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Streamlining Federal Procurement: Meet the GSA’s Helpful New Bot, CODY
The General Services Administration (GSA) is touting its latest innovation in government technology: CODY, a new procurement automation tool ready for use across the entire federal government. This in-house built bot aims to streamline procurement processes and boost productivity.
After three years of development, CODY is now available to help federal staffers by aggregating prerequisite data into a checklist. This allows users to easily verify if a vendor meets all representation requirements, including ensuring there is no active federal debt and no exclusionary or responsibility cautions.
While the GSA primarily tracks the hours saved by CODY, officials note that its completion resulted in the cancellation of a $423,000 contract. According to GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian, this initiative demonstrates how the agency is “at the forefront of leveraging technology for government to produce tools that boost productivity and our employees’ potential”.
Built with automation software from UiPath and incorporating other technologies like Python, Adobe, and Google scripting, CODY is designed to mimic actions a person would perform on a computer. Despite the various underlying technologies, the result is a user-friendly “bot” that promises significant efficiency gains.
A key advantage of CODY is its universality across government acquisition processes. Unlike some automations that require tailoring for specific agency systems, CODY can be used by everyone in acquisition, regardless of their agency’s particular setup. This makes it a perfect example of an automation that can be applied consistently across the federal government.
The CODY project, whose name is derived from an Irish word meaning “helpful one,” began in 2022 and was first showcased during GSA’s internal Friday demo day program. This program highlights how different offices within the agency are utilizing software and technology. The development and rollout of CODY occurred against a backdrop of staff reductions within the GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), suggesting a focus on leveraging technology to maintain productivity.
The GSA is even sharing the automation code for CODY with other agencies that utilize Robotic Process Automation programs and similar RPA technology, further promoting efficiency across the federal landscape. With its ability to simplify complex procurement processes and its potential for significant time and cost savings, CODY represents a significant step forward in federal technology adoption.
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