Federal Acquisition Regulation; Electronic Commerce in Federal Procurement

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to further implement section 850 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998; and implement section 810 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. Section 850 calls for the use of cost-effective procedures and processes that employ electronic commerce in the conduct and administration of Federal procurement systems. This includes the designation in the FAR of a single point of universal electronic public access to Governmentwide procurement opportunities (the "Governmentwide Point of Entry" or "GPE"). Section 810 allows agencies to provide access to notices through the GPE, as designated in the FAR, instead of publishing them via the Commerce Business Daily (CBD). This rule designates Federal Business Opportunities ("FedBizOpps") as the GPE. Agencies have until October 1, 2001, to complete their transition to, or integration with, FedBizOpps. By that date, all agencies must use FedBizOpps to provide access to public notices of procurement actions over $25,000 that are currently required to be published in the CBD along with associated solicitations and amendments. In addition, agencies will not be required to provide notice in the CBD as of January 1, 2002, since access to this information will be provided on the Internet through FedBizOpps.