Document Management for the Federal Acquisition Register

ESI International and George Washington University

Challenge

The Government Contracting Program (GCP) library at George Washington University stores the history of records about the Federal Acquisition Register (FAR), which governs federal contracting rules. The FAR is a crucial resource to contractors and government purchasing agents. Since the rules are frequently changing, it is helpful for users to compare present regulations with past—and even future regulations (since they are typically published before being enacted).

The FAR is published to the web by the Library of Congress, but in an unstructured fashion. The standard library search system was not very effective at providing the different versions of related documents, resulting in laborious searches for users. For GCP catalogers, the task of managing records and making them available was difficult as well.

Solution

The GCP Library asked Fulcrum to develop a web-based document management solution customized for users and managers of the FAR collection. Fulcrum developed a web application with intuitive interfaces for library patrons and content administrators backed by a SQL Server database containing the entire FAR legacy.

To save time and costs involved with data intake, Fulcrum programmers analyzed the FAR web architecture, mapped the directory structure, and built a sophisticated tool to import documents directly into the database.

Results

Library patrons now use a web interface to intuitively search and browse current and archived versions of FAR records. The system supports full-text searching of the entire database and allows users to compare past, present, and future versions of a record, side by side.

Fulcrum also provided an access-managed administrative interface that allows multiple content managers to update the FAR records simultaneously. The project even saved time and money by blending existing software modules with customized coding.