US Army Begins Deploying New Contract Writing System

The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems has debuted an enterprise contract writing and management platform to streamline acquisition.

Initial deployment of the Army Contract Writing System is limited to 104 contracting personnel at several locations, including Army Contracting Command-Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Feedback will be used to inform the next release.

Megan Dake, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement, said the system enables contracting personnel to work faster and more efficiently.

The ACWS will allow users to create solicitation, award and modification documents with a standardized format and connect to accounting and management systems to receive purchase requests and complete reports.

The ACWS will eventually replace two legacy platforms for creating contracts. Its software environment is hosted and managed by the Defense Logistics Agency, potentially saving costs and allowing for shared capabilities with the other military branches, the Army said.

The next ACWS deployment is scheduled for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 and will involve 350 new users from ACC and the Army National Guard.

The Department of Defense is undertaking a similar effort using artificial intelligence. The Chief Digital and AI Office is prototyping a bot to assist with writing contracts.