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

A number of systems have been shut down and replaced by PPIRS. The Architect-Engineer Contract Administration Support System (ACASS), a Web-enabled application for architect-engineer contract performance evaluations, and the Construction Contractor Appraisal Support System (CCASS), were merged into the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to sunset those legacy systems in October 2005. The Army's Past Performance Information Management System (PPIMS) was merged into CPARS and closed down in April 2007.CPARS has been transformed into the primary DoD report card feeder system to PPIRS. In fact, some of the functions of CPARS have been closed down to encourage source-selection committees to use PPIRS. PPIRS has grown to 82,000 detailed report cards, which furnish contractor performance ratings and supporting narratives for many business sectors, including major systems, information technology, services, hardware, architect-engineer, and construction. Records can be searched by contract, contractor, agency, dates of performance, dollar value, and other criteria. A proposed FAR rule explaining how to better use and collect performance evaluations, along with a new Best Practices Guide for Contractor Performance in the Acquisition Process are in development. A draft guide was published in the Federal Register November 17, 2006, and more than two hundred comments are being evaluated by a cross-agency review team.

Excluded Parties list System

The Web-based Excluded Parties List System (EPLS, www.epls.gov) replaced the printed List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Non-Procurement Programs. EPLS is used by federal acquisition professionals, federal suspension and debarment communities, and government contractors that need to identify parties excluded from receiving federal contracts, certain subcontracts, and certain types of federal financial and nonfinancial assistance and benefits. EPLS users also include a broad segment of financial (banking, mortgage, loan, etc.), grants, and acquisition organizations. EPLS users are able to search, view, and download current and archived exclusions to extract administrative and statutory exclusions throughout government, as well as suspected terrorists and individuals barred from entering the United States. Nine different search options query the entire database, and results can be viewed immediately or downloaded.

FAR Part 9.4 requires contracting officials to check EPLS after receipt of bids and proposals and before awarding the contract. The suspension and debarment process protects the government from doing business with individuals and companies that have demonstrated poor performance, waste, fraud, violations, or abuse or entities identified as terrorists, drug traffickers, or engaged in the sale of illegal weapons. EPLS makes the job of agency debarment officials much easier as it simplifies the entry, retrieval, and search of debarment and suspension information.