Jaime Gracia, director of strategic enterprise programs at the State Department, has highlighted the importance of data analytics to streamline the department’s information technology procurement and contracting process, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.
Speaking at an ACT-IAC Federal Insights Exchange event, Gracia said that gathering data-driven insights will enable contracting officers to select the appropriate contract vehicles for procurement efforts and provide fair contracting opportunities to small, disadvantaged businesses.
According to Gracia, the State Department is looking to digitize its acquisition forecasts and modernize its procurement analytics data architecture to provide contractors with real-time updates on contracting opportunities.
The department is modernizing its contracting process ahead of a major IT services procurement effort.
Early in December, the State Department began seeking bids for a potential seven-year, $10 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to procure IT services from the commercial sector.
The Evolve contract seeks to provide services in areas of IT management, cloud and data center, application development, network and telecommunication, and customer and end user support.