Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG)

Overview

Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) is an external application maintained by Global Computer Enterprises that collects contract data from all Services and Agencies in the Government for reporting purposes. Congress, federal departments, and agencies use FPDS-NG to track small business goals, report number and amount of contracts to date, show geographical placement of contracts, and summarize contract data for a specific contractor.

CLM integrates closely with FPDS-NG by enabling users to report contract actions for an agency registered with FPDS-NG. CLM documents (contract actions) such as Awards, IDVs and Modifications are created and then reported to FPDS-NG using the relevant application pages in CLM. As per FAR 4.602a, all contract actions are required to be reported to FPDS-NG, unless there is a valid exemption reason for not reporting.

Additionally, users can open, view and edit a contract action report (CAR) by accessing the FPDS-NG website from within the CLM application. CARs can also be authenticated and posted to the FPDS-NG site from CLM.

Overview of FPDS-NG

Related Topics

Reporting Methods

Edit FPDS-NG Reporting Information page

Actions on a CAR

Approving a CAR

FPDS Compliance Report

Reporting Methods

When a CLM document (Award, IDV or Modification) is created, this contract action needs to be reported to FPDS-NG. The document that is created when you report a contract action is called a Contract Action Report (CAR).

A CLM document (award, IDV, or modification) has to be reported to FPDS-NG before it can be completely approved/released. When you select the Update FPDS-NG Reporting Information action from the CLM document Actions LOV, the FPDS-NG Reporting Information page displays. Select one of the following values from the Reporting Method LOV: Exempt, None and Single CAR.

Important: When the value of the reporting method is defaulted from the base document (contract action) to the modification document, that value will not be updated when the Reporting Method on the base document is updated. You will have to manually update the value of the reporting method on the modification.

• Exemption from FPDS Reporting (Exempt): If it is not necessary to report this contract action to FPDS-NG, the Reporting Method selected is Exempt. Thus the contract action is reviewed and approved without reporting it to FPDS-NG.

  If you have selected Exempt as the reporting method, you can always change this value to None or Single CAR at a later point in time, provided the CLM document is not approved. However, if the reporting method on the base document (award or IDV contract action) is Exempt and you have created a modification document, the same reporting method is auto-populated in the modification. Additionally, you cannot update the Reporting Method or Exemption Reason during the creation or approval of the modification document. Note that only one exemption can be specified for a CLM document or a modification to the CLM document.

• Release without Reporting (None): Select the value None from the Reporting Method LOV where there is neither an exemption reason nor an authenticated CAR associated to the contract action. The CLM document is then approved without reporting to FPDS-NG.

  If you have selected None as the reporting method, you can always change this value to Exempt or Single CAR at a later point in time, provided the CLM document is not approved. However, if the reporting method is None on the base document (Award or IDV contract action), then None is also populated in the modification document.

  The Approved without Reporting check box is displayed and you can select it to approve the contract action without reporting it to FPDS-NG. If you select this check box, you need to provide a reason for wanting to approve the CLM document without reporting the CAR to FPDS-NG, using the Reason LOV.

  If this check box is not selected, the contract action cannot be approved without being reported to FPDS-NG. Users are allowed to submit the document for approval, however, before the final approval the contract action must be reported on FPDS-NG. When this check box is not selected during final approval, a notification is sent to the buyer/last approver to notify him that the contract action needs to be reported to FPDS-NG.

• Single CAR Reporting (Single CAR): A contracting specialist creates an award or IDV or modification (contract action) in CLM and does not submit it for approval yet. The contracting specialist reports the contract action by punching out to FPDS-NG through CLM. The contracting specialist selects the value Single CAR from the Reporting Method LOV and initiates the creation of the CAR. The CAR in FPDS-NG gets pre-filled with the information from the contract action in CLM. The contracting specialist completes the CAR and saves it. The contracting specialist can start the authentication of the CAR from CLM and any missing /incorrect information is displayed in the CAR Validation Errors region in the FPDS-NG Reporting Information page. The contracting specialist corrects data on the CAR in FPDS-NG and on the contract action in CLM, as appropriate. The contracting specialist authenticates that the CAR will pass FPDS-NG validations. The contracting specialist obtains the necessary approvals on the contract action. The contracting specialist notifies the contracting officer that the contract action is ready to be approved and signed. The contracting officer approves and signs the contract action. The approval of the contract action triggers the approval of the CAR within FPDS-NG.

  The Approved without Reporting check box is displayed and you can select it to approve the contract action without reporting it (without having an authenticated CAR) to FPDS-NG. If you select this check box, you need to provide a reason for wanting to approve the CLM document without reporting the CAR to FPDS-NG, using the Reason LOV.

  If this check box is not selected, the contract action cannot be approved without being reported (without having an authenticated CAR) to FPDS-NG. The users are allowed to submit the document for approval, however, before the final approval the contract action must be reported to FPDS-NG. At the time of final approval, a notification is sent to the buyer/last approver to notify him that the contract action has to be reported to FPDS-NG.

  If the reporting method for the CLM document (contract action award or IDV) is Single CAR, you can change the reporting method to None or Exempt if the CAR has not been reported to FPDS-NG. When the CAR is reported to FPDS-NG, you cannot change the reporting method. Additionally, if the reporting method is Single CAR in the base document (Award or IDV contract action), then Single CAR as the reporting method is also displayed in the modification document.

Note: You can update the FPDS-NG information without creating a Modification for an Award/IDV. Updating the FPDS-NG information is not considered to be a modification request.

Edit FPDS-NG Reporting Information page

The Edit FPDS-NG Reporting Information page enables you to view and update the CAR information associated to the CLM document (contract action). You can also perform actions such as viewing, editing and authenticating the CAR, updating the PIID, removing the CAR link and deleting the CAR altogether. The top portion of the Edit FPDS-NG Reporting Information page displays the CLM document (contract action) information such as the Operating Unit, Status, Supplier, Supplier Site, Buyer, Currency, and so on. The Reporting Details region enables you to view and update the reporting information for the contract action.

The CAR Information sub-region displays CAR details, such as Report Type, CAR Status, CAR Number, Transaction Number, Agency ID, PIID.

The CAR Pre-Fill Information sub-region enables you to view the information that is defaulted in the CAR from the CLM document (contract action). Basic information such as Agency ID, PIID, Modification Number, Transaction Number, Date Signed, Contracting Office Agency ID, Contracting Office ID is displayed along with other details. Click the plus (Show) symbol next to the CAR Pre-Fill Information region name and the sub-region expands to display the CAR pre-fill details. You can also export the field names and their values to an html file using the Export button.

Note: The fields in the CAR Pre-Fill sub-region are reported to FPDS-NG and not the entire contract action information.

For more information on extending the CAR Pre-Fill sub-region, refer to the Oracle Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector Implementation Guide.

The CAR Validation Errors sub-region displays the errors and warnings that occur when you attempt to authenticate the CAR at the FPDS-NG site. The Error Codes and Error Description values come from the FPDS-NG website. You can export the error details to a csv file using the Export button. You can use the information in the CAR Validation Errors sub-region to correct or complete the CAR information.

Actions on a CAR

Using the Action LOV, you can perform tasks such as viewing or editing CARs, removing CAR links, deleting CARs, and so on. The Actions LOV is available only if the reporting method is Single CAR, not None or Exempt.

Additional Information: If you have the appropriate privileges assigned to you (as a user), you can perform the relevant CAR actions. For example, to edit a CAR, the system administrator should have granted the relevant function (Edit CAR Privilege) in the menu that is associated to your responsibility.

The actions you can perform are described below:

• Create CAR: This action creates a new CAR in FPDS-NG and redirects you to the FPDS-NG website, where you can view/edit the CAR. The CAR will be in edit mode in the FPDS-NG website, you can add or update information as per your requirement and click Save as Draft when done.

• View CAR: When you select the View CAR action, the CAR opens in the FPDS-NG website in read-only mode. You cannot update the CAR, you can only view the information previously added.

• Edit CAR: This action enables you to open the CAR in the FPDS-NG website in edit mode. Make your updates to the CAR and click Save as Draft to save your changes and return to CLM.

• Change PIID: The PIID (Document Number) field is read-only and gets it's value from the CLM document number excluding the symbols (e.g. hyphens). If you change the document number of the contract action using the Edit Document Number popup, you need to change the PIID of the CAR as well. Select the Change PIID action and then click Go. The PIID is changed automatically on the Reporting Details region.

• Authenticate CAR: The FPDS-NG site needs to validate the information updated in the CAR. The Authenticate CAR action enables FPDS-NG to validate the CAR information and save the CAR in the site.

• Delete CAR: Using this action, you can delete a CAR in FPDS-NG. The CAR will be deleted from the CLM tables as well as from FPDS-NG.

• Remove CAR Link: When you remove a CAR link, you are not deleting the CAR from FPDS-NG, you merely delete the CAR link between CLM and FPDS-NG. The CAR still exists in FPDS-NG. This action changes the reporting method of the CAR to None and you can start the Create CAR action again.

• Link CAR: To associate the CAR in FPDS-NG to CLM again, use the Link CAR action. This action re-establishes the CAR link between CLM and FPDS-NG.

• Approve CAR: This action enables you to approve a CAR. If the contract action has been approved and the CAR is not approved along with it, you can use this action to approved the CAR.

Approving a CAR

When the Approve without Reporting check box is selected, the contract action can be approved without being reported or without having an authenticated CAR in FPDS-NG.

When the Approve without Reporting check box is not selected, the contract action must be reported and must have an authenticated CAR before it can be finally approved. In such scenario, a notification is sent to the user (approver or buyer) to let them know that the CAR was not reported or authenticated. The user can then ensure that the CAR is reported and authenticated. The notification has an Edit Document option, that the user can use to update the CAR. Note that the CAR is saved and submitted for approval. The relevant validations during saving and submitting take place during this time.

Thus the user can ensure that the CAR is reported and authenticated. However the document can be submitted for approval and intermediate approvers can also approve the document.

When a contract action has been reported and has an authenticated CAR, the CAR approval is triggered along with contract action approval and after approval the CAR status gets changed to Approved.

If there are any issues with the approval process, a notification is sent to the user (buyer or approver) to let them know that the CAR was not approved, even though the contract action was approved. In such a situation, the FPDS-NG Reporting Information page now displays the Approve CAR action in the Action LOV. Using the Approve CAR action, the user can submit the CAR for approval as a document separate from the contract action.