The General Services Administration has on May 15 released the latest upgraded version of the Acquisition Planning Wizard (APW-3) to staff inside of GSA. To date over 5,500 plans worth over $5 billion have been created by some 2,000 GSA users. Usage of the APW will now gradually be extended to partners agencies that are using GSA Schedules for a variety of procurement needs. The APW supports the government-wide "Get It Right" campaign to ensure the best use of the GSA Schedules by guiding users, documenting the acquisition planning and interagency approval process.
The APW web application was designed, developed and implemented by Devis for the GSA Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO) to:
The application is intended to be used without requiring any "hands on" training and an on-line tutorial/review was also created by Devis (Note: the APW application is secure within GSA infrastructure and is not accessible to the public). The APW technology infrastructure relies entirely on open source software products including Linux/Red Hat, J2EE Application Server/JBoss, and PostgreSQL relational database, among others. Devis was awarded a 5 year contract in September 2005 to maintain and extend the APW for GSA.
"Complex tasks, in this case acquisition planning, can be simplified by tools like APW – tools that deliver up-to-date guidance and policy 'just in time' - as a natural part of the workflow process. Pre-training, whether on-line or in the classroom – sometimes called 'just in case' – cannot always be relied upon to ensure that appropriate staff have all the current information they need to 'get it right,' particularly for tasks that are performed only on an occasional basis. In addition, the APW supports the objectives of OMB Circular A-123 in regard to strengthening internal financial controls by recording the approval steps of the newly expanded Acquisition Workforce," said Devis Chief Technology Officer and APW architect, Martin Hudson.
About Development InfoStructure, Inc. (Devis)
Development InfoStructure, Inc. (Devis) was founded in 1992 to provide innovative, practical approaches to information management. Devis is a leading provider of IT Consulting services and solutions to Federal, State, and Local Governments as well as the international development community. Devis' standards-based, vendor-independent approach and active support of the open source community help maximize the return on clients' IT investments.
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