In my last blog post about geospatial software solutions, I described the great benefits associated with agencies leveraging our special Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) software enterprise licenses agreements (ELAs).
Today, I want to expand on our recent GSA press release announcing a government-wide enterprise software acquisition for Adobe’s data-centric security and electronic signature solutions. We completed this award in close coordination with a number of federal agencies, Adobe, and their reseller, Carahsoft. The agreement continues our support of FITARA through enabling greater efficiencies, significant cost savings, and additional data security.
The agreement comes in the form of an enhancement to Carahsoft’s Adobe GSA IT Schedule 70 contract, supports the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Category Management Policy 16 – 1, Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Software Licensing (M-16-12), by reducing duplication of enterprise software agreements, improving pricing and better leveraging the government’s buying power.
In addition to helping agencies meet FITARA, this agreement will also help agencies address Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act guidelines around leveraging government-wide software license agreements for mission-critical federal agency solutions.
This will also help agencies comply with current information security and electronic government policy recommendations and requirements, including the revised OMB Circular A-130, Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), Cybersecurity Strategy & Implementation Plan (CSIP), Cybersecurity Act of 2015, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and the E-Sign Act of 2000.
This is a significant step forward in protecting high-value assets while supporting the faster transition to an electronic government. We applaud Adobe’s willingness to work with GSA to make this opportunity a reality.
Here’s what Increased Acquisition Efficiency for Data Security and Electronic Signatures looks like:
- Developed by a tiger team led by GSA and made up of key government Adobe users, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Adobe and Carahsoft
- More than $350 million in potential cost savings for the federal government
- Tiered discounts by leveraging the buying power of the federal government
- Reduces contract duplication and administrative cost with clear Terms & Conditions
- Securing Government Data: Adobe AEM products support Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to enforce granular access to sensitive content, matching data access rights to the properly authorized person and their need to know. This additional layer of protection allows organizations to secure high-value assets.
- Transitioning to Electronic Government: The offering provides solutions like Adobe Sign that enable users to replace paper processes with fully automated electronic signature workflows. Users can easily send, sign, track, and manage signature processes using a browser or mobile device.
This is another great example of federal acquisition excellence and category management principles using cross-agency collaboration to streamline acquisition, create greater transparency, and save taxpayer dollars. This new software offering is available to all federal, state, local and tribal government agencies eligible to order from the GSA IT Schedule 70 program. You can access IT Schedule 70 here on the Acquisition Gateway.
Also, please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.