Technical Approach

In order to understand the modernization effort, it is necessary to understand how, at a high-level, the Legacy FSS-19 suite of applications fit into the GSA ecosystem. As stated earlier, FSS-19 supports Supply Management, Retail Operations, Acquisition Management, Catalog Management, and Finance:

The GSA IT Contract Service Management (IQSL) Division's FSS-19 Modernization Project will re-engineer the functionality currently implemented within the FSS-19 suite of applications as Cloud Native applications running on a VPC-as-a-Service platform and supported by AWS. This modernization effort is not a wholesale "lift-and-shift"; it calls for the reengineering of implementations supporting the in-scope functionality. The functions in scope are supported by the GSA IT Contract Service Management Division. The primary user group supported by these functions is GSA's Office of General Supplies and Services (GSS).

The greatest technical challenge within this work is to move the implementations that support a business function into the Cloud while maintaining data access integrity between implementations of the migrated functionality and the implementations of functionality remaining on the legacy platform. Solutions to these data access concerns utilize temporary measures within a phased approach to ensure that functions temporarily remaining on the mainframe are supported, as well as permanent solutions between the cloud implementations and external dependent systems.

The goals of the FSS-19 Modernization Project are as follows:

• The modernization of applications that support key CSM Supply Chain and Acquisition Management business functions, presently supported by the Unisys ClearPath mainframe platform, into Cloud Native applications running on VPCaaS Platform, supported by AWS
• The establishment, refinement, and maturation of a solution platform capable of supporting other key functionality sets as part of long-term strategic initiatives
• The reduction of infrastructure costs as compared to current Mainframe costs
• The development of advanced technical capabilities for cloud-native application development within GSA (a long-term benefit)
• The increase of GSA's speed-to-market ability as a result of leveraging cloud-based tools and infrastructure
• Progress towards reducing GSA's technical debt

New Cloud-native systems will be constructed where needed; existing implementations that can be replatformed will be strategically moved with changes as appropriate.

There are three primary areas covered by this modernization effort:

1. FSS-19 Supply Chain Modernization
2. FSS-19 NSN Management Modernization

The systems resulting from this modernization project (FALCON, and an as-yet-to-be-named Acquisition Workforce solution) will carry GSA systems into the future, continuing its commitment Agile development practices, and facilitating low cost of maintenance, extensibility, and ease of operation by leveraging Serverless technologies wherever possible.