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Tag: CPARS

CPARS is getting a refresh

For over a decade, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) has encouraged government agencies to increase their research and evaluation of contractor performance on contracts, with little effect. (Federal News Network April 12, 2021)

The general consensus is that the current Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting Systems (CPARS) is broken. Contractors and Contracting Officers feel it inaccurately rates performances while also being burdensome. For the past two years, Mike Smith, a former DHS director of strategic sourcing and now an executive vice president at GovConRx, has led an effort to rebuild CPARS. His goal, “make sure it results in good information and the information is more strategic and tactically used.” (ibid)

What are some of the problems with CPARS? Many contracting officers rate contractor performances as satisfactory because it takes too much of their time to verify exceptional or outstanding performance and too much time trying to explain why a rating might be below average or poor. (ibid)

DHS is looking to solve this problem through a pilot application of artificial intelligence (AI). DHS recently awarded contracts to five companies to demonstrate their ability to build production-ready software. User groups will view demos using software-as-a-service (SaaS). The user groups are, The departments of Commerce, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services as well as GSA, NASA, the Air Force, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The agencies gave the 5 companies in the pilot, 50,000 anonymous procurement records, to assist in training the AI. The goal is to decide which technologies will move to phase 3 in June with an actual launch in January 2022. (ibid)

GSA has some barriers to overcome too. Contracting officers must see the value in vendors providing self-assessments on certain projects. GSA senior procurement executive Jeff Koses sent a memo in February recommending the use of vendor self-assessments s one step in the overall CPARS process. The memo is a permission slip, of sorts, for contracting officers to begin asking for self-assessments as one part of the CPARS process. This should alleviate some of the burden on contracting officers.(ibid)

Mike Smith, a former DHS director of strategic sourcing and current executive vice president at GovConRX said, “you wouldn’t believe how many contracting officers refuse to take input from industry because they think they aren’t allowed to. As a contracting officer, I’d rather have a back and forth at least by midyear, if not before, so we can adjust course and have a common understanding at the end of the performance period and there are no surprises about ratings and the basis of that rating.” Most agree that good contractors will jump at the opportunity to do a self-assessment because they will finally be able to have input into the process. (ibid)

CPARS should also help small businesses. When contracting officers see the small business has done larger jobs and done them well, through a relevancy search and high CPARS, they are a lot more likely to award them a contract. This in turn helps the contracting officer make better-informed decisions through the use of data. (ibid)

Questions concerning self-assessments and the intricacies involved? Give us a call.

 

 

New and Improved CPARS. When?

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy recently conducted a survey with a host of agencies regarding contractor performance assessment ratings (CPARs) and if they are completed at all, they are not on time.  (Federal News Network, October 5, 2020)

Working with GovConRx, OFPP found 95 percent of respondents would actually like to take part in contractor self-assessments at agreed-upon intervals throughout the contract performance period. A majority of respondents (84 percent) support a “CPARs Lite” perspective for certain fixed price and commercial item contracts as well as CPARS ratings demonstrating specific objectives and contract outcomes. It appears many agencies are doing their “own thing” right now; for instance, OFPP and DHS have launched pilot programs using artificial intelligence to gather data and complete the ratings. VA also has its own program to review key performance indicators.(ibid)

What does all this mean? Changes to CPARs is necessary and on the horizon. Unfortunately, there is still no timeframe for how soon we will see them.

Questions about CPARs and how they might work to help you with future procurement efforts? Give us a call.

Open Ratings Closed

Open Ratings stopped accepting new orders for Past Performance Evaluations as of Friday, 6 December 2019. All Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) offerers must now demonstrate a sample of past performance by using one of the methods outlined by the solicitation:

  1. verify in eOffer there are three or more CPARS assessment reports that meet the solicitation criteria outlined in SCP-FSS-001 (j)(2)(ii)(A) or
  2. submit a past performance record and list of customer references as outlined in SCP-FSS-001 (j)(2)(ii)(C) when the offeror does not have CPARS assessments that satisfy the solicitation criteria in SCP-FSS-001 (j)(2)(ii)(A).  GSA will contact all customer references and request they complete a past performance questionnaire. Note – offerors should not upload completed past performance questionnaires with the MAS offer. (GSA Interact, December 18, 2019)

An offeror’s demonstration of past performance is limited to the methods spelled out in the solicitation. Additionally, GSA will not accept Dun & Bradstreet reports in lieu of the Past Performance Evaluation prepared by Open Ratings. Any offerors who ordered an Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation on or before December 6, 2019, can use SCP-FSS-001 (j)(2)(ii)(B) to demonstrate a pattern of Past Performance if the Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation uploaded to the offer is dated within one year of the offer submission and the offeror had no CPARS assessments that satisfied the solicitation criteria as spelled out in the SCP-FSS-001 (j)(2)(ii)(A). (ibid)

Is this all perfectly clear? If not, give us a call and we can walk you through the steps to demonstrate the acceptable Past Performance for a MAS offer.

It’s Heeeeere…

The new, single GSA Multiple Award Schedule solicitation was released today, 1 October, and it’s mostly what we expected.

Solicitation number 47QSMD20R0001, refresh 00 (!!) points you to the correct NAICS number for your product or service. The first page of the solicitation references the MAS Roadmap, which includes a guide to preparing your offer and required forms such as the:

  • Agent authorization letter
  • Letter of supply
  • Categories and appropriate NAICS (formerly SIN) numbers
  • Labor category matrix

as well as information about the:

  • Price proposal template, pricing narrative, and pricing support
  • Financial statements
  • Subcontracting plan
  • Technical proposal
  • Professional compensation plan
  • Commercial supplier agreements
  • Previous cancellation and rejection letters
  • Commercial sales practices
  • Commercial or market pricing

You must download separate documents, depending on your proposed product/service. Option categories include: office management, facilities, furniture and furnishings, human capital, industrial products and services, information technology, miscellaneous, professional services, scientific management and solutions, security and protection, transportation and logistics, and travel.

The old standards survive. You must submit via eOffer, the pilot TDR still applies, and you must sell $25,000 per year from the Schedule to keep it. Pathways to Success and the Readiness Assessment remain, as does AbilityOne and SCA.

All service AND product offers must now provide corporate experience and quality control narratives. Furthermore, you now have the option to submit CPARS reports instead of Open Ratings or even a narrative if your company hasn’t six references required by Open Ratings. One positive: GSA now requires only one past project description per service.

The following ominous clause has been included: “The offeror must provide a full and broad array of proposed products/services. An offer will not be accepted with limited product/service offerings unless it represents a total solution for the offeror or proposed product/service offering.” Will small, niche businesses have a more difficult time obtaining an award? Hope not.

Also, until SAM has added representations for the new FAR clause regarding covered telecommunication equipment and services (see our Blog post from 10 September) from particular Chinese companies, proposal submissions must include a statement noting compliance with n 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment.

Once awarded, yearly increases for contractors will be capped at four percent for the Human Capital Category, five percent for Professional Services and Travel, and ten percent for all others.

Yes, it’s complicated, and yes we have a handle on it. We are primed and ready to answer all your questions either about a new proposal or your current Schedule. Just give us a call.

It All Comes Down to SAM

GSA is merging its current legacy sites into one system, beta.SAM (the System for Award Management). SAM (login at sam.gov), is the official government website for people who make, manage, and receive federal awards.

Contracting organizations across the federal government post notices on proposed actions valued at more than $25,000 to SAM. These notices, or “procurement opportunities,” include solicitations, pre-solicitations, and sole source justifications.. Anyone interested in doing business with the government can use SAM to learn about available opportunities at no charge. However, you’ll find a few surprises at the new SAM.

The new domain contains data that has been migrated from government legacy systems. It supports two distinct federal awards: acquisition and federal assistance. Transitioning in this manner offers a more efficient way to access all federal award information.

Once you peruse the site, the government welcomes your feedback. Original SAM sites will co-exist with beta.SAM.gov until they are retired. Once the original SAM.gov site has retired, the beta site will be renamed “SAM.gov.” (beta.sam.gov)

Another way to look at the ten online sites being merged into one:

sam-new-img
source:sam.beta.gov Learning Center
For instance, SAM officially replaces WDOL.gov (Here’s a quick start guide for wage determinations.) as well as Assistance Listings and CFDA.gov. Users of CFDA.gov will be required to manage their listings using a new user account. (beta.sam.gov)

Have questions about your login credentials? Questions on where to go to obtain “official” information? Did you register and no word back on your registration? Give us a call.