The Department of Homeland Security, The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) has a requirement for Procurement Records Management Modernization (PRM2), formerly known as Electronic Contract Filing System (ECFS).

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking an innovative solution to its electronic contract filing through the Procurement Records Management Modernization (PRM2) initiative. The current Electronic Contract Filing System (ECFS) was fully implemented at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April 2020. ECFS is a cloud based Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorized Software as a Service (SaaS) solution used by all DHS procurement offices to support electronic contract file storage, workflow, document management, and records management.

ECFS functions as a contract storage system throughout the lifecycle of a contract and is the authoritative source of all contract files awarded after its go-live. ECFS supports the electronic management of contract files eliminating the need for paper files. ECFS is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution using eCASE Audit & Investigations Case Management Suite (currently eCASE version 11.2) from OPEXUS hosted by OPEXUS in their private cloud which holds a FedRAMP agency authorization by DHS and many other federal agencies. ECFS was selected and implemented to meet the requirements included in the Requirements Identification Matrix, see Appendix A. OPEXUS also provides services to DHS in support of ECFS. These services include Project Management, System Enhancements & Configuration Updates, Operations & Maintenance, IT Security, Help Desk, Training, and Transition Out.

ECFS is used by approximately 1800 contracting, policy, legal, and oversight personnel across the various DHS Components. The government anticipates the number of users to grow over time as adoption improves and functionalities are onboarded to the system. At a later date, the government may expand the system to store Contracting Officer Representative (COR) files. There are approximately 3,100 CORs assigned to contracts that would potentially need access.

The DHS Components use a variety of Contract Writing Systems (CWS) to obligate funds and generate their award documents. Some Components have their CWS metadata interfaced to ECFS through the DHS acquisition data warehouse, Enterprise Reporting Application (ERA). For more information on ERA, see Appendix B. These Components are referred to as “Integrated Components”. This automatically creates a virtual contract folder for the Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Specialist (CS) to which they can manually upload the award document and other contract artifacts. For Integrated components, contract filling in ECFS begins in the pre-award phase with the requisition data flowing into ECFS creating the contract folder. Then when/if a solicitation is released tied to that requisition in the CWS, that data flows into ECFS updating the ECFS contract folder. Then when the award is made in the CWS additional award details flow into ECFS. The same ECFS folder is used throughout the contract’s lifecycle all the way to closeout and disposition. The ECFS search feature allows users to find the contract by any of the associated identifiers, i.e. requisition number, solicitation number, contract number, task order number, etc.

Other Components, Non-Integrated Components, are required to manually create their contract folders in ECFS. When the CO/CS is ready to file documents, they create the contract in ECFS and enter in the required metadata before they can begin filing.

DHS is also undergoing Federal Financial System Modernization and in doing so, some Components will change their CWS in the next few years. After “modernization”, OCPO will interface all CWS data into ERA so that every Component can be integrated in the future. The table below lists each Component using ECFS, the number of users, the current CWS, whether their data is integrated to ECFS, and their future CWS. DHS intends to have all Components to be Integrated

Contract artifacts are organized in the ECFS contract folder based on the DHS approved checklists according to the contract type. Refer to Appendix C for the DHS Combined Checklist which is the most often utilized checklist in ECFS. Once contract artifacts are uploaded into ECFS, the CO/CS can continue to edit the documents, route them for review/approval, sign, redact information, or finalize them. Reviewers can provide feedback and sign documents. All edited documents contain version tracking information and allow for previous versions to be viewed or reinstated. The contract is updated, as needed, throughout the contract lifecycle. When the contract is closed, and all documentation has been filed in ECFS the contract is locked for editing. Contracts are maintained and archived according to National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) & Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements and dispositioned accordingly. Reports exist in ECFS to allow for management oversight to ensure all contracts are created in ECFS.

ECFS currently contains 98k contracts containing 2.9M artifacts utilizing of a total of 4T of data storage. However, this represents a subset of our potential capacity and does not reflect 100% compliance or full utilization, as some data and artifacts may remain unaccounted for or underutilized with the system. Current metrics show ECFS contains 98% of the expected contracts are filed but we are unable to determine the completeness of the files.

The following chart illustrates the approximate number of new awards created each year by Component.

DHS intends to modernize its electronic contract filing through the Procurement Records Management (PRM2) initiative. PRM2 will replace ECFS with a solution that will enhance user experience, improve security compliance, and streamline contract management across its various components.

The PRM2 initiative aims to:

• Provide a secure, compliant solution for contract file storage, workflow automation, document management, and records management.
• Enhance contract management efficiency and improve user experience with a modern, intuitive interface.
• Ensure seamless integration with existing DHS tools, including Microsoft Office and DHS Contract Writing Systems (CWS) data.
• Ensure system scalability to support future growth in user numbers and data volumes.