
“It’s just a huge step in us unlocking the business intelligence that allows those 40,000 contracting officials to operate smarter [and] better – both on delivering on mission and addressing costs and requirements in ways that result in better outcomes,” Miller added.
The OFPP is tasked with managing the circular, and through it will establish a centralized data management policy framework – known as the High-Definition (HiDef) Framework. This framework will “ensure datasets and data products are prioritized, managed, consumed, and secured appropriately,” according to a White House fact sheet on the circular.
OMB released the circular as part of the Biden administration’s Better Contracting Initiative, which it unveiled last November. The initiative looks to ensure the Federal government is getting better deals when purchasing goods and services, and the White House expects it will generate over $10 billion annually in savings and cost avoidance.
OMB issued the first draft of the circular on Nov. 17 of last year, and closed comments on the draft in January. Today’s final draft was informed by several “thoughtful” comments from the acquisition community, according to Christine Harada, a senior advisor in OFPP.
Harada told reporters that OMB has been working with the acquisition workforce and the chief information officer (CIO) teams across Federal agencies for the last two years, so today’s circular “should not be a surprise to the acquisition workforce.”
She said the circular even contains “a prioritized list based on agency feedback” on where agencies should begin and how to use the data.
Nevertheless, Harada said OMB will be working with Federal agencies on its rollout and implementation guidance will be “forthcoming.”
Additionally, Harada said OMB has developed the Procurement Co-Pilot, which is a tool for contracting officials “that kind of demonstrates the value and the power of having such an enterprise-wide access.”
“Fundamentally, when you play around with it, you can see it’s great,” Harada said of the tool. “[There’s] all sorts of data at your fingertips: Who are the biggest buyers? Where can I buy this particular product? What are the contract vehicles that’s accessible on? When is that particular contract vehicle coming up for expiration so that I can do that kind of acquisition planning? So, it’s a really cool tool.”
The pilot is only available for Federal employees at the moment, according to Harada.
She also noted that while the circular and pilot do not specifically address AI, OMB is currently working on separate AI procurement guidance with the OMB Federal CIO team. That coming guidance is a directive under President Biden’s AI executive order.
“We just closed the public comment period on that, we received over 500 pages worth of comments that my team is currently combing through,” Harada said. “So, that’ll be coming out later this summer/fall timeframe.”
