Contract Writing System
Abstract
The Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) will be the Army's single, next-generation, enterprise-wide contract writing, management, execution, and close-out software system. ACWS will facilitate the standardization of Army Procurement business processes and streamline the integration with Army Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. As a financial feeder system, ACWS will meet the compliance requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996. The system will meet the full scope of Army contracting requirements, including those in secure and non-secure locations, those supporting combat or non-combat contingencies, those within or outside the borders of the Continental United States, those supporting grants and assistance agreements, and those performing weapons systems, construction, installation, and other specialized contracting activities. This is consistent with initial DoD guidance 21 October 2011, which directed the Services to develop a new contract writing system. Since awarding a contract to CGI Federal Inc. on 22 May 2017, the program completed risk reduction that aligned Army's business processes to the selected commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product, and reduced unnecessary requirements and interfaces. The program conducted a successful Baseline Authority to Proceed decision on 18 August 2018, and obtained the Army Acquisition Executive's approval to award initial development task order. ACWS is on track to deploy a Minimum Viable Solution (MVS) to two pilot units during FY 2020, and achieve Initial Operational Capability (IOC) NLT 4QFY2020. If the full capability is not fully deployed by the end of FY 2023, the Army will incur the full SPS bill ($14M+/ year). ACWS will also enable the decommission of the Procurement Automated Data and Document System (PADDS) and Virtual Contracting Enterprise (VCE) systems. ACWS was approved by The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD (A&S)) as one of the pilot programs supporting the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Section 873 Agile Pilots. The ACWS Agile 873 pilot Realignment Plan was approved 2QFY2019 and cites duration of the Program as five years through Full Deployment. As part of the Sec 873 activities ACWS is realigning and restructuring prior to Full Deployment that will include a contract structure that enables Agile best practices and incremental capability delivery to the field. ACWS, as Sec 873 Agile Pilot Program, will support OSD requirement to quickly identify lessons learned, reduce procedural delays, improve policy, and enhance workforce training. Sec 873 provides programs the opportunity to restructure in order to streamline contract and acquisition approaches and tear down barriers to agile development without penalty. The process allows the Army ability to analyze and prioritize requirements to enable deployable product on demand, the cadence and content of system documentation and programmatic reviews, and a transparent culture in a blended government-system integrator team as the program realigns to the Agile development methodology. ACWS participates in the 873 Community of Practice, sharing and utilizing lessons learned, shaping agile policy, processes, and tools for DoD. During FY 2020, ACWS will coordinate with the Navy's eProcurement System (ePS) team to identify and implement (where practical) additional areas for potential synergies and cost savings; the two team will continue implementing those plans during FY 2021. FY 2021 funding will support development and test of Full Deployment (FD) functions of ACWS. ACWS will continue/initiate development of capabilities including integration with the Logistics Modernization Program, important contracting functions to manage complex weapons procurements, and other key system interfaces and functionality. Business system interfaces will be developed with these key partners to complete system development. FY 2021 funding will support these key development efforts to meet the FD ATP in 2QFY2022.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2021
- Source ID
- FA7_0605047A_5_2040_PB_2021
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- Root: Contract Writing System
- Child Accomplishment: Program Office
- Child Accomplishment: Product Development
- Child Accomplishment: Security
- Child Accomplishment: Test & Evaluation
- Child Accomplishment: FY 2020 SBIR/STTR Transfer
- Child Cost Item: 7854234af3cb205e4d916cff1fb9179c
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