Clause Logic Service Industry Day 12-9-24.pptx

Clause Logic Service Industry Day Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy Tysons, VA 9 December 2024

This industry day follows source sought synopsis at https://sam.gov/opp/648a6f7862da42be8b4d587632c25d98/view

Notice This Industry Day is intended for market research purposes only. The information presented at Industry Day is intended to increase Industry transparency of DoD requirements development Any information collected during Industry Day will be used to improve the DoD’s understanding of the market and will not be used for any other purpose No decisions, commitments, or promises are being made, and no contracts or agreements will be entered into as a result of the sources sought synopsis/announcement or any discussions today The information and views expressed at the Industry Day are not intended to and shall not be interpreted as binding, creating, or executing any acquisitions, agreements, contracts, procurements, etc.

Participation in this market research is voluntary and any information provided will be unclassified and publicly releasable unless specifically noted in private breakout sessions The U.S. Government is not responsible for any costs incurred by travel or participation in this event or the draft solicitation process Cleared DPCAP support contracts are present in conversations today

Plenary Session Agenda Opening Remarks Contract Lifecycle Anatomy of FAR Provisions/Clauses Provision/Clause Data Structure Architecture Discussion Must-haves Business Arrangement

Opening Remarks Ms. J. Lisa Romney, SES Director, Contracting eBusiness Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP)

Why We Are Here Today We will socialize our current thinking as we seek to modernize or replace the DoD’s current Clause Logic Service (CLS) We will provide basic education about the environment We will not cover every possible scenario/ all complexities… in fact, we will just scratch the surface We want your feedback: functional, technical, business approaches You are welcome (and encouraged) to ask questions and make comments in this open session Private sessions can be used for company-specific questions and feedback We will use your feedback to decide next steps You may wish to network amongst yourselves following today’s session

What We’re Trying to Accomplish Modern, smooth, user-friendly experience for contracting professionals and industry partners to select and incorporate provisions and clauses Intake of certain inputs produce expected and accurate outputs to create legal, digital contract documents Opportunities for AI?

Business process enablement and integration across interoperable DoD Procure to Pay environment

Contract Lifecycle

Start Solicitation Amend?

Yes Solicitation Amendment Solicitation Needed?

Yes Generic Contract Lifecycle

Solicitation Award Amend?

No Yes Solicitation Amendment Solicitation Needed?

Yes No

End Solicitation Award Amend?

No Yes Mod?

Modification Yes No Solicitation Amendment Solicitation Needed?

Yes No

CLS may be accessed 0..∞ times in process of building any document (solicitation, solicitation amendment, award, modification).

Contracting Mission Domains Installation Construction R&D Expeditionary/Contingency Services Major Weapon Systems Logistics The domains have different usage patterns, complexity needs, etc.

Room for Growth Financial Assistance Other Transactions Industry Access (end-to-end solicitation to offer to award)

Anatomy of FAR Provisions/Clauses

Simple Base Clause Listed In Full Text Clause Number Clause Title Clause Effective Date ClauseFullText Introductory Text with Prescription (Not in PDS) Trailer

Repeated Clause Title Iteration with Period (Not in PDS)

Important Concepts for FAR-Based Clauses FAR Subpart 52.1 prescribes rules for using provisions and clauses Identification FAR Supplements Incorporation by reference vs in full text Tailoring Fill-ins Alternates and Deviations

Provision/Clause Data Structure

Generic XML Data Structure

Simple Base Clause – With PDS XML Clause Number Clause Title Clause Effective Date ClauseFullText Introductory Text with Prescription* Trailer*

Repeated Clause Title Iteration with Period*

PDS XML

Acquisition.gov human readable rendering Intro Text/ Prescription* *Elements do not appear in DoD XML data structures

Important Resources https://dodprocurementtoolbox.com/site-pages/ebusiness-cls-technical-information

Important Resources https://www.acq.osd.mil/asda/dpc/ce/ds/procurement-data-standard.html

Architecture Discussion

Important Notes The following discussion is intended to facilitate communicating many complex concepts; it is not fully prescriptive of the desired solution Variations may be discussed, but such variations would need to be compatible with the Government’s environment

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems Solicitation Module

Authoritative Content Data Source For FAR-based contracts, acquisition.gov will be the sole content provider regardless of regulation/supplement Acquisition.gov will provide XML or XHTML files via web API Intent is to have Acquisition.gov provide data without need for transformations, but likely need CLS to have capability to provide transformations to fit with PDS In disconnected environment, Acquisition.gov’s GitHub will allow for XHTML files to be downloaded for import into disconnected CLS

Focus right now is acquisition.gov and FAR-based contracts on NIPRNet, but leave room for extensibility to other instrument types and sources For grants/cooperative agreements, the data source is TBD (grants.gov?)

For OTs, the data source is CWSs contributing to the clause repository if they wish to publish

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Stock Clause Repository Clauses fed from authoritative sources must be stored within the clause repository for 100 years Clauses in this repository must be uniquely identified (a FAR-based clause number is not unique identification) Clauses in this repository have all data and metadata necessary to trace their origin and capture contents to be used within CWSs via XML output

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Instance Document Records Instance document records include several elements:

Unique identification for documents Clause lists for an instance document (such as a particular solicitation, award, or modification) Fill-in content and tailored content Q&A responses PDS XML (as applicable) ADS XML (as applicable) Need to Know Metadata Restrictions Relationships to other documents Document history log Saved and retrievable states for all types of related records Think of Git Hub: Need commits, branches, etc.

Signed, 508-compliant XML output for CWS consumption

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Business Rules Engine Business rules engine is separated from clause repository and instance document records to allow for modularity and efficient business rule maintenance Given certain inputs for an instance document, business rules engine applies pre-defined logic to return clause list for a given instance document Business rules engine needs to capture an audit trail of rules applied to inputs to produce outputs

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Application provides 508-compliant user interface to access instance document records – main use function is for non-modern CWSs, although modern CWS users may also use CLS App uses PIEE’s SSO and functions within the PIEE suite using same hierarchy and RBSA App is not necessary to operate other components of CLS; other components may work using web APIs App must handle RBSA when used App also must be self-contained for use within disconnected environment?

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Modern CWSs Modern CWSs have two-way interaction with CLS for multiple operations:

Document initialization PDS/ADS feeds

Q&A API

CLS clause XML retrieval Updates to documents throughout creation process… expect many drafts, retrievals from different saved states, etc.

CLS should maximize reuse of data from Modern CWSs and other authoritative sources Modern CWSs handle single use (such as H) clauses not in a regulation/supplement Modern CWSs have a “handshake” with CLS to ensure only signed CLS output is accepted for input into the CWS Modern CWSs may supply fill-in values and tailored content, but CLS must be in sync with provided values with handshake Modern CWSs map line item clauses to line items/groups Modern CWSs perform PDS (ADS) preval/val/and conformance check

CLS

App UI Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Industry Systems Industry partners responding to solicitations to provide fill-in content, requests to add/strike/tailor clauses must have access to same XHTML version of clauses as the DoD Industry must be able to make requests to CLS via the solicitation module to accomplish these ends

Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Content Feed/Extract for Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

PIEE

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out Industry Systems

Solving for Classified/ Disconnected State DoD’s disconnected environment’s need to have access to a Clause Logic Service that allows them to retrieve and import a clause set for a solicitation/ award.

CLS must:

Provide a UI solution for determining the correct clauses Provide a means to transmit the clause data into the disconnected solution.

Acquisition.gov Business Rules Engine Extract for Disconnected Disconnected DoD Contract Writing Systems

Grants.gov?

Clause Repository Instance Document Records PDS/ADS/Q&A in, Signed CLS XML out

Must-haves

Must-haves Stand alone in some environments AND cleanly integrate with CWSs (agnostic of platform) in other environments (including PIEE) Implement modular architecture Keep up with dynamic environment's many changes, empowering government configuration where specified Use government-directed logic and authoritative source of provision/clause content Be extensible for future cases (including articles for grants and integration with PIEE’s Solicitation Module) Support FAR/DFARS/agency supplements (FAR alone is not sufficient) Support Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0+ (for now… expect this to increment over time)

An acquisition strategy has not yet been decided upon FAR-based contract? Other transaction?

Pricing arrangement?

Data rights and licensing?

Developmental item vs off the shelf?

Etc.

DoD will seek feedback in private sessions about business arrangement details image3.jpg image4.png image5.png image6.png image7.png image8.png image9.png image10.png image11.png image12.png image13.png image1.jpg image2.png