Council issues online procurement rules

Agencies have less than five months to start posting their procurement notices on the FedBizOpps Web site, a federal purchasing council said Wednesday. On Oct. 1, FedBizOpps will become the single governmentwide venue for federal buyers and sellers to hawk their goods, services and other buying opportunities. On Wednesday, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council published an interim rule in the Federal Register that clarifies how agencies should use the site. Under the rule, all procurement notices currently published in the Commerce Business Daily must be posted on FedBizOpps, including announcements of subcontracting opportunities. The rule also requires agencies to post solicitations on the site. FedBizOpps will link notices with solicitations, giving vendors one-stop access to the key documents in the acquisition process. Agencies may use FedBizOpps to provide more complete information on their acquisition needs, enabling vendors to submit better bids. The rule also allows vendors to advertise subcontracting opportunities on FedBizOpps. FedBizOpps allows the FAR Council to gradually phase out notices in the Commerce Business Daily. Agencies are required to forward their acquisition opportunities to the Commerce Business Daily until Jan. 1, 2002, when FedBizOpps will become the sole mandatory site for listing notices. FedBizOpps will also:

• Create a searchable index of all procurement opportunities that can also be downloaded.
• Include an automatic e-mail notification feature that provides information about contracting opportunities for specific supplies, services or agencies.
• Link to the procurement marketing and access network (PRO-Net), a database used to increase small business awareness of government contracting opportunities.