Business and Requirements Overview
Learn about the needs FCP serves as a catalog maintenance system used by vendors and the acquisition workforce.
Business Overview
General Information
The FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) is an online catalog maintenance system for Vendors to create and maintain their catalogs, including:
- Product details
- Photos
- Seller information
- Terms & Conditions (T&C) files
In addition, FCP can be used by the workforce to manage catalog data by integrating with current systems such as eMod, FSSOnline, Authoritative Catalog Repository (ACR) and GSA Advantage.
Use of the FCP requires a GSA FAS ID account. The initial version of the FCP is available for existing contract vendors and is not intended for use by vendors submitting catalogs for new offers.
Product, Photo, and Terms & Conditions information is provided through a file upload and streaming process, and Seller Information is updated through an on-screen editing process. All data on the Product File goes through automated accuracy checks, data and business rule validation prior to generating a Compliance & Pricing Report (when appropriate) and reviewed by a Contract Specialist (CS) or Contracting Officer (CO). After CS/CO verification and approval, then the data is automatically published to GSA Advantage.
FCP provides a shared user interface among Vendors, Workforce, and Helpdesk Support, so that all users see the same content in the same format, if the user has permissions to view the content.
Customer Benefits
The overarching goal of FCP is to improve the user experience for vendors and contracting officers. Previous to modernizing, the process of updating catalog information faced several challenges, including:
- Hard-to-navigate user interface for acquisition workforce and vendors
- Difficulty managing workflows related to market research and approval processes
- Heavy reliance on human intervention and manual processes for contract modifications
- Inaccurate or out of date catalog information showing up on GSA Advantage!
To address these challenges, FCP will ultimately provide customers with:
- Simplified user interface
- Streamlined and more efficient market research and approval processes
- Simpler and more automated contract processes that significantly lower administrative burden
- More accurate, real-time information on connected applications like GSA Advantage!
A more detailed breakdown of these objectives is shown below.
Requirements Overview
FCP MVP Capabilities
- User Authentication and Administration
- Catalog business rules validation
- Contract Lifecycle and contract modification Integration with eMod, FSSOnline and EDA
- Catalog Actions
- Seller Profile Update
- Catalog Baseline, Product Files, Price Proposal Templates
- Market Research Data (Compliance and Pricing Report)
- Add, Change, Delete Products
- Product Photos
- Temporary Price Reductions
- Terms and Conditions
- Workforce catalog action review and approval workflow
Post-MVP Capabilities
Near term
- Vendor Comments Feature
- Legacy contract number translation (dashes)
Short-Term
- Product file “Diffs” (what changed between resubmissions)
- Vendor Bulk Actions
Mid-term
- Photo URLs
- Services
Long-Term
- GSA Initiated Catalog Actions (Robomods, Suspensions)
- BPAs