What is the connection between EDI and government contracting?
As part of a presidential memorandum, all contracting offices throughout the federal government are, or will be, using EDI for all their procurement actions in the $2,500 to $100,000 range. Requests for Quotes (RFQs), Quotes, Award Notices, Purchase Orders and Invoices will all be sent via EDI.

What is a VAN?
A VAN (Value Added Network) is an intermediary between trading partners. In the case of government contracting, you and the government agencies are trading partners. A VAN must be used to communicate with the governments network of agencies.

What is a VAS?
A VAS (Value Added Service) is a VAN that provides additional services over that of a traditional VAN, such as sorting RFQs and translation services.

What should I look for in a VAN or VAS?
If you want to have access to all the RFQs available via EDI, you will need to make sure the VAN/VAS you choose is certified by the DOD for FACNET and that they are connected to the DAASC. If they are a VAS, you need to make sure they are certified for ALL the different versions of EDI transactions currently used by the different contracting offices.

What is World-Wide EDI, is it a VAN or VAS?
World-Wide EDI is a web-based VAS. One of the most significant advantages of World-Wide EDI is that you do not need to purchase, install and configure EDI software on your computer. All that is required is access to the World-Wide Web and Netscape Navigator (ver. 3.01 or greater).

What is FACNET?
FACNET (Federal Acquisition Network) is simply a term used to identify the infrastructure developed by the government to support EDI.

Are all government agencies required to use FACNET?
No, while recent policy changes still mandate the use of EDI, they no longer require the use FACNET exclusively.

What are government agencies using instead of FACNET?
The DAASC (Defense Automatic Addressing System Center), which is maintained by the Defense Logistics Agencies (DLAs) has more activity that the more widely known FACNET. GATEC (Government Acquisition Through Electronic Commerce) was the predecessor of FACNET and the DAASC. Activity over GATEC has slowed to a trickle for the two agencies using it (the DOE and the VA hospital in Long Beach, CA). The future of GATEC is uncertain at this time.

What about the Commerce Business Daily (CBD)?
The CBD provides a brief synopses of the contract opportunity and a point of contact to request the actual bid documents. The CBD will continue to be used to announce those contract opportunities anticipated to be worth over $100,000.