693KA8-24-DRAFTSIR-INVERSE_Attachment J-4 Business Rules.pdf

INVERSE DRAFT SIR 693KA8-24-R-XXXXX

Attachment J-4

ATTACHMENT J-4 – BUSINESS RULES

ANNEX I - BUSINESS RULES FOR SERVICE ORDERING, INVOICING, AND PAYMENT

INTRODUCTION

The FAA’s Communications, Information, and Network Programs (CINP) Group has defined a set of business rules for how services will be ordered and invoiced under the telecommunications services contracts identified as being within the scope of the INVERSE contract. In addition, the

CINP will follow specific business rules in the payment of telecommunications invoices. A business rule represents a guideline or constraint upon the process of ordering telecommunications services, invoicing CLIN charges, and paying invoices. If a business rule is specific to a particular telecommunications service contract, it is noted as such. Otherwise, the rules apply to the ordering, invoicing, and payments for services obtain under all telecommunications services contracts identified with SOW.

The business rules are divided into six categories: General, Budgeting and Funds Obligation, Service Ordering, Invoicing, Expensing, Invoice Payment. Some rules only apply to the telecommunications service providers and are provided as background information for

INVERSE contractor. Some rules are derived from INVERSE requirements and are restated as business rules for completeness. All requirements upon the INVERSE contractor are defined in the SOW (Section C).

GENERAL

1. The Government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30.

2. If all options periods are exercised, the FENS contract will have a 15-year period of performance.

3. The FENS contractor will retain FAA service orders and FENS telecommunications invoices for the life of the FENS contract.

4. An Application Programming Interface (API) will be established between the INVERSE contract and the FENS contractor to support the automated exchange of:

a. FENS Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) prices;

b. FENS Service Orders;

c. FENS telecommunications invoices; and

d. Invoice dispute data, including the agreed-upon resolution of the dispute.

FAA BUDGETING AND FUNDS OBLIGATION

5. Delivery Orders and DO modifications will be used to obligate the funds to pay for FENS services.

6. At the discretion of the FAA, administrative changes to Delivery Orders and Delivery Order modifications may be processed to change the ACC(s) or AFF(s) used to fund particular services. Such changes can occur prior to the expenditure of funds.

7. Changes to the ACC(s) or AFF(s) used to fund particular services will be documented through revision to an existing funding agreement or creation of a new funding agreement referencing the administrative changes to the Service Orders associated with those services.

8. FAA Facilities and Equipment (F&E) funds are used to implement new systems, facilities, and capabilities within the National Airspace System (which includes replacements for existing systems, facilities, and capabilities).

9. F&E funds are available for program execution for 3 years.

10. F&E funds pay the monthly recurring charges for telecommunications services supporting new F&E equipment for up to two full fiscal years beyond the fiscal year in which the F&E equipment was commissioned or began operation.

11. An administrative change to the ACC or AFF number(s) will be processed in conjunction with the hand-off from F&E to OPS through administrative changes to the service order associated with those services. When the period of F&E funding ends, recurring charges for telecommunications services are handed-off to FAA Operations (OPS) funding.

12. FAA OPS funds are used for recurring expenses (e.g. personnel costs, utilities, contract maintenance services, etc.).

13. OPS funds are available for program execution for two years and expire on September 30 if not obligated.

SERVICE ORDERING

14. The Contracting Officer or their designee is solely responsible for awarding and modifying the associated telecommunications services contract.

15. The Contracting Officer or their designee is solely responsible for issuing all delivery orders

(DO) under a telecommunications services contract.

16. Once the delivery orders have been established, the Contracting Officer will issue delivery order modifications against designated DOs.

17. The INVERSE contractor will receive an electronic copy of each DO and DO modification in addition to an electronic summary (that will be provided in a format to be specified by the

FAA).

18. There is no limit on the number of DOs or DO modifications issued under a telecommunications services contract.

19. One or more Delivery Order Line Item numbers will be cited on the initial issuance of a

Delivery Order and subsequent Delivery Order modifications. On each new Delivery Order modification, the funds obligation official has the option of incrementing the Delivery Order

Line Item number or using a Delivery Order Line Item number cited on a previous mod.

20. Each Delivery Order Line Item will identify one or more Accounting Classification Codes

(ACCs) or AFFs and identify the amount of funding associated with each ACC or AFF.

21. Each funding agreement will contain one or more Delivery Order Number, Delivery Order mod number, Delivery Order Line Item number, and ACCs or AFFs. The funding agreement will also identify the rules for allocating expenses to the specified Delivery Order Number, Delivery Order mod number, Delivery Order Line Item number, and ACCs or AFFs combination(s).

22. Only designated ordering officials have the authority to issue service orders against specific funded DOs.

23. No effort may be performed under a contract unless authorized by a funded DO modification or as authorized by the Contracting Officer or the Contracting Officer’s Representative

(COR).

a. No routine Service Order may be issued until funding has been obligated on a DO modification by an authorized Contracting Officer.

b. For Urgent and Emergency requirements, a Contracting Officer or designated ordering official may authorize effort prior to funding obligation. For example, Urgent and

Emergency Service Orders may be issued prior to the obligation of funds if approved by a Contracting Officer or an authorized ordering official. In these cases, obligated a funding agreement identifier will be assigned to the services and their costs, but no funding will be available until funds are obligated with the new funding agreement identifier. This will lead to funds to cover initial costs being drawn from OPS Base until the new funding agreement funds are obligated, whereupon the accumulated borrow of

OPS funds will be paid back through expensing of the total accumulated costs to the new obligated award lines.

24. The INVERSE contractor is responsible for retrieving service orders from the FENS FAA

User Portal. Until the FENS User Portal is fully operational, an interim process will be established for the INVERSE contractor to obtain service orders.

25. Each service order has a service order number used to uniquely identify it. The service order number is assigned by the telecommunications service provider.

26. The effective date of an SO is the day the order is submitted to the telecommunications service provider by the Government. The effective date defines the starting point for the contractual requirements for turnaround time on delivering service and will be used to determine when service delivery is late.

27. When a Service Order is amended, the Service Order revision number is incremented.

28. A “Change Order” is defined as a Service Order that enacts a (service-affecting or administrative) change to an existing service. When a Change Order is submitted, the

Service Order revision number is incremented.

29. The FENS User Portal will assign a unique FENS Identifier Number (FIN) to each service being quoted and continue to use that FIN in all future transactions referring to that service.

30. The FIN will remain with a service for the life of that service.

31. Once assigned, a FIN will not change or be amended.

32. FINs cannot be reused.

33. FENS telecommunications services and implementation-related Support Services may be ordered through the FENS User Portal.

34. The FAA may amend service orders after being transmitted to the telecommunications service provider.

35. There may be a specific CLIN charge for expediting a service order. On the FENS contract, the charge is determined on an individual case basis and the INVERSE contractor will be informed of the agreed upon amount of the expedite charge in each instance.

36. The FAA may cancel service orders after being transmitted to the telecommunications service provider.

37. Service order information is updated in the FENS User Portal within [TBD] hours of a change of status.

INVOICING

38. For each telecommunications services contract, there will be a single, integrated invoice each month that contains all information necessary to perform invoice reconciliation including

CLIN-level charges, and a roll-up of charges to the Delivery Order level.

39. The FENS Contracting Officer will be involved in the invoice review and verification process for items ordered through the FENS User Portal to make official selection of final discrepancies and rejected adjustments from the candidate list.

40. The FAA Contracting Officer will certify the monthly invoice and authorize payment to be made based on the reconciliation performed by the INVERSE contractor.

41. The FAA Contracting Officer is the only official authorized to certify and forward an invoice for payment.

42. Discrepancies identified by the INVERSE contractor will not be negotiated with the telecommunications service provider, i.e. the amount of credit due will not be subject to compromise.

43. Non-CLIN charges (PICCs, USFs, taxes, surcharges, etc.) will be listed on the invoice separately from the CLINs for telecommunications services to which they apply.

44. With the exception of credits for late service delivery, when a credit is due to the FAA, the telecommunications service provider should apply it on the next monthly invoice.

45. The Service Acceptance date is the day of notification to the site representative of service order completion (unless otherwise notified).

46. The FAA may dispute Service Verification results for up to 30 days following Service

Acceptance.

a. If an indication of disputed Service Acceptance is recorded on the service order prior to the INVERSE contractor receiving the next invoice, the INVERSE contractor must exclude any associated charges from payment and note them as a discrepancy under the category of “Billing started before service acceptance date.”

b. If the disputed Service Acceptance is not recorded on the service order prior to the

INVERSE contractor receiving the next invoice, the INVERSE contractor must allow the charges and expense them per the rules specified on the service order.

c. Once the dispute regarding Service Acceptance is resolved between the FAA and the telecommunications service provider, the Service Acceptance Date recorded on the service order will be updated if necessary. The INVERSE contractor must ensure that any billing adjustments due to an update to the Service Acceptance Date are properly invoiced.

47. Telecommunications service providers can commence billing for a service no earlier than the service acceptance date.

48. Any accepted service for which the service or any associated CLINs are not invoiced, will be considered a discrepancy and be listed as “Not Invoiced.” The INVERSE contractor will advise the telecommunications service provider of CLINs “Not Invoiced” to ensure they are billed during the next invoice cycle.

49. CLIN prices are updated in the FENS FAA User Portal within [TBD] working days after approval from the FAA Contracting Officer.

50. The INVERSE contractor will obtain the Service Acceptance Date from the completed service order data available through the FENS FAA User Portal.

51. There may be one or more FINs associated with a service order.

52. There may be one or more service orders associated with a FIN.

53. There may be one or more CLINs associated with a FIN and/or service order.

54. All non-recurring charges incurred under a telecommunications services contract must be invoiced within 90 days of acceptance of the associated service by the FAA or they will not be accepted unless an extension is formally approved by the Contracting Officer.

55. All recurring charges must be invoiced within 90 days of the end of the billing period in which they were incurred or they will not be accepted unless an extension is formally approved by the Contracting Officer.

56. All telecommunications invoices should reflect the CLIN prices that were in effect when the service was provided.

57. Prorating of CLIN charges:

a. All prorated charges will be reflected on the monthly invoice.

b. The proration time period is calculated in days.

c. All CLIN charges will be prorated through the date of service termination or change.

d. Prorated CLIN charges will be broken down into daily amounts based on the monthly recurring charge and multiplied by the number of days in the proration period.

58. Invoice charges will be stopped on the earlier of the service disconnect date specified on the

Service Order and the actual service disconnect date.

59. When a service is disconnected, the recurring charges on the invoice will be prorated to include the period from the start of the billing period through (and including) the service disconnect date.

EXPENSING

60. Invoice charges for services ordered via service order must be expensed against the accounting code(s) specified on the associated funding agreement. The amount expensed against an accounting code cannot exceed the funds remaining within the account as determined by the difference between the obligated amount and the funds expended to date.

a. If amendments or change orders have been processed that identify supplemental funding, charges must be expensed against the original funding source so that it is depleted before expensing against subsequent accounting codes.

b. If amendments or change orders have been processed that specify a new funding source that replaces funding sources cited on prior versions of the service order, charges must be expensed against the accounting code specified on the latest revision of the service order.

c. When multiple accounting codes have been specified on a service order, the INVERSE contractor must expense charges within a funding agreement in accordance with the allocation rules as applied in the following order:

1. Expense funds with earliest Obligation Authority Expiration

2. Expense funds with earliest Obligation Date

3. Expense funds with lower Shipment and Distribution Codes within the same

Delivery Order.

61. The SLA-based invoice credits for telecommunications services must be applied to the respective Delivery Order’s CINP Base Funding Agreement designator to which the charges for the associated billing period are being applied and consistent with the rules by which those charges are being applied.

62. SLA-based invoice credits for Security Services must be applied to the respective Delivery

Order’s CINP Base Funding Agreement designator.

63. If there are no available OPS Base funding agreement award line funds on the appropriate

Delivery Order, then the INVERSE contractor must notify the FENS CO and FENS COR.

The INVERSE contractor must wait for direction from the FENS CO and FENS COR as to which award line funds must be used to temporarily cover the charges to be expensed. The

INVERSE contractor must notify the FENS CO and FENS COR what appropriate Funding

Agreement funds are required to support reversing the temporary borrow transactions.

64. F&E funds are available for expense purposes for 5 years after appropriation.

65. OPS funds are available for expense purposes for 5 years after obligation.

INVOICE PAYMENTS

66. The FAA HQs financial management office (AFM) is the payment office for all FENS invoices.

67. The FENS contractor will submit an original monthly invoice to AFM and a duplicate invoice to the FENS contracting Officer and the COTR. The INVERSE contractor’s processing time begins when the invoice is available in the FENS FAA User Portal. Prior to the availability of the FENS invoice through the FENS FAA User Portal, the INVERSE contractor’s processing time will begin upon their receipt of an electronic copy of the invoice.

68. Telecommunications invoices will be paid within 30 days after receipt of a complete invoice.