C_System Design Document.docx

eCMS System Design Document

May 2026 Version 2026.1.E This document includes information that shall not shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than its intended purpose. This restriction does not limit the Government’s right to use information contained in this document if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The information subject to this restriction is contained in sheets herein.

Enterprise Acquisition Systems (EAS) Service

Document Change Control

Version Control Signature

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Date

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1: EAS System Architecture View Depicted in 4 + 1 Model 14 i eCMS System Design Document Version 2026.1.E Scope Electronic Contract Management System (eCMS) platform components, which include:

A. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications:

1. Automated Acquisition Management System (AAMS)

2. MicroStrategy/PowerBI Business Intelligence (BI) B. eCMS Government off-the-shelf (GOTS) applications, which include:

1. Acquisition Service Bus (ASB)

2. Enterprise Acquisition Systems Administration (EAS Admin)

3. Enterprise Business Systems Administration (EBS Admin)

4. Enterprise Business Systems Profile (EBS Profile)

5. Electronic Contracting Officer Representative (eCOR)

6. Electronic Vendor Portal (eVP)

7. Forecast of Opportunities and Requirements Center for Excellence (FORCE)

8. Ordering Officer Delegation (OOD)

9. Enterprise Procurement Integrated Controls (EPIC)

10. Acquisition Task Order Management System (ATOMS)

11. NAC Contract Catalog Search Tool (NAC CCST)

12. Vendor Web Service

13. Enterprise Business Systems (EBS) TimerJob

14. EPIC Web Service

15. SwaggerUI

16. JobScheduler

17. DBMigrator

18. Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) Windows Service

19. Suspension and Debarment (S&D) Supportive Technologies utilized by EASS, which include:

20. Azure DevOps

21. Azure Cloud File Share Storage

22. SharePoint

a. Warrant Management System (WMS)

23. SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

24. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

25. PowerBI Reporting Services C. Interfaces External to VA

1. General Services Administration (GSA)

a. e-Buy

b. Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG)

c. Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA)

d. System for Award Management (SAM)

e. Contract Opportunities

f. Central Contractor Registration (CCR)

g. Entity Information (formerly Excluded Parties List System [EPLS]) D. Interfaces Internal to VA

1. Centralized Administrative Accounting Transaction System (CAATS)

2. Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP)

3. Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS)

4. Budget Tracking Tool (BTT)

5. Integrated Personal Pay System (IPPS)

6. Identity and Access Management Onboarding (IAM)

7. National Acquisition Center Contract Management (NAC CM)

8. National Acquisition Center (NAC) High Tech Medical Equipment (HTME) Strategic Equipment Planning Guide (SEPG)/Electronic Equipment Request (EER)

9. Supply Chain Master Catalog (SCMC)

10. Active Directory/EntraID

11. Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS)

12. Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM)

a. Office of Capital Asset Management Engineering and Support (OCAMES)

13. OAEM’s Capital Asset Inventory (CAI)

Enterprise Acquisition Systems Service Applications eCMS Applications Overview Automated Acquisition Management System (AAMS) AAMS is a Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) application that has the functionality to allocate line items to accounting strings. It serves as the repository for all acquisition files by VAAM/Policy. It provides document generation and integrations to internal and external systems to capture all acquisition actions, reduce cycle time, provide oversight, and stay in compliance with federal acquisition mandates.

· OIG

· License ceiling: 5,000 users

MicroStrategy/PowerBI Business Intelligence (BI) Solutions MicroStrategy and PowerBI are Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) enterprise reporting tools that supports ad hoc query and automated report generation/distribution pertaining to Acquisition data.

· Subscription of a report requires no license

Acquisition Service Bus (ASB) The ASB is an HTTPS-based API (“Web API”) that acts as the central communications hub for eCMS applications and manages data transfer across all eCMS applications in a scalable and uniform manner. ASB utilizes TLS v1.3 for the security protocol to encrypt data in transit with application authentication handled within the application calling the route (e.g., when accessing the ASB from the FORCE application the FORCE login credentials are used). Through a collection of HTTPS endpoints (“routes”), the ASB creates a standardized and reusable communication system to connect EAS applications and replaces ad hoc application-to-application calls. Data transfer is normalized by the passing of messages from one system to another through the ASB connectors so that messages are translated into the required format for each respective application. A common set of error messages is provided to all applications. The ASB also provides access to critical interfaces with the Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE).

Enterprise Acquisition Systems Administration (EAS Admin) EAS Admin provides access controls for FORCE and EPIC including user requests, site changes/updates, Helpdesk functionality, and system configurations and settings management.

All VA acquisition users will be impacted by EAS Admin either through being a direct user in the application or by having their access(es) created, activated, edited, and/or deactivated via EAS Admin.

· eCMS Support Staff

Enterprise Business Systems Administration (EBS Admin) EBS Admin enables system administrators to hold elevated access to:

1. Manage user profiles in EBS Profile Manage all drop-down values used by the EBS Profile, OOD, and eCOR File modules Manage Auditor access to OOD and eCOR File modules

EBS Admin is intended to be encompassed within the EAS Admin tool in a later phase.

Enterprise Business Systems Profile (EBS Profile) EBS Profile is the landing page where users may edit and update personal information. It also provides a snapshot view of pending assignments and tasks in regard to the Ordering Officer and eCOR File modules.

Electronic Contracting Officer Representative (eCOR) The eCOR File module is a tool for Contracting Office Representatives (CORs), Contracting Officers (COs), and Contracting Specialists (CSs) to collaborate and share their common post-award contract administration artifacts. This tool enables CORs to perform contract management activities in a structured way following the existing policies and guidelines. eCOR currently integrates with the contract writing system AAMS.

· eCMS Support Staff Program Office (CORs, Technical Representatives)

Electronic Vendor Portal (eVP) The eVP is an external tool utilized by vendors wanting to do business with VA. Vendors can post responses to solicitations, RFIs, and RFQs.

Forecast of Opportunities and Requirements Center for Excellence (FORCE) FORCE, implemented in 2017, is an innovative interface tool that serves as the Planning phase of the Acquisition Lifecycle.

This tool allows Program Office and Acquisition Users (i.e., Contract Office Users) to submit requirement packages while providing collaboration capability with the contract writing system.

· Acquisition

Ordering Officer Delegation (OOD) Head Contracting Authorities (HCAs) may authorize the use of Ordering Officers (OOs) to order supplies and services in accordance with the ordering limits identified in the contract or agreement.

The Ordering Officer Module allows for the Office of Acquisition and Logistics (OAL) to capture relevant contract information, while managing the process of identifying, nominating, and appointing OOs to specific contracts. After appointing an OO to a contract, the system will then be used to manage the OO’s Appointment status and summarize the OO’s submitted orders on a monthly basis.

· Acquisition community

Enterprise Procurement Integrated Controls (EPIC) EPIC is a multi-purpose application that handles solicitation management , and serves as the administration and role-management component, with some functionality of this application being replaced with EAS Admin. It includes EpicWebService, which provides interfaces to external applications.

Acquisition Task Order Management System (ATOMS) The ATOMS module (part of Virtual Office of Acquisition [VOA]) is a dual web-based application for both internal (CORs) and external (Vendors) users that provides full vendor-to-government communications under any multiple award IDIQ or IDIQ-type contracts. This module is primarily used for its Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) feature, enabling CORs to evaluate vendors and submit performance assessments post-award.

· Program Office (CORs, Technical Representatives)

· Vendors

NAC Contract Catalog Search Tool (NAC CCST) The National Acquisition Center (NAC) CCST is a comprehensive online listing of active, nation-wide, healthcare-related contract vehicles, and over 1 million catalog line items pertaining to VA.

The CCST is updated daily and is open to VA, government agencies, contractors, and the public. Users navigating to the eCMS Search tool within the CCST can browse all contracts that are awarded under NAC ordering vehicles, including BOA, BPA, FSS, GWAC, HCR-BOA, HCR-BPA, HCR-FSS-BPA, HCR-IDC-CONTRACT, and IDC-CON. Contracts that can be found using the Pharmaceutical and MedSurg catalogs are excluded from the results. Users can locate contract sources, including contract information, pricing, ordering information, and socioeconomic status by searching the contract title, itemized line description, contract number, contractor, or contract action type.

The CCST data and web application were migrated from the NAC environment to the eCMS portfolio in 2016.

Vendor Web Service Background application that is used to facilitate transfer of vendor information as a service between applications such as EPIC, eVP, and AAMS.

Electronic Business Systems (EBS) TimerJob Windows tasks that run on a scheduled basis. These tasks are run to populate either database or file share documentation for use by applications such as eCOR and OOD.

EPIC Web Service Background application that is used to facilitate transfer of information as a service between applications such as EPIC and AAMS.

SwaggerUI SwaggerUI is a web application provided by EAS to document and provide raw access to the ASB Application Programming Interface (API) endpoints that a given application account has access to. It allows for submitting the inputs of an API and viewing the outputs. It also displays metadata on the input and output fields and describes the purpose of each API endpoint.

Each application (e.g., FORCE) that interfaces with ASB is given an account and access to relevant endpoints. Developers and testers of that application are the typical users of SwaggerUI.

JobScheduler JobScheduler is an application that is configured to access ASB endpoints on a defined schedule, used for regular maintenance tasks within eCMS. It runs as a Windows Service and runs tasks based on a set of configuration files.

DBMigrator DBMigrator is a Windows application run ad hoc to execute database scripts for code releases.

Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) Windows Service This service is designed and maintained by Distributed Solutions, Incorporated. Integration Services is designed to receive and translate the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, and Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) Health-Level 7 (HL7)-based message Purchase Request and parses the HL7 message by extracting the different segments and fields into the database. Then the IFCAP Webservices is called to transmit the information into AAMS to create the Purchase Request.

Suspension and Debarment (S&D) Deployed as a Microsoft Azure App Service is a fully managed platform as a service(PaaS). The office of Risk Management and Compliance Service (RMCS) utilizes the Suspension and Debarment (SD) tool as an Automated version of the current Debarment and Suspension (D&S) process. This tool provides a more collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, coordination, and evaluation for the acquisition business in order to meet internal and external reporting & auditing needs.

· Acquisition community

Supportive Technologies These applications and tools are essential for the operation and maintenance of eCMS but are not primary applications accessed by the general userbase.

Azure DevOps Azure DevOps is a hosted service, used for project tracking, task management, and communication about work items. It is also used as the primary change management tool and code repository for tracking code promotion through the various lower environments.

Azure Cloud File Share Storage Azure Cloud Storage is a fully managed file share service in Microsoft Azure that offers serverless enterprise-grade cloud file shares accessible via the SMB and NFS protocols. It allows for easy migration of Windows file servers to the cloud and provides comprehensive security and compliance features.

SharePoint SharePoint is a collection of enterprise content management and knowledge management tools developed by Microsoft.

Warrant Management System (WMS) The PPS Warrant Management Area is responsible for:

· Monitoring the overall health of the Department’s Warrant Management Program

· Conducting periodic reviews of contracting officer appointment documents to ensure compliance with Federal and VA Acquisition Regulations, VA Acquisition Manual, and other policy requirements

· Providing assistance to Head of Contracting Authority and their representatives as required

· Maintaining the automated Warrant Management System for warrant issuance and providing configuration settings for agency- and bureau-level user accounts SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a server-based report generating software system from Microsoft. It is used to generate reports from various databases within several EAS applications.

PowerBI Reporting Services PowerBI Reporting Services is a server-based report generating software system from Microsoft. It is used to generate reports from various databases within several EAS applications.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) SSIS is a powerful Microsoft platform used for enterprise-level data integration and workflow applications. It is primarily recognized as an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool used to migrate, cleanse, and load massive amounts of data from various sources into databases or data warehouses

Conceptual Design EASS is in the process of revising its infrastructure to agnostically support an array of applications and services that will sustain both its current and future technology needs.

0. Conceptual Application Design Conceptual application design provides a logical “AS-IS” overview of core functional components.

System Architecture Acquisition Service Bus (ASB) The Acquisition Service Bus (ASB) is an HTTPS-based API (“Web API”) that acts as the central communications hub for eCMS and manages data transfer across all eCMS systems in a scalable and uniform manner. See 2.1.1 for further description.

Routes provided by ASB are documented and available for testing using the SwaggerUI tool. EASS will continue to build services to support mission critical operations such as those related to acquisition, finance, logistics, etc.

Communication Channels All external communications with eCMS applications are done using the TCP/IP protocol using Windows Authentication tokens and trusted accounts per VA security mandates.

Structure: “4 + 1 Architecture View Model” This SDD describes the system using the “4 + 1 architecture view model.” This approach is used to describe the architecture of software-intensive systems that are based on the use of multiple, concurrent views (see Figure 1). Each view in the model describes the system from the perspective of different stakeholders.

The four views of the “4 + 1 architecture view model” are:

1. Logical View: describes the functionality the system provides to end users Process View: describes system communication Implementation View: illustrates the system from a programmer's perspective, and is concerned with software management Deployment View: illustrates the system from an operations point of view, and depicts the physical layer topology and connections between software components Scenarios/Use Case View: illustrates use cases or scenarios, describing the sequence of interactions between systems and processes

Figure 1: EAS System Architecture View Depicted in 4 + 1 Model Logical View: End User Functionality End User Descriptions The eCMS tools are used to manage VA acquisitions as they progress through their lifecycle. Many VA users are involved in this process performing different roles as required.

Program Officers, also known as Requesting Office User or Customers, are expected to possess a fundamental understanding of web application functionality and use. The majority of Program Officers have a moderate understanding of requirement planning, and a basic understanding of essential contracting functions.

Contracting professionals are expected to possess a fundamental understanding of web application functionality and use. The majority of contracting professionals have a proficient understanding of both requirement planning and contracting functions.

Vendors are expected to possess a moderate understanding of web application functionality and use. The majority of vendors have a moderate understanding of both requirement planning and contracting functions.

Auditing and reporting personnel are expected to possess a moderate understanding of web application functionality and use. The majority of auditing and reporting personnel have proficient insight into data policy and regulatory requirements of requirement planning and contracting functions.

Finally, technical support staff are expected to possess a high level of acuity with web application functionality, design, operations, and management. Technical support staff have a moderate understanding of both requirement planning and contracting functions, with access to resources with in-depth subject matter expertise.

Business Process Overview The eCMS platform is a portfolio of systems that electronically centralize VA's contract management information and artifacts. It is designed to replicate the acquisition lifecycle consisting of planning, funding, procurement, award, and post-award activities.

All acquisitions begin with a planning action, often called a requirement. A requirement defines a need for goods or services that has been identified by a Program Office. If the value of the requirement exceeds the micro-purchase threshold, it is submitted to a VA Contracting Office through one of the planning tools that exist within the eCMS portfolio.

Two tools currently exist for forecasting and requirement definition:

1. FORCE

1. EPIC (currently read-only)

During requirement development, personnel from both the Program and the Contracting Office collaborate to refine the initial request and develop an Acquisition or Lease Plan. Market research is conducted to ascertain whether the product or service is commercially available, and to identify industry interest and capabilities. The identified need is translated into an actionable requirement for contract award that can be well managed with measurable outcomes throughout contract performance.

Once an actionable package is developed by the Program Office and documents are stored in one of the planning capabilities, the package is submitted to the contracting system called AAMS.

Process View: System Communication Significant Functions Systems that interface with eCMS are described in Table 4.

CAATS

See Section 6.3 for more details

e-Buy See Section 7.1.1 for more details

FPDS-NG

See Section 7.1.2 for more details

iFAMS See Section 6.5 for more details

IFCAP

See Section 6.4 for more details

SAM

See 7.1.4 for more details

Please see Section 6 and Section 7 for detailed eCMS interfacing system and descriptions.

Implementation View: Software Configuration Acquisition Service Bus (ASB)

ASP.NET Core Microsoft Entity Framework

Enterprise Acquisition Systems Administration (EAS Admin)

Enterprise Business Systems Administration (EBS Admin)

Enterprise Business Systems Profile (EBS Profile)

Electronic Contracting Officer Representative Module (eCOR)

Electronic Vendor Portal (eVP)

Forecast of Opportunities and Requirements Center for Excellence (FORCE)

ASP.NET

Ordering Officer Delegation (OOD)

EPIC

Acquisition Task Order Management System (ATOMS)

0. Acquisition Task Order Management System (Internal) (ATOMS)

Visual Basic Telerik Controls (UI)

0. Acquisition Task Order Management System (External) (ATOMS)

Visual Basic Telerik Controls (UI)

NAC Contract Catalog Search Tool (NAC CCST)

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Vendor Web Service

EBS Timerjob

EPIC Web Service

SwaggerUI

JobScheduler

DBMigrator

Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) Windows Service

Suspension & Debarment (S&D)

Deployment View The eCMS platform is hosted within the Azure cloud platform. Table 5 describes the servers within eCMS.

The eCMS platform resides in the Veterans Affairs Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Microsoft Azure Government (MAG). VA internal users connect to the eCMS applications using their standard web browsers. VA external users connect to the public facing eCMS web applications (eVP, NAC CCST, ATOMS) using their standard web browsers. Internal users are authenticated to the systems using single sign-on (Windows Authentication and EntraID).

Deployment Environments The following set of server descriptions are displayed in reverse release order.

Production Environment Production is the live instance of eCMS.

Staging (Pre-Prod) Environment The Staging environment is similar to the Production environment. The Staging environment is the only environment where all interfaces can be fully tested before these processes go live in Production. This is the only environment with server specifications that are similar to the specifications of the Production servers, making it the only non-production environment where performance testing can be accurately performed.

Training Environment The Training environment is designed to get acquisition personnel acclimated to eCMS.

Testing Environment The Testing environment is designed to allow new releases of software to be tested in a network configuration that is similar though not identical to the production configuration.

This environment lacks the ability to manage the volume of concurrent users, actions, and disk size of the Production environment.

Development Environment The Development environment is used for systems integration testing prior to release testing in the other environments (Testing, Staging [Pre-Prod]).

Interfaces Internal to VA

1. Centralized Administrative Accounting Transaction System (CAATS)

1. Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP)

1. Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS)

1. Budget Tracking Tool (BTT)

1. Integrated Personal Pay System (IPPS)

1. Identity and Access Management Onboarding (IAM)

1. National Acquisition Center Contract Management (NAC CM)

1. National Acquisition Center (NAC) High Tech Medical Equipment (HTME) Strategic Equipment Planning Guide (SEPG)/Electronic Equipment Request (EER)

1. Supply Chain Master Catalog (SCMC)

1. Active Directory

1. Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS)

1. Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM)

17. Office of Capital Asset Management Engineering and Support (OCAMES)

1. OAEM’s Capital Asset Inventory (CAI) Interfaces External to VA I. General Services Administration (GSA)

a. e-Buy

b. Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG)

c. Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA)

d. System for Award Management (SAM)

e. Contract Opportunities

f. Central Contractor Registration (CCR)

g. Entity Information (formerly Excluded Parties List System [EPLS]) Centralized Administrative Accounting Transaction System (CAATS) CAATS is a VA web-based application that centralizes administrative account functions performed at the Regional Offices.

CAATS allows for the automated preparation, approval, and processing of transactions directly into the VA accounting system. The current eCMS interface provides exchange of Purchase Request (PR), Request for Award, Return of Fund, and Award data. CAATS allows outside contractors to bill for their services provided to those Veterans.

The eCMS is part of the alignment mission between the OAL and VA’s financial program objectives, resulting in a modernized integrated acquisition system seamlessly interfacing with the CAATS application, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire acquisition system.

Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) IFCAP, a VA application that automates fiscal, budgetary, procurement, inventory, invoice tracking, and payment activities, consists of several functional components, each responsible for a similar set of tasks: Funds Distribution, Funds Control, Processing, Requests, Purchase Orders/Requisitions, Accounting, Receiving, and Inventory.

Financial and logistics functions for most VA facilities are handled by the IFCAP software, which is an application in the Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture (VistA).

Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS) iFAMS is the VA configured instance of CGI's Momentum web-based financial and acquisition management lifecycle solution. The eCMS interface supports the integration of the AAMS contract management system with the iFAMS financial solution.

iFAMS allows for preparation, approval, and processing of Commitment of Funds transactions directly in the Finance portion of iFAMS. The eCMS interface provides exchange of IPR, Request for Award, Return of Funds, and Award (Obligation/De-Obligation of Funds) data.

Budget Tracking Tool (BTT) Effective March 2018 all OIT Funded procurement actions must be submitted to the Acquisition Review Module (ARM).

The purpose of the transition is to streamline the process by combining acquisition, budget, and the technical review process for all requirements.

Integrated Personal Pay System (IPPS) Integrated Payment Processing System (IPPS) is designed to eliminate the obsolete legacy technology currently in place and use the Pega systems Process Rules Process Commander (Version 7.1.9) to develop a unified invoice payment processing platform.

Identity and Access Management Onboarding (IAM) IAM is a major application under the control of the Veterans Administration Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) and the Infrastructure Operations office (IO) and consists of a suite of applications that provides cloud-based enterprise authentication and identity services for the entire Veteran population, all non-organizational and organizational users to VA systems.

National Acquisition Center Contract Management (NAC CM) Medical Acquisition covers a broad spectrum of goods and services purchased by VA. This may include pharmaceutical, medical, and surgical supplies.

National Acquisition Center (NAC) High Tech Medical Equipment (HTME) Strategic Equipment Planning Guide (SEPG)/Electronic Equipment Request (EER) This awards indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts jointly with the Department of Defense (Defense Logistics Agency – Troop Support) for radiology, Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), radiation therapy, and other types of high-tech medical equipment.

Supply Chain Master Catalog (SCMC) SAC has decommissioned the catalog search tool as contract data is now available in the VA Supply Chain Master Catalog (SCMC). The SCMC (VA internal access only) provides contract data, line-item details, and other pertinent briefcase documents.

Active Directory Active Directory is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks, which helps manage and store information about network resources, such as user accounts and devices. It provides authentication and authorization services allowing users to access resources based on their permissions.

Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) The Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) is an information technology system. This technology provides a continuum of medical logistics support. DMLSS delivers an automated and integrated information system with a range of medical material, equipment, war reserve material, and facilities management functions.

Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM) Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM) is a type of project that may be paid for from PY appropriations in an expired appropriation only when the adjustment or contract change is determined to be within the scope of the original contract and is made pursuant to a provision in the original contract, resulting in antecedent liability.

Office of Capital Asset Management Engineering and Support (OCAMES) The Office of Capital Asset Management, Engineering, and Support (OCAMES) provides Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) policy, guidance, and budget formulation for minor construction and NRM projects. OCAMES also serves as the liaison between the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN), medical centers, and VHA senior leadership on all capital asset functions for buildings.

OAEM’s Capital Asset Inventory (CAI) CAI is the authoritative database of record for VA’s real property portfolio, including all the Department’s owned and leased assets. The CAI database also houses the Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) data, agreement information, and historical asset information for the portfolio. CAI data is used in many ways, including reporting and analysis for the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC), the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Congress, as well as for internal initiatives such as the Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) process. The system is the most current accurate and reliable real property data tool used for capture VA’s asset portfolio.

External Integration Flow The eCMS integrates externally with FPDS-NG, SAM, e-Buy, and FCO.

General Services Administration (GSA) The General Services Administration (GSA) manages federal property and provides contracting options for government agencies.

e-Buy The eCMS interfaces, through a web service, with a front-end interface called e-Buy. The eCMS (AAMS) user selects “Publish to e-Buy,” which calls the e-Buy web service and transmits associated solicitation data and documentation URLs.

The e-Buy web service also provides user authentication and punch-out over HTTPS to the e-Buy application.

Through the interface, eCMS users can submit a solicitation to and invite responses from e-Buy-registered vendors. When an eCMS user publishes a solicitation, the user is redirected to e-Buy to invite vendors to respond. Solicitation documents are posted on the eCMS eVP Document Server, and publicly accessible URLs are included in the solicitation information that is posted to e-Buy.

The following actions may be initiated from within the eCMS (AAMS) to e-Buy:

1. Post a new solicitation Post an amendment to a solicitation Cancel a solicitation Retrieve solicitation status Publish an award/no award notification Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG) FPDS-NG was implemented as a central point for consolidated collection and access of statistical and management information related to government acquisitions.

FPDS-NG is a searchable repository of millions of federal contact actions. FPDS-NG covers over 180 data points on federal contracts over the micro-purchase threshold based on contract data entered at the agency level.

eCMS (AAMS) users can submit award data via a web service interface over HTTPS using the “Report to FPDS” capability in an AAMS action. User account information, stored in the AAMS user maintenance function, is submitted for user authentication to FPDS-NG as part of the web services call.

The interface is bi-directional: data stored in AAMS is sent to FPDS-NG, and data entered in FPDS-NG is returned to AAMS, with the exception of the Effective Date and the Obligation Amount fields.

Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) ORCA is a web-based system that collects vendor representations and certifications (“reps and certs”) of business information, and stores that information in a common database. ORCA’s primary purpose is to capture categories and business information of small businesses.

Vendors can enter their reps and certs information once for use on all Federal contracts. Contracting Officers can view every record, including archives, in a centralized location.

SAM receives an ORCA information request from AAMS and returns the requested data in real time using Extensive Markup Language (XML) Query Language. A file is inserted into the Briefcase of the AAMS action from which the request was made.

System for Award Management (SAM) SAM is a Federal Government owned and operated website that consolidates the capabilities in ORCA, EPLS, CCR, and Contract Opportunities. SAM is used by government and program personnel as part of their market research efforts to identify potential providers of specific goods and services.

SAM data access information can be found at SAM.gov.

Contract Opportunities The eCMS interfaces through a web service with SAM Contract Opportunities. The eCMS (AAMS) user selects “Publish to SAM,” which calls the Contract Opportunities web service and transmits associated solicitation data and documentation URLs.

Through the interface, eCMS users can publish solicitation documents and notices to Contracting Opportunities. Solicitation documents are posted on the eCMS eVP Document Server, and publicly accessible URLs are included in the solicitation information that is posted to Contracting Opportunities.

The eCMS (AAMS) supports the following types of acquisition transactions with Contracting Opportunities:

1. Publish a pre-solicitation notice

1. Publish a combined synopsis/solicitation

1. Publish an amendment to a previous combined solicitation

1. Publish a modification to a previous pre-solicitation notice

1. Publish an award notice

1. Publish a sources sought notice

1. Publish a special notice

1. Publish a sale of surplus property

1. Justification and Approval

1. Intent to Bundle Requirements

The web service interface description for Contracting Opportunities transactions is detailed at https://open.gsa.gov/api/opportunities-api/

Documentation associated with publishing to either e-Buy or Contracting Opportunities is stored on the eVP document server through a web service. URLs are provided with the e-Buy and Contracting Opportunities submittals.

The PutDocument method is given a filename and a file attached via Direct Internet Message Encapsulation (DIME). The web service returns a URL, which is submitted as part of the Document Upload template. Each Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) invocation shall have one, and only one, DIME attachment associated. Errors include a SOAP Fault (exception) with the appropriate error message in the response.

Users retrieve documents through a document service webpage, which parses the URL originally provided to Contracting Opportunities, and uses the information to retrieve and stream the document to the user’s browser. The user will not be required to authenticate, as the SAM documents are publicly available, and the document service webpage is not part of the eVP application (which does require user authentication). If the user’s request for a file is successful, the user will never see a visible webpage. If the user’s request for a file is unsuccessful, the user will be presented with a page stating that an error has occurred and providing contact information for an administrator.

Central Contractor Registration (CCR) All entities are required to register in CCR to be considered for federally awarded contracts or assistance awards.

The Central Contractor Registration File Extract Service (CCRFES) automatically populates AAMS with a copy of the latest CCR information available. CCR provides multiple versions of data, including Complete, Public, Proprietary, Sensitive, and Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN). The version utilized by AAMS for data imports is the “Complete” version.

CCR publishes daily update files (changes since the previous day), and monthly replication files (entire replication of the CCR Database). The AAMS vendor service process runs daily and ensures that the CCR and Virtual Vendor Repository (VVR) information in AAMS are in sync. The AAMS software handles decryption of the encrypted data file from CCR as part of the import process.

Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) EPLS identifies entities excluded, disqualified, or declared ineligible from receiving Federal contracts or certain subcontracts, and certain types of Federal financial and nonfinancial assistance and benefits.

eCMS (AAMS) users can check vendor data directly from the AAMS application to EPLS via a web services interface over HTTPS. The EPLS check will be performed at the time of award in eCMS, and the results will be recorded at that time. The EPLS check will always be recorded, regardless of the results.