RBA INTEGRATION WITH FPDS-NG Training July & August 2010

1. RBA INTEGRATION WITH FPDS-NG Training July & August 2010

2. Topics • Background • System and Process Changes • Common Acronyms • FPDS-NG Reporting Process • FPDS-NG User Roles / Privileges • FPDS-NG Action Items • FPDS-NG Data Entry and Validation • FPDS-NG Approval • Other Topics: • FPDS-NG Prerequisites • Treasury Account Symbol

3. Why Do This? • The Office of Federal Procurement Policy requires that a computer-based system be used for the collection, development and dissemination of procurement data sent to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG). FAR 4.604(b)(3): “When a contract writing system is not integrated with FPDS, the contract action report must be submitted to FPDS within three (3) business days after contract award.” • Periodic reviews of the data in FPDS-NG are conducted to ensure the data is accurate. • Recent review of prior years actions showed a large number of errors in the data entered in FPDS‐NG and failure to enter the data. • Most common errors are: PIID (Order Number), Dates, PSC (Product/Service Code), NAICS Code, and Place of Performance.

4. Project Drivers • Ensure FAS meets the mandate that agencies report all contract actions to FPDS-NG. • Reduce staff hours currently required to manually accomplish the FPDS-NG reporting. • Reduce data errors created by manual FPDS-NG data entry.

5. Project Benefits • Provide seamless integration with FPDS-NG. • Improve the data entry work processes. • Increase overall organizational compliance with FPDS-NG reporting requirements. • Provide greater management visibility for compliance with Federal Regulations.

6. Things to Keep in Mind • Users must have an active FPDS-NG User ID. • Functionality will not be provided to correct or delete data previously entered manually into FPDS-NG. • FPDS-NG forms will only be available in ITSS on Task/Delivery Order award and mods awarded after release of the RBA FPDS-NG integration. Basic orders and mods awarded prior to the FPDS-NG release will not display a link to the FPDS-NG form. • As post-award activity is now required, the RBA will no longer mark orders complete upon award of a de-obligation mod (Mod Type 1).

7. Common Acronyms

8. System Changes – SF 279 • The Standard Form 279 will be retired. • There are many FPDS-NG data elements now required which were not captured in that form. • There has been minimal use of the form with virtually no manual population of data. • All previously created SF Form 279s will be retired.

9. System Changes – New FPDS-NG Form • Upon award of an order or order mod after deployment of the FPDS-NG integration, the new FPDS-NG form will be displayed in the order package, below the awarded purchase order.

10. Process Changes Prior to the FPDS-NG Integration release: • The RBA provided a generic Form 279 which could be used as a template with only a few fields populated. • The user logged directly into FPDS-NG and manually populated the required data. • There were no reports and no data available in the RBA regarding the orders and mods there were actually reported in FPDS-NG.

11. Process Changes - Continued After July 29, 2010 the RBA will: • Create the FPDS-NG form, populated with data aggregated from the awarded order. • Create a ‘Draft Award’ in FPDS-NG. • Provide the GSA user with the ability to pass directly from ITSS to FPDS-NG, complete the data entry, and return to ITSS. • Provide COs the ability to finalize, ‘Validate’ and ‘Approve’ and the data in FPDS-NG.

12. FPDS-NG Reporting Process & Workflow • The RBA will now transmit data directly to FPDS-NG through the use of a common web service.

13. FPDS-NG Reporting Process • Upon award, through the web service, the RBA will send the collected procurement data to FPDS-NG, creating a draft award. • Upon successful data transmission, the RBA will create an FPDS-NG reporting action item assigned to the CO and CSR1 on the order. • The CO and CSR will both receive an email notification of this new action item. • When the user opens the action item, they will be routed to the FPDS-NG form.

14. FPDS-NG Reporting Process - Continued • The user will have the ability to edit the FPDS-NG form, which will open a modal window in FPDS-NG. • The user will then complete the remaining data entry requirements. • When data entry is complete, FPDS-NG will validate the data and return error messages when applicable. • The user will save the draft data, close the modal window, and will be returned to the RBA.

15. FPDS-NG Reporting Process - Continued • When the data has been successfully validated, the RBA will change the action item status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Validated’ and display an ‘Approve’ button only to the CO. • The CO will open the validated action item and review the data entered. • If corrections are needed, the CO will be able to make the corrections and revalidate the data. • If corrections are not needed, the CO will press the ‘Approve’ button. • The RBA will close the action item and, through the web service, trigger FPDS-NG to change the status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Final.’

16. FPDS-NG User Roles / Privileges • The ‘Edit’ button on the FPDS-NG form will only be available to COs and CSRs from the Order Region. • The ‘Approve’ button will only be available to COs from the Order Region. • The ‘View’ button is available to all COs and CSRs from all regions.

17. FPDS-NG Action Item Notification • When the CO awards the task order, an FPDS-NG Action Item will be created for both the CO and the CSR1 in ITSS. • The CO and CSR will also each receive an e-mail notification informing them of the new action item. • Additional notifications will be sent to the Service Desk when the system detects that an FPDS submission failed due to a communication or data validation error.

18. FPDS-NG Action Item Assignment • The RBA will use the CO and CSR1 selected on the COI of the Order for Action Item assignments.

19. FPDS-NG Action Item Views • In ITSS, there are several different views that display FPDS-NG action items: • Homepage – Action Item Quick View • Action Items • My Action Items • Action Items by Order ID • Action Items by Responsible • Orders Navigation tab / Action Items drop-down list – Pending FPDS-NG Forms

20. Homepage – Action Item Quick View

21. Action Items – By Responsible / Order ID

22. Action Items – Pending FPDS-NG Forms

23. FPDS-NG Action Item Statuses • An FPDS-NG action item may be assigned one of four statuses: • Draft • Validated • Not Submitted • System Error

24. FPDS-NG Action Item - Draft Status • When the CO awards a task order and the RBA successfully submits the data and creates the FPDS-NG draft award, an action item will be created and placed in a ‘Draft’ status. • This status is assigned to new submissions or to action items where data entry may be in-process but has not yet been validated.

25. FPDS-NG Action Item - Validated Status • When the CO or CSR completes the FPDS-NG data entry process and successfully validates the data, the Action Item Status will change from ‘Draft’ to ‘Validated.’ • Action Items will remain in a ‘Validated’ status until approved by the CO or re-edited by the CO or CSR.

26. FPDS-NG Action Item - Not Submitted Status • There will be instances where the RBA may be unable to complete the submission of draft award data to FPDS-NG. These may include: • The CO or CSR does not have a valid FPDS-NG account. • The Contract for an original award has not yet been entered into FPDS-NG. • The original order for a modification award has not yet been entered into FPDS-NG. • FPDS-NG is off-line.

27. FPDS-NG Action Item - Not Submitted Status - Continued • If any of the prior conditions exist, FPDS-NG will create an Action Item with the status ‘Not Submitted’. This status indicates that off-line action may be required to correct the situation before the award data can be resubmitted. • When an action item in this status is opened, the RBA will display an error message explaining the problem. Once the problem has been corrected, the user will be able to resubmit the data.

28. FPDS-NG Action Item – System Error Status • Similar to the ‘Not Submitted’ status, the ‘System Error’ status indicates a data transmission error (incorrect data format or communications error) which the user will NOT have the ability to correct. • When a ‘System Error’ is detected, the Service Desk will be automatically notified. They will research the issue, determine a fix and once resolved, resubmit the award data to FPDS-NG.

29. Acting on an FPDS-NG Action Item • When the user clicks an FPDS-NG Action Item, they will be routed to the FPDS-NG form for the awarded order, which will display the draft FPDS-NG data that was transmitted.

30. Opening the FPDS-NG Form • When the Edit button is pressed, the RBA will launch and display the FPDS-NG data entry form, through the web service.

31. Opening the FPDS-NG Form - Continued • Users familiar with FPDS-NG will notice that they DO NOT have the ability to navigate elsewhere within the FPDS application. • While the FPDS-NG window is open, the user will be logged into and interacting directly with FPDS-NG for this awarded order only. • The FPDS-NG fields, lookups, and data requirements are specific to FPDS-NG and are not controlled by the RBA.

32. FPDS-NG Data Entry and Validation • When editing the FPDS-NG form, users must: • Complete all required (orange) fields for the procurement. • Perform the ‘Save Draft’ and ‘Validate’ functions. • Fix any errors, ‘Save Draft’ and ‘Validate’ again until no errors remain.

33. Closing the FPDS-NG form • To save the data entered, the user must click on the FPDS-NG ‘Save Draft’ button before closing the FPDS-NG window. Otherwise, the data entered will be lost. • When data entry has been completed and saved, or when the user wants to return to the RBA, they must click on the ‘Close Window’ button located in the upper right corner of the FPDS-NG window.

34. Closing the FPDS-NG form - Continued • The RBA will display a warning message when the ‘Close Window’ button is clicked, to warn the user to save their data.

35. Approving the FPDS-NG Form • Users familiar with FPDS-NG will notice that the FPDS ‘Approve’ button is not functional within the FPDS-NG modal window. This is by design and is intended to preserve the data entry and approval process used in the RBA. • Both COs and CSRs will have the capability to enter and validate FPDS-NG data, but the ability to ‘Approve’ has been restricted to COs only.

36. Approving the FPDS-NG form - Continued • The ‘Approve’ button on the RBA FPDS-NG form will only be visible to COs and will only be functional when the FPDS-NG form has been ‘Validated.’

37. Approving the FPDS-NG form - Continued • The CO may review the RBA FPDS-NG form prior to approval, however, the data displayed is actual data from within the FPDS-NG database and may not be easily understood. • COs have the ability to ‘Edit’ an FPDS-NG form in ‘Validated’ status which will display the full text entries for the data previously entered on the FPDS-NG form, making the data easier to understand. • If the CO makes any changes on the FPDS-NG form, they must again ‘Validate’ and ‘Save as Draft’ before being allowed to ‘Approve’ the form. If they change nothing, it is not necessary to validate or save as draft again.

38. Approving the FPDS-NG form - Continued • When the CO clicks the ‘Approve’ button, the RBA will not present the CO with a warning to confirm submission. If the FPDS-NG data has been validated, pressing the ‘Approve’ button will immediately change the status of the form from ‘Validated’ to ‘Final.’ • When the FPDS-NG form status is changed to ‘Final,’ the RBA will display the ‘View’ button, allowing the user to view the form in read-only mode.

39. Closing the FPDS-NG Action Item • No additional action is needed to close the FPDS-NG Action Item. • The act of approving the FPDS-NG form will close the Action Item, removing it from all FPDS-NG Action Item views.

40. FPDS-NG Prerequisites - FPDS-NG User IDs • The FPDS-NG integration with the RBA requires that the user already has an established and active FPDS-NG user ID. • When the CO awards the order in ITSS, the RBA will pass the signing CO’s FPDS-NG ID through the Web Service. If the CO does not have an FPDS-NG ID or if the ID is inactive, the draft award data will not be submitted. • When the user (CO or CSR) presses the ‘Edit’ or ‘Approve’ button on the FPDS-NG form, the RBA will pass that user’s FPDS-NG ID through the Web Service. If the user does not have an FPDS-NG ID or if the ID is inactive, the user will not be allowed to proceed with data entry or approval.

41. Inactive FPDS-NG User Error • If the user’s FPDS-NG account is inactive for 90 days then the user’s account will be disabled and system will display the error message below. • To reactivate the account, email: FASUserSupportDesk@gsa.gov

42. FPDS-NG User Account Does Not Exist Error • If the user does not have an FPDS-NG account then the system will display the error message below. • To register in FPDS-NG the user needs to do the following: • Go to https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/ to register • Contact the RBA Service Desk and provide them with the new FPDS-NG User ID. • The RBA Service Desk will map the two accounts.

43. FPDS-NG Prerequisites – Reporting Original Awards • When the CO awards a basic task order, the RBA will pass a small set of data to FPDS-NG through the web service, informing FPDS-NG that it is about to receive draft data for a base award. • FPDS-NG will only accept this data if the Contract Number (IDV) on the order has already been entered into FPDS-NG. • If the IDV is missing in FPDS-NG then an error message will be generated and the FPDS-NG action item will be placed in ‘Not Submitted’ status. • It is the responsibility of the user to contact the CO of the missing IDV and request that the contract (IDV) be entered into FPDS-NG.

44. FPDS-NG Prerequisites – Reporting Modifications • When the CO awards a modification to a previously awarded task order, the RBA will pass the data to FPDS-NG through the web service. • FPDS-NG will only accept this data if the basic award exists in FPDS-NG. • If the original order is missing in FPDS-NG, an error message will be generated and the FPDS-NG action item will be placed in ‘Not Submitted’ status. • The user will be required to log directly into FPDS-NG and report the procurement data for the basic award. Once this has been completed, the modification can be resubmitted to FPDS-NG.

45. Treasury Account Symbol – A New Requirement • Shortly after the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Department and Agency heads were provided guidance in June 2009 to begin submitting the funding agency’s Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) to FPDS-NG when reporting awards using ARRA funding. Initially, TAS data was to be entered in the FPDS-NG ‘Description of Requirements’ field. • In February 2010, FPDS announced that with the mid-March release of FPDS-NG Version 1.4, the TAS would be mandatory for all reported actions, not just ARRA funded actions.

46. Treasury Account Symbol - Format • The Department of Treasury is specific as to the data elements that comprise a TAS, but there is much confusion throughout the Federal Government as various agencies use different terminology and data elements to describe the TAS. • In general, the format for the Treasury Account Symbol is ‘two-four-three’: XX-XXXX-XXX. • The first two characters are the Agency Code (Required) • The four subsequent characters are the Treasury Account Symbol (Required) • The last three characters are the Sub-Treasury Account Symbol (Not Required) • Treasury Account Symbols are maintained by the Department of Treasury and can be found at http://www.fms.treas.gov/fastbook/index.html (often referred to as the ‘FAST’ book)

47. Treasury Account Symbol - Continued • As shown below, the FPDS-NG form provides three fields that comprise the TAS. These include: Agency Identifier | Main Account | Sub Account

48. Treasury Account Symbol - Continued • Within the RBA, the Treasury Account Symbol is derived from the Funding Document Agency Code and Appropriation fields on the Funding Citation Document, if populated. • Since the introduction of the Financial Addendum and the revised IA in October 2008, IAs are often attached to either the COI of an order or to the funding document.

49. Treasury Account Symbol – Transmitting to FPDS-NG • When the user Validates the FPDS-NG form, if both required fields are not populated, the FPDS-NG validation rules will display an error message.

50. Treasury Account Symbol – If not Populated • Given that TAS-related data has not always been captured in the RBA, it is possible that an awarded order is funded by a funding document that does not have this data. • In these instances, the RBA would not be able to transmit the TAS data to FPDS-NG. • The CO or the CSR has several options for finding the TAS data: • Review the Interagency Agreement • Contact the Client • Contact the FSC