GSA has collaborated with the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) to make federal purchasing easier. Acquisition.gov and DAU created a new acquisition regulation comparator (ARC) to simplify regulations comparisons with the goal of ensuring greater interagency compatibility, collaboration, and shortening the acquisitions process timeframe.

The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) is the primary regulatory authority for the executive agencies, but other agencies maintain their own versions of acquisition regulations. Before ARC, it could take a long time to compare the regulatory requirements of 32 Federal entities. The acquisitions workforce would have to search each regulation individually and had to have multiple tabs open simultaneously to conduct the research. ARC allows the acquisition workforce to search multiple regulations with side-by-side panels that scroll by section.

For many years, GSA has looked for ways to encourage collaboration between agencies and centralize solutions.  The ARC is one part of GSA’s Strategic Plan.  GSA hopes that greater efficiencies in the Federal acquisition workforce would positively impact contractors by streamlining the acquisition process.  The goal is to achieve less redundancy or conflicting requirements for Federal contractors across agencies and decrease the time to conduct acquisitions.

Federal contractors and GSA schedule holders may not see an immediate impact. However, as new processes are implemented, we can hope that this gets everyone closer towards a faster and more efficient acquisition process. When government agencies increase efficiencies, and it takes everyone less time to gain awards, savings in costs can benefit both the contractors and agencies. Certainly, a good incentive for the acquisition workforce to utilize these tools.

For over 20 years, Coley GCS has provided support making it easier for government contractors to navigate the acquisition process. We take on the entire process to get a GSA Schedule contract. After GSA Schedule award, our consultants will train contractor’s teams on how to manage and market their new schedule.  For more insights on federal contracting and how Coley GCS can help you succeed in government contracting reach out directly by email at hello@coleygsa.com, by phone at 210-402-766 or schedule some time that is convenient for you.