The General Service Administration’s procurement database will be migrating to the agency’s new contracting website by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2020, according to a GSA news release.
The Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation (FPDS-NG) reports function, which collects and reports procurement data from federal agencies, will be transitioned over to the new beta.SAM.gov website, the new GSA site that lists federal contracts and other contract data.
The migration is part of a larger GSA effort to consolidate its legacy websites to a single site.
The FPDS site serves several purposes for contractors and researchers. On the site, users can research procurement data, validate procurement vehicles and modify transactions.
FDPS is used “heavily,” the GSA release said, for running procurement reports. With the transition over to the new site, users need to take action to ensure they are prepared for the move, the release said.
“We recommend at this time that you review your current saved FPDS reports and note attributes and filters for reference in case you need to recreate a report using the new ad hoc tool in beta.SAM.gov when it becomes available,” the notification from GSA said.
However, “those who use FPDS to run administrative, standard, or static reports are not required to take any action at this time or prior to the transition,” GSA officials wrote.
Users’ saved ad hoc reports will be moved over to beta.SAM.gov if they are created and run at least once before Jan. 31, 2020. Any created after won’t be converted.
“This conversion process will take place only once,” GSA officials wrote. “We expect the process to convert roughly 75 percent of the existing ad hoc reports. But there may be up to 25 percent that do not convert.”
Administrative, standard and static reports will continue to operate the same as they do now. Ad hoc reports will work with a new tool called “MicroStrategy” that comes with several improvements:
- Maximum number of rows will increase from 30,000 to 150,000
- Maximum number of years will increase from 5 to 12
- More data fields will be available
- A “wizard” to help with ad hoc requests
- Easier sharing capabilities with others’ ad hoc reports
Update: This story was updated to clarify that only the FPDS site’s report function is moving to beta.sam.gov.
Andrew Eversden covers all things defense technology for C4ISRNET. He previously reported on federal IT and cybersecurity for Federal Times and Fifth Domain, and worked as a congressional reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. He was also a Washington intern for the Durango Herald. Andrew is a graduate of American University.
