Draft FPDS Data Accuracy SOW.pdf

Statement of Work

Federal Procurement Data Automated Validation System and Contractor Responsibility Assessments

C.1 Background As required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 4.6, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports all procurement actions that are valued above the micro-purchase threshold to the Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation (FPDS-NG). FPDS-NG is an automated system used to collect and report on federal procurement spending and serves as the U.S. Government’s single authoritative repository for federal procurement award data for all contracts valued over the micro-purchase threshold. FPDS-NG provides the following benefits:

• Transparency and visibility into government contracting

• Contracting information across the federal spectrum in real time, down to the contract action

• Powerful business decision-making tool for the contracting community

• Ability to analyze data so as to identify contract management and market trends

• Serves as a foundation for standardizing contracting processes

• Reinforces procurement-related policy changes by means of standardized data fields that are utilized across the federal enterprise

• Reduces system redundancies and costs

• Fulfillment of near-real time data requests by means of the self-service data retrieval capability

• Data is available within 24 hours of award and can be viewed by congress, press, state government officials, IG & auditors, FOIA offices, GAO, etc.

The data that is available in FPDS-NG can be reviewed by the public via the outward facing Web site located at https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/index.php/en/.

FAR 9 requires that all contracts shall be awarded to responsible prospective contractors only. Therefore, contracting officers must make an affirmative determination of responsibility prior to making an award.

Contractoring officers must consider several factors in making this determination, as laid out in the FAR.

Contractors are responsible for providing representation and certifications regarding responsibility matters via the System for Award Management (SAM.gov). Contracting Officers are required to review performance and integrity information available in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), available at cpars.gov, including FAPIIS information from the SAM Exclusions and the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Contracting officers are also prohibited from awarding, renewing, or extending a contract with an entity identified as excluded in SAM. Per FAR 17.207, contracting officers must also consider the contractor’s past performance evaluations on other contract actions when exercising an option.

C.2 Scope of Work As the U.S. Government’s official repository for acquisition-related data, it is imperative that the data contained in FPDS-NG is valid and accurate. The purpose of this requirement is to provide an automated data validation system that identifies suspected or known FPDS-NG errors to ensure that the entered FPDS-NG data is valid and accurate. The system shall also automate the annual FPDS-NG Verification and Validation Review, and generate the Exhibit II required by OMB. This requirement also includes generating timely contractor responsibility assessment reports that include contractor responses to relevant representations and certifications in SAM, status of exclusions in SAM, and any applicable records in FAPIIS and FPDS-NG. The requirements within this SOW do not change due to the future FPDS-NG migration to SAM.gov.

https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/index.php/en/

C.3 Requirements

C.3.1 Kickoff Meeting. By no later than 1 business day after award, the Contractor shall provide a draft version of training/user materials for review. (Deliverable 1) Within 5 business days of award, the Contractor shall meet with the assigned CO, COR, and other departmental employees that will be involved with the implementation of the proposed and accepted solution. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that all parties involved have a common understanding of the solution and decide on any of the associated attributes that can be tailored or configured. (Deliverable 2)

C.3.2 Automated Data Validation System. The Contractor shall provide a solution that detects and reports known or suspected data errors or anomalies for all possible data fields within FPDS-NG. The solution shall be completed without interface to the SEC’s procurement writing system, PRISM. Within two business days of a FPDS-NG contract action report (CAR) being finalized in FPDS, the solution shall provide automated data alerts outlining the known or suspected data errors or anomalies to the individual who prepared the FPDS-NG CAR, which tends to be a contract specialist (CS), as well as the individual who last modified the FPDS-NG CAR, which is typically the assigned Contracting Officer (CO). The automated feedback alerts shall be intuitive and clearly identify the CAR number, the known or suspected data error or anomaly, and supporting rationale that provides insight into the reason(s) that the data is or appears to be in error. In order to reduce the likelihood of future errors, it is imperative that the supporting alerts provide clear and concise rationale, and include the details that are necessary to understand why the known or suspected error was detected. For those identified data anomalies that are confirmed as being a “false-positive” error, the solution shall allow the SEC user to tag the error accordingly and ensure that the error is not registered again for that specific FPDS-NG CAR. Specific metrics include:

1. Automate the monitoring of FPDS-NG data quality checks for potential errors for all possible data fields;

2. Provide automated feedback via email to the FPDS-NG data submitter in a timely fashion (within two business days of FPDS-NG CAR approval);

3. Promote supervisory oversight in a time sensitive manner through automated notifications and a dashboard;

4. Provide a means by which the SEC’s FPDS users can comment on or explain ostensible data quality problems;

5. Provide a means by which the SEC Office of Acquisitions can introduce new data quality checks;

and

6. Track data quality metrics/improvement over time.

C.3.3 System Operation. The Contractor shall operate the system and ensure that all data error checks are maintained in accordance with any changes to FPDS-NG, to include data check creation, enhancement, or deletion.

C.3.4 Automated FPDS-NG Verification and Validation Review. The Contractor shall provide a list of sample actions for the SEC to complete the annual FPDS-NG Verification and Validation Review, in accordance with OMB guidelines outlined in OMB’s May 31, 2011 memorandum titled Improving Federal Procurement Data Quality - Guidance for Annual Verification and Validation. (Deliverable 3) The system shall provide links to all CARs in the sample, and include an automated form to capture review results and generate Exhibit II, in accordance with the OMB memorandum. (Deliverable 4) The system shall allow for the assignment of review actions to individual users, and include a dashboard to track the amount and percentage of reviews completed as well as the data accuracy by field. The system shall allow for corrections to be made following initial completion of a review form.

C.3.5 Contractor Responsibility Assessment Reports. The Contractor shall offer an automated tool to provide contractor responsibility assessment reports including but not limited to contractor responses to relevant representations and certifications in SAM, status of exclusions in SAM, and any applicable records in FAPIIS and FPDS-NG. The reports shall be generated based off of the contractor’s unique entity ID (UEI) and be available within 30 minutes of request. Reports shall be easy to read, available in a PDF format, and include the date and time that it was generated. Reports shall include references to applicable FAR guidance when negative information is included about a contractor to assist the Contracting Officer in making an appropriate determination.

C.3.6 Helpdesk Support Services. The Contractor shall provide helpdesk support services to the SEC’s identified administrators/technical points of contact. The helpdesk support services shall cover all issues, regardless of assigned severity level, and be available from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. All helpdesk tickets shall be resolved within 2 business days. The Contractor shall notify the SEC administrators/technical points of contact as soon as practicable, but no later than 2 hours after discovering any system outages. The Contractor shall provide an estimated timeframe for the system to be up and running again and status updates as necessary including once the issue has been resolved and normal operations have resumed.

C.3.7 Reporting. The proposed and accepted solutions above shall include reporting capabilities that allow for the SEC’s leadership and Partnerships for Acquisitions Excellence (PACE) branch to view and easily understand the number of known or suspected errors that occurred during a given time period. The reporting capabilities shall be flexible enough to provide a high-level, dashboard view that can be drilled down for more granular detail surrounding each of the known or suspected errors as well as the disposition of each requirement. The contractor shall provide a monthly report summarizing activity no later than the 5th of the month. (Deliverable 5)

C.3.8 Training. The Contractor shall deliver a final version of the training material(s) and user manual(s) that is comprehensive and details how the system operates and the actions that are required by a recipient of a known or suspect data error alert, as well as the materials that are required of the administrators/technical points of contact. (Deliverable 6) The Contractor shall also provide quick and easy desk reference guides that synopsize the steps or actions required of a recipient and administrator/technical points of contact. (Deliverable 7) The SEC reserves the right to copy and distribute the training materials and quick reference guides for use within the SEC. The Contractor shall provide up to two training sessions for the SEC’s Contracting Officers and Contract Specialist (Deliverable 8) and up to two training sessions for the administrators/technical points of contact (Deliverable 9). The training schedule will be determined at the kickoff meeting.

C.4 System Requirements

1. The system must be externally hosted.

2. Email notifications must be compatible with Microsoft Outlook.

3. The dashboard and reporting capabilities must be available by means of a web portal that complies with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

4. The system must have a unique log-in for users. The SEC anticipates approximately 60 users requiring system access.

D. Deliverables

No. Deliverable Description Due Date Recipient 1 Draft User Guide and

Training Packages See paragraph C.3.1 1 day after award date COR and PM

2 Initial Project Meeting See paragraph C.3.1 5 days after award date

COR and PM

No. Deliverable Description Due Date Recipient 3 List of Sample Actions for

Annual FPDS-NG Verification and Validation Review

See paragraph C.3.4 As agreed upon COR and PM

4 Proof of Concept for Automated FPDS-NG Verification and Validation System

See paragraph C.3.4 As agreed upon COR and PM

5 Monthly Status Report See paragraph C.3.7 The 5th of the month

COR and PM

6 Final User Guide and Training Packages

See paragraph C.3.8 As agreed upon COR and PM

7 Desk Reference Guides See paragraph C.3.8 As agreed upon COR and PM

8 Up to two (2) Training Sessions Contract Officers & Contract Specialist

See paragraph C.3.8

TBD COR and PM

9 Up to two (2) Training Sessions Administrators & Technical Points of Contact

See paragraph C.3.8 TBD COR and PM

E. Place of Performance The place of performance will be at the contractor’s location, except for any meetings/training sessions that may occur at the SEC’s headquarters located at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20008.

Training/meetings may occur virtually.

F. Period of Performance The period of performance shall be for a base year plus four (4) option years. The period of performance shall begin on the date specified on the award.