Fulfilling the Promise of e-Gov Initiatives—Part II: the integration of federal acquisition processes has already improved services—and the near future looks even brighter

Public Manager, The, Winter, 2007 by Lisa Cliff, Judy Steele

Additional enhancements to CCR are underway, including the rollout of the redesigned and updated CCR Web site. Future plans include a pending FAR case, which will add a field to the CCR database that flags contractors that have delinquent federal debt and precludes the use of government purchase cards as a method of payment when the flag is present.

Federal Agency Registration

Federal agencies also register in the CCR for intragovernmental transactions under the Federal Agency Registration (FedReg) subsystem (www.bpn.gov/far). OMB Memorandum M-03-01,"Business Rules for Intragovernmental Transactions," October 4, 2002, requires all government agencies that engage in buying and selling of goods or services to other federal agencies to register in FedReg, the agency "yellow pages." Treasury Bulletin Number 2007-03 reiterated the requirement for registration in FedReg for federal buyers and sellers.

The FedReg database collects basic information about trading partners to facilitate standard financial reporting and data reconciliation. Examples of transactions include leasing space from GSA's Public Buildings Service, buying telephone systems from GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, or using another agency's procurement services or accounting system. An additional benefit of this system, and CCR, is that once the data are collected, they can be reused in all the IAE and agency systems, cutting down on repetition of data entry.

Online Representations and Certifications Application

ORCA (www.bpn.gov/orca) was designed to replace most of the paper-based representations and certifications in proposals. FAR Part 4.12 requires vendors to submit annual representations and certifications electronically via ORCA and update them (as necessary, but at least annually) to ensure they are current, accurate, and complete. This allows contractors to enter this information once for use on all federal contracts.

ORCA, which has over 61,000 registered vendors, has been a big help to contractors. The site enables vendors to maintain an accurate and complete record and also provides contracting offices current and archived views of the data with the click of a mouse. In June 2006,newWeb services allowed agencies to bring the ORCA data into their contract-writing systems, right to their desktop. ORCA also is capable of incorporating agency-specific representations and has already added those for DoD.

Past Performance Information Retrieval System

A prospective contractor's ability to satisfactorily perform contract requirements is an important factor in making best-value decisions in the acquisition of goods and services. FAR Parts 9 and 42.15 requires annual completion of performance reports during the life of qualified contracts. PPIRS (www.ppirs.gov) is a Web-based system that consolidates contractor report cards collected throughout the federal government into a single searchable database. These report cards offer federal source-selection officials the in-depth performance information they need to make sound procurement decisions. Contractors also have the ability to review their own data to ensure the government has accurate, up-to-date performance information for them. OMB has advocated the use of PPIRS since a July 2002 memo announced the rollout of the system. Government users are encouraged to use PPIRS to access timely and pertinent contractor performance information. They are also encouraged to submit regular assessments of their contractors via their designated agency PPIRS feeder systems.