The Enterprise Services Center’s (ESC) Procurement Request Information System Management (PRISM) team continues to focus on their strategic path. Leadership from the Department of Transportation, the Office of the Secretary, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center and ESC meet bi-annually to discuss strategic vision and direction for ESC-PRISM.

In 2021, a decision was made to focus on using the full capabilities of the existing system for the next five years. Several areas were determined to be focused priorities: supporting mandates, the maturing existing solution, mature reporting capabilities, conducting customer surveys, ensuring data quality, maximizing process standardization, use of smart automation and adding enhancements of cost effectiveness and value added.

Here are some of the highlights to the initiatives that align with ESC’s vision:

1. Supporting Mandates
   System for Award Management (SAM) Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) was implemented in March 2022 to meet the General Services Administration’s (GSA) April 2022 go-live date. This support, transitions ESC systems from using a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number to a new UEI, helping to identify all vendors and organizations doing business with the government.


2. Maturing Existing Solutions
   The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Office of the Secretary of transportation (OST) Purchase-Card Phase 2 was implemented in April of 2022. This ensured compliance with FAR 18.202 Emergency Acquisition Flexibilities, which provides acquisition procedures for use in national emergencies or major disaster declarations.
   
   
   • Expanding the use of the Funding Opportunity module for the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). This helps with communication to potential applicants/vendors/organizations about the available Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and potential grantees regarding PHMSA’s opportunities.


3. Maturing Reporting Capabilities
   This initiative addresses the funding acquired for ad hoc reporting and data model engineering. This capability allows for a more robust and comprehensive view of the structure of PRISM data.


4. Conducting Customer Surveys
   ESC distributed an online survey to ESC PRISM users in November 2021. Some of the areas covered in the survey include - help desk support, system availability, training, reporting, and overall satisfaction. There were several key takeaways from the survey, including:
   
   
   • Users are satisfied with the overall system performance and availability
   
   
   • Users who had system issues requiring help desk intervention were satisfied with the assistance they received
   
   
   • Many users are not aware of the online training tools for ESC PRISM (UPKs) and do not know how to access them
   
   
   • Attendance during ESC PRISM training appears to be correlated with an increase in user satisfaction


5. Maximize Process Standardization
   Business process improvements to the FY auto-number mask setup process helped to revise the timeline for setups requested by the PRSIM working group. This helped to streamline the steps required by the agency to set up the same mask structure as the previous year.


6. Smart Automations
   ESC PRISM formed an Automation Workgroup in 2021 to generate ideas for automation enhancements.


7. Cost Effective Value-Added Enhancements
   
   
   • Certain enhancements added functionality for agencies to setup their own vendor/applicant lists for funding opportunities.
   
   
   • Improved financial validation edits from validating "all lines" to "validate new or modified lines" which will ultimately reduce validation edits against older lines with invalid data.