Virtual Procurement Office (VPO) is a Web-based application program designed for use by procurement professionals throughout NASA. Prior to the development of VPO, each of the 700+ NASA procurement pro- fessionals had to spend much time searching numerous locations on-line and off-line for the various software tools and other resources necessary to complete each procurement task. VPO accelerates and standardizes the work of these professionals by giving them accurate and efficient means for gaining access to all relevant on-line resources that support the procurement process. The resources include (1) rules (e.g., Federal Acquisition Regulations); (2) samples (e.g., prior procurement documents that might be useful as guides); and (3) “build tools” — application software, forms, and document templates that should be used to complete procurement tasks. In order to provide a familiar interface, VPO was structured following the matrix format of NASA Form 1098, Checklist for Contract Award File Content. Each row on the matrix represents a possible step in the contracting process, e.g., market research or acquisition plan. For each row on the matrix, VPO provides a column with the capability to include “rules,” “samples,” “build tool,” and “status.”

This program was written by Jim Bradford, Dwight Clark, Steve Rowell, David Hieber, John Sudderth, and Laura Allen of Marshall Space Flight Center; Gene Moses, Joanne Comstock, Deborah Glass, and Larry Reeve of Ames Research Center; Robert Greco of Dryden Flight Research Center; Wanda Behnke and Mary Ann Bishop of Goddard Space Flight Center; George Huff, Leigh Allen, and Kelly Mepham of Johnson Space Center; Sandy Gates and Donna Rafferty of Kennedy Space Center; Sandra Ray, Linda Urquhart, and Mary Deuell of Langley Research Center; Bruce Shuman of Glenn Research Center; Gay Irby and Jane Johnson of Stennis Space Center; and Michael Lalla of WSTF.

For further information, contact Caroline Wang, MSFC Software Release Authority, at (256) 544-3887 or caroline.k.wang@ msfc.nasa.gov. Refer to MFS-31699.