The Office of Management and Budget has released new guidance for federal agencies to strengthen procurement forecasts.
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Priorities to Strengthen Procurement Forecasts
In a memorandum published Friday, OMB said agencies should improve forecast content quality by establishing a standardized set of data elements, improve timeliness of forecast information and enhance access to forecasts by making forecast data available through a centralized view.
According to OMB, a public crowdsourcing campaign carried out by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy has helped inform such priorities. OFPP worked with hundreds of small businesses and large companies to better understand the needs of vendors.
The document was signed by Christine Harada, senior adviser at OFPP who currently performs the duties of administrator for federal procurement policy.
Agency Responsibilities
Within three months of guidance’s release, agencies should designate a forecasting lead to serve as the primary point of contact for agency onboarding, compliance and resolution of forecast data issues as well as work with the General Services Administration’s Forecast of Contracting Opportunities team to schedule agency onboarding into the FCO tool.
By the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, agencies should update tools, policies and processes to capture the required core data elements of the management guidance.
They should establish the procedures and processes needed to gather and report forecasts on a quarterly basis by the end of the first quarter of FY 2026.
Agencies should also ensure forecasts are fully available on GSA’s FCO tool and take measures to ensure all data is consistent across existing tools by the end of the third quarter of FY 2026.
What Is the FCO Tool?
FCO is a forecasting platform hosted on AcquisitionGateway.gov. It enables potential offerors to evaluate forecast information from any federal agency that shares its information on the website.
To advance a centralized view of forecasting opportunities, agencies may choose to either use the FCO as their forecasting tool or use their own platform and upload their standardized forecasting information to the FCO.