1.1 Procurement Action & Workload Management (PAWM) Overview

The Procurement Action & Workload Management (PAWM) is a cloud-based application that helps contracting agencies and offices capture procurement actions and activities, and manages the workload for the agency, the office, and the individuals during the entire Acquisition lifecycle: process of planning, pre-award, post-award, award, contract administration, and closeout.

Dashboards and Reports: PAWM provides visibility, via dashboards and reports, to agency top management; Directors, Division/Department Chiefs, Contracting Officer (KO), Contracting Specialist (CS), Procurement Analysts, Small Business Specialists, Customers and Funding Offices. Management can monitor, assign, and effectively manage the workload and tasks to achieve the timelines of acquisition process. Management can monitor and track small business goal achievements. Management can monitor and track personnel required for each acquisition phase.

Planned Action Management: An agency can start a procurement activity by capturing planned actions, e.g., forecasts, 1-To-N list either by manually entering data or bulk import of data or by configuring system integration with external systems. Agency transition or move to a procurement action from a planned action after approval by authorized personnel.

Procurement Action Management: An agency can start a procurement activity by capturing procurement actions, e.g., pre-award, post-award action either by manually entering data or bulk import of data or by configuring system integration with external systems; or transitioning from a planned action or from post-award contract modification action. On completion of mandatory milestones and tasks, an agency can create an award approval request. Upon approval award information is recorded and contract placed under administration.

Award: For a procurement action PAWM allows awarding office and assigned personnel to capture contract and award details for the base contract and subsequent contract modification initiated from while contract is under administration. All base contracts awarded are automatically assigned for contract administration.

Contract Administration: The Awarding office can administer a contract post-award for the entire period of performance from the Base Period to all Option Periods. Contract modification can be initiated for each period of performance (PoP) which creates procurement actions. During this phase an office can terminate a contract and the contract transition for Closeout action.

Closeout Action Management: PAWM automatically assigns milestones for a closeout action based on the administering office’s pre-configured milestones for closeout action. Once all the milestones are completed the contract is closed and archived.

PAWM allows contracting agencies to work on procurement actions through a specific user role. Depending on the user role, they will have certain access and functions to input data. Overall, the access to create, edit, close, or hold a procurement action requires a user with the director role.

1.2 Describe the business need that the application solves.

PAWM application provides the agencies visibility to all procurement actions i.e. planning, pre-ward, award, contract administration and close out actions; determine numbers of actions for the agency or office or team or contracting officer or contracting specialist; determine number of personnel required by each procurement action type; distribute the workload across team or office or agency; assign action to contracting staff controlled by workflow driven notification and approval process; measure progress or performance against PALT for an individual or team or office or agency; visibility on at risk or stale actions to control and manage deliverables on time.

The acquisition process begins when the agency plans to procure either a service and/or product and how to procure them. Agencies post either a forecast or solicitation, interested vendors / companies prepare their offers in response to the solicitation, and, in accordance with applicable provisions of the agency. Following the deadline for companies to submit their offers, the agency personnel evaluate vendors’ submissions, and the agency awards a contract to one firm.

Although this process is simple in theory, any given Request for Quote or Procurement can be complex, involving a multitude of decisions and actions. Working efficiently is important for any business but getting snowed under is a too-familiar situation.

Currently contracting offices uses various plethora of tools from contracting writing system to billing system, without having visibility to workload for an individual, team, office, and agency.