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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release June 21, 1995

     VICE PRESIDENT PUTS FEDERAL PURCHASING REFORM EFFORTS ON-LINE
                New Electronic Service Will Help Lower
                   Small Business Competition Costs

Vice President Gore and Dr. Steven Kelman, Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, today unveiled a new on-line computer service dedicated to lowering the cost of doing business with the government through simplifying exchange of acquisition information.

Announcement of the Acquisition Reform Network was made as part of a conference on acquisition reform sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government and Government Executive Magazine. The Acquisition Reform Network, on display throughout the June 21 and 22 conference, was developed by the Vice President's National Performance Review in cooperation with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the General Services Administration, and the Council for Excellence in Government. It will provide a suite of services designed to advance innovations which were developed as part of the administration's reinventing government initiative.

According to Vice President Gore: "Purchasing inefficiencies affect every government worker and by extension every American. Procurement is rarely considered glamorous work, but in an era of increased privatization, it has emerged as a key link in the chain of events from law and policy development to positive impact on the citizen. Without breakthrough reform in this area the entire reinvention movement is restrained."

The Acquisition Reform Network will use the World Wide Web, accessible via the Internet (http://www-far.npr.gov). Aside from on-line colloquia and general conferencing, the network will feature an innovative collaborative workspace which will allow teams of workers from all over the country and in various positions within the bureaucracy to work to solve common problems. A unique feature will be the presence of private sector program managers who will be encouraged to interact with their public sector counterparts in joint problem solving exercises.

Other features of the network will be a reference library of acquisition policy documents, the Federal Acquisition Regulations and their subsidiary regulations, desktop training on demand developed by the Federal Acquisition Institute, a database of promising practices that have emerged through the reinventing government process, and a consolidated entry point for all government purchasing Internet sites.