Senior Contracting Officer Todd Tetrault completes the first production purchase via STRIPES, verifying web service connections between STRIPES and BIDDS.

STRIPES to streamline procurement process

by Leah Shapiro

A new procurement management system for Western had been in the works since 2008, but on Feb. 1 became a reality when the Strategic Integrated Procurement Enterprise System was implemented throughout Western. STRIPES is a procurement and contract management program, chosen by the Department of Energy to be used agencywide as part of the electronic government initiative. Its implementation reduces the number of procurement-related systems used across DOE and streamlines many aspects of the procurement process.

STRIPES connects with many other Integrated Acquisition Environment systems used by Procurement, such as, Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation, Excluded Parties Listing System, Online Reps and Certs Administration, Central Contractor Registration and eventually the new System for Award Management. STRIPES has been interfaced with Western’s Business Information Decision Support System and Maximo systems, providing an integrated and comprehensive approach to the Procurement processes.

Complex integration requires teamwork
STRIPES was a logical choice for DOE as it was already being used by 90 percent of government agencies. In 2006 DOE awarded a contract for STRIPES software and began working on the design of the future process, including an interface with DOE’s financial management system, Standard Accounting and Reporting System. Because all of its non-power marketing administration agencies used STARS, DOE concentrated on that interface first. It was not until December 2009 that DOE was ready to tackle a separate interface, one needed by Western to connect STRIPES with Western’s financial management system, BIDSS.

Western’s interface turned out to be unique in many ways. STRIPES Technical Lead Nancy Crocker explained, “DOE was open to our design regarding the web interface, BIDSS validations and the special features incorporated in BIDSS to protect data integrity.”

Designing the interface was complex and required input from many teams. Crocker added, “I'm especially proud of how well the technical partnership worked between DOE and Western’s Chief Information Office. Equally notable is how well Procurement, Finance, Maximo and IT communities worked together during integration and user-acceptance testing."

STRIPES brings abundant advantages
Although the road to implementing STRIPES was long, Procurement staff speaks highly of the many advantages it will offer. Desert Southwest Procurement Manager Byron McCollum offered, “We now have a procurement system that allows us to create contractual documents in one system, which will then allow us to process acquisitions more smoothly and have a one-stop source to gather all necessary documentation.”

Before the STRIPES implementation, staff had to access several programs and systems to compile necessary data. They are now able to pull information from other programs directly into one database, complete and post solicitation packages, have easy access to standardized Federal procurement forms and automatically feed data into other Federal databases. Additionally, the system allows for increased competition with world-wide advertising of Western’s projects and needs.

Expanding on the benefits, STRIPES Project Lead Steve Reed added, “Because STRIPES consolidates our efforts, it eliminates dual data entry steps, which will in turn reduce the chances of making errors.”

In addition to streamlining workload and improving efficiencies, STRIPES brings a valuable environmental benefit. Upper Great Plains Procurement Manager Jonathan Dittmer shared, “On average our paper contracts are five inches thick—they’re huge. STRIPES is meant to be a paperless system and reduces a lot of paper waste and redundancy.”

Expressing a One Western sentiment, McCollum shared a final advantage that STRIPES offers, “This is a Western-wide system where we’ll have quicker access to information throughout the regions, allowing for immediate feedback and sharing of both lessons learned and best practices.”

New process poses challenges, Western prepares
Although STRIPES offers a multitude of improvements to procurement processes and consensus is that in the long-term it will prove to be much more efficient, as with any system and process change, it comes with its share of challenges. First and foremost: the learning curve. Dittmer explained, “It’s going to take a while for employees using the system to become familiar with it. The training we’ve had helps; however, we’re going to run into issues that weren’t covered and it will take time to find the answers.”

Between October and December DOE provided five separate training sessions; one at the Corporate Services Office and one in each of the regions to help staff learn to use the program and understand all of its many capabilities. In addition to training the end users, DOE worked closely with Western's technical team responsible for creating the new and complex financial interface. Reed spoke highly of the support DOE offered to get us to implementation and added, “DOE will also provide monitoring over the first few months. They’re giving us online support, have a centralized help desk and have shared best practices based on other agencies’ experiences.”

Related to the learning curve, McCollum shared another challenge, “In STRIPES there are simply more steps between initiating a purchase requisition and getting a contract awarded. Customers will need to understand that it will go more slowly at first—the first few months may be difficult.”

New business processes will have to be created to accommodate for these changes, but Reed asserted, “Western has worked diligently to anticipate these changes and respond proactively to make the transition as smooth as possible.”

Procurement is committed to success with the transition to STRIPES and has a great amount of DOE support moving forward. The STRIPES implementation project serves not only as a strong example of what a collaborative and persistent effort can accomplish, but also as an example of Western’s commitment to being flexible and finding innovative ways to keep costs low, increase efficiency and best serve customers.