EC/EDI: ELMENDORF AFB IMPLEMENTS ELECTRONIC CONTRACTNG Contact: Raymond Gulyas, 3rd Contracting Sqdn, 907/552-4146, ext. 476. On 15 May 1995, PACIFIC AIR FORCE, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, will begin implementing a dynamic electronic acquisition process called Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI). EC/EDI is the computer-to-computer exchange of routine business documents in a standardized electronic format. Simply put, EC/EDI allows two parties (government and commercial enterprise) to conduct business in a paperless environment. Recommended by Vice President Gore's National Performance Review and accepted by President Clinton for implementation across the federal Government, EC/EDI is expected to strengthen communications between federal acquisition activities and commercial enterprises. The EC/EDI implementation at Elmendorf AFB supports the President's implementation directive as part of a DoD and Air Force initiative to improve acquisition processes and reduce the cost of doing business. EC/EDI offers a wide range of benefits to the Air Force and commercial businesses such as reduced overhead costs and improved acquisition lead-times. One of the main thrusts of the EC/EDI initiative is to reduce the administrative burden experienced in the current paper-intensive federal Government acquisition process. The computer-to-computer link via EC/EDI between the federal Government and participating businesses will significantly improve both parties' ability to conduct business with each other. The Elemendorf AFB EC/EDI implementation effort will begin with the purchase of high volume, small dollar commodities. Initially, EC/EDI will be limited to the acquisition of office supplies, Federal Stock Group (FSG) 75. Additional commodities will be implemented over the next twelve months in the following sequence: FSG 70 (ADP support equipment and software), FSG 84 (Clothing and footwear), FSG 65 (Medical and Surgical instruments), FSG 76 (Books and Pamphlets), FSG 47 (Fittings, hoses, pipe and tubing), FSG 53 (miscellaneous hardware), FSG 99 (miscellaneous items), FSG 59 (Electrical hardware and supplies). However, as this process evolves, EC/EDI paperless acquisition will encompass all commodities and services that Elmendorf AFB purchases. Each year Elemendorf AFB processes approximately 40,000 small purchase actions (small purchase is definied by law to be an acquisition of commodities, services, or construction that has a total cost of 25 thousand dollars or less per action). Both Elmendorf AFB and participating businesses will benefit from the efficiencies gained through the implementation of this technology as it further automates the acquisition process, giving quicker access to a broader range of acquisition data. Elmendorf AFB intends to capitalize on the commercial success that EC/EDI produced in the commercial acquisition arena. EC/EDI is a mature technology that is widely used in some sectors of the economy such as transportation, retail, grocery, and automotive industries. With estimates of EC/EDI growth ranging from 25 percent to 35 percent annually across the economy, EC/EDI is becoming a business reality of the new information age. EC/EDI transaction will eventually ride the National Information Infrastructure (NII), the ``Information Superhighway'' that is being rapidly developed by the telecommunications industry. Elmendorf AFB's application of EC/EDI within the acquisition processes uses state-of-art technology to leverage the rapidly emerging capabilities of the information age. Elmendorf AFB will be conducting vendor conferences over the next 2-8 months to educate and encourage the business community to embrace this change to the federal acquisition process. Information regarding dates, times, and locations will be publicized as this information becomes available.

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