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FedBizOpps Will Be Gone Before the End of the Year

By Aaron Boyd 

8/14/2019

The Federal Business Opportunities, orFedBizOpps, website will be shutting down before the end of 2019, as the comprehensive database of government contracting opportunities moves to a new location.

Ten acquisition-focused websites managed by the General Services Administration will be merged together underthe new SAM.gov. Those sites include FedBizOpps, as well as the current System for Award Management, or SAM; the Federal Procurement Data System, FPDS; the grants site Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, CFDA; Wage Determinations Online, WDOL; Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System, eSRS; the past performance databases, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, FAPIIS; Contractor Performance Assessment Reports System, CPARS; and Past Performance Information Retrieval System, PPIRS; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, FFATA.

“Once the modernization is complete, we will have one homepage with a single sign-on, one powerful search tool, one robust reporting tool and one workspace where users can access the information and tools they need to make, receive and manage federal awards,” according to the new SAM.gov, which is currently in beta.

Two sites have already made the jump: CFDA and WDOL. The PPIRS site was decommissioned, as its functionality is covered by CPARS.

FedBizOpps is scheduled to make the migration in the first quarter of fiscal 2020—or before the end of the calendar year—along with FPDS and remaining capabilities under the old SAM.gov. Once on the new SAM.gov, the FedBizOpps name will go away, replaced by a section of the site titled “Contract Opportunities.”

FedBizOpps users will have to create new accounts on the new site before the transition. Federal employees can use their FedBizOpps credentials to create a new accounts through Login.gov, which should automatically transfer all of their roles and access, according to GSA.

All users will have to create or use an existing account through Login.gov.

While the roles should transfer over automatically, they will have new names under the new system. Permissions for “engineers” and “limited buyers” under FedBizOpps will both fall under “contract specialist” in the new SAM.gov. Similarly, “buyer” will be renamed “contracting officer” and “agency admin” will change to “administrator.”

The new site will have the same capabilities as the current FedBizOpps, though some will be under different names, as well. For example, the “watchlist” option for tracking solicitations will be renamed “follow;” “search agent” will be called “saved search;” and “archived” opportunities will now be labeled “inactive.”

There will also be some new capabilities, according to a fact sheet, including:

• The ability to search for opportunities by number, keyword or location for more precise results, including easy-to-use search filters.
• Easy-to-read headers that will allow you to reference key information quickly.
• The option to access previous versions of opportunity notices with one click.
• The ability to set up notices with a simple click that will notify you when frequently used
• contract opportunities are updated.
• The ability to manage alerts easily through a new user workspace—frequency, turn on/off.
• A user-friendly design with logical navigation and industry best practicesembedded.
• Shared login, search, workspace, data services, reports and a design that will allow you to leverage other Integrated Award Environment system data easily.

The link to this article can be found at https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/08/fedbizopps-will-be-gone-end-year/159172/

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