DC API Meetup 6/18/2014: FBOpen
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This document discusses federal procurement and problems with the current system. It proposes creating a new open source system called FBOpen to make it easier for vendors, especially small businesses, to find opportunities and bid on federal contracts. FBOpen would index all opportunities, allow full-text searches across opportunities and attachments, and provide a lightweight API and web interface to access the data. The goals are to simplify the process and increase exposure for vendors.
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DC API Meetup 6/18/2014: FBOpen
- 1. fbopen iteration 0 Alison Rowland | alison.rowland@gsa.gov
- 2. Federal Procurement: Why Care? Source: USASpending.gov, totals are Grants + Contracts FY 2012 $1.05T 2013 $ 975B 2014 $ 580B (so far)
- 3. Problems in Procurement SoWs and SoOs are hard to write Opportunities are hard to find RFPs are hard to understand Bidding is onerous for vendors The selection process is onerous for KOs Awards can seem rigged against SMBs Registering to get paid is hard (SAM)
- 4. core competency > finding and winning bids Why should it be easier?
- 8. We can work with this.
- 9. 1. Index all the opportunities Solr, soon Elasticsearch 2. Download and index attachments 3. Thin API server Node.js/expressJS/api.data.gov 4. Lightweight web interface HTML/CSS/JS/Backbone fbopen pilot: design
- 10. bids.state.gov fbopen search server (Elasticsearch) fbopen API server (nodejs) api .data .gov fbopen web server ● SSL by default ● 100% open-source ● component architecture reused for 18f.gsa.gov, notalone.gov, future? 1 2 FedBizOpps data <obligatory tech architecture slide> grants.gov
- 14. API ?
- 15. wins ● simpler, faster search ● one-stop shopping ● more touchpoints, wider exposure ● reuse: architecture, code, design, ATO 18f.gsa.gov, notalone.gov, future ● feedback and learning
Editor's Notes
- Many aspects of federal procurement could be improved. Search and discovery is the problem we focused on when we started developing the idea of FBOpen.
- Basic market math: if opportunities are easier to find, we’ll get more bidders, which will lower cost, raise the quality bar, and bring more diversity to our contractor cohort. Right now, opportunities are difficult enough to find and win that we risk elevating the skill and effort involved in finding and winning them above the skill and effort involved in delivering great products and services to federal buyers.
- Problems: The current search mechanism has weaknesses. Results sometimes don’t match search terms; results aren’t sorted by relevance; and the search tool isn’t mobile-friendly.
- More problems: boilerplate, requirements are often hidden in attachments
- ALSO: Not all opportunities are listed in FedBizOpps. There are exceptions for opportunities < $25K, and not all types of opportunities, such as grants, are even on FBO in the first place.
- BUT WAIT! FedBizOpps data is available on an FTP site, dumped nightly as an XML doc!
- This is what an FBOpen API query and its returned results look like.
- (Slide 5 for FBO comparison-- “Germination Services” under a search for software development?) FBOpen benefits: * More relevant results, sorted by relevance * Mobile-friendly * Adds useful default filters (e.g., open listings only, excluding sole-source)
- FBOpen isn’t limited to FedBizOpps data. We also include grants.gov data, and soon we’ll be adding bids.state.gov data, military Small Business Innovation Research contracts, and other sources.
- FBOpen is already integrated with other sites: businessUSA.gov, the AFRL SMB Hub (in prototype), GSA’s mobile site. The FBOpen Widget Builder lets anyone add a dynamic FBOpen query to any web page by just copying and pasting a few lines of JavaScript.