GSA Official: Blockchain Procurement Prototype Is Moving Forward

The U.S. government could soon trim the time it takes to process an IT procurement bid using blockchain tech.

As CoinDesk reported in June, the General Services Administration (GSA) is in the early stages of developing a blockchain prototype that could one day replace FAStlane, a procurement system dedicated to IT projects. The initiative forms part of a wider bid within the GSA to investigate distributed ledger use cases, which itself constitutes one part of the U.S. government's wider blockchain effort.

Speaking with public sector IT website MeriTalk, Jose Arrieta, a director within the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service who oversees work on IT procurements, struck a bullish tone on the tech's prospects as it relates to the acquisitions process. He said that work continues on the FAStlane prototype, pointing to September 30 as a milestone in the proof-of-concept process.

Perhaps most notably, he suggested that approvals – which can take as long as a month, if not more – could happen in a matter of days should the tech be more widely implemented.

"The single most important thing about blockchain is that it creates transparency and accuracy between two entities," he told the publication, adding:

"We believe with blockchain we might be able to reduce the number of days to single digits."

Part of the equation, according to Arrietta, is the ability to "sew together" the different parts of the IT procurement process, with the idea being that different parts of that system can communicate with one another more effectively.

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