EDI or VP Certification.pdf

GSA Federal Acquisition Service

U.S. General Services Administration 1800 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20405

EDI or Vendor Portal Certification

Please read the below information regarding the required use of either Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or Vendor Portal (VP) for the receiving of orders from GSA. By signing this document, a vendor certifies that they are capable of and agree to receive orders via one of these methods (orders will NO longer be transmitted via fax).

C.1 Vendor Portal (VP) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Requirements

The government will allow vendors to choose either VP or EDI for conducting business transactions with GSA. VP requires retrieval of orders and significant manual entries of transactional data via a GSA provided portal. EDI is better suited for higher volume vendors but upfront costs can be significant. GSA prefers EDI, and suggests vendors expecting to receive greater than 50 orders per month to choose EDI. Additional information and points of contact for business transaction processing requirements can be found at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/151058.

C.1.1 VP Transactional Business Requirements

Vendors choosing Vendor Portal shall be provided with an internet portal address and logon to perform commodity transaction processing with GSA.

All transactions will be submitted to and received by the “prime” vendor ONLY. Any additional electronic transaction communication that is required to fulfill Customer Order(s) between the vendors and its suppliers shall be the responsibility of the “prime” vendor ONLY. No subcontractor submissions accepted, and contractor teaming arrangements must designate a lead vendor.

The Contractor is required to work with GSA to understand and adhere to GSA business rules and requirements as they relate to:

● Processing of backorders;

● Purchase order acknowledgements;

● Shipment information;

● Delivery information;

● Delivery documentation;

● Accuracy of data provided to GSA;

● Contractor cancellations;

● Customer cancellations;

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/151058

● Interpretation of GSA data in order to meet GSA shipping documentation guidelines; and

● Processing of emergency purchase orders

C.1.2 VP Transactional Data Requirements

The Vendor is required to retrieve orders and provide the following information and data via the Vendor Portal:

● Acknowledge receipt of a purchase order within one business day

● Acknowledge receipt of a purchase order change within one business day

● Provide Requests for:

○ Backorder

○ Changes in delivery dates

○ Substitution

○ Cancellation

● Provide purchase order status of: cancelled, backordered, or shipped;

○ Back Orders MUST have an Estimated Delivery Date included

● Provide shipment information

○ Shipment Status (ship, cancel or backorder)

○ Carrier tracking number

● Export Packing Facility or Consolidation and Containerization point used

● Provide Advance Ship Notice within one business day following shipment

● Provide delivery confirmation information including, but not limited to, date of delivery

(when requested for specific shipments)

● Invoice for orders fulfilled when shipped

○ Correct erroneous information provided to GSA on the disposition of a purchase order;

○ Full line accountability is required

○ Utilize the FedPay portal at http://apps.ocfo.gsa.gov/vendorpayment/index.htm.

In addition, GSA may require the vendor to fully comply with future system or transaction changes including, but not limited to, the following:

● Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message/Shipment Delivery Date

● Inventory Inquiry/Advice codes

C.1.3 EDI Transactional Business Requirements

Vendors shall be able to reliably perform commodity transaction processing with GSA by utilizing a standardized electronic method of communication, compatible with GSA transactional systems.

GSA utilizes the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) X-12 family of transaction sets to electronically communicate both “Inbound” and “Outbound” transaction sets.

All transactions will be submitted to and received by the “prime” vendor ONLY. Any additional electronic transaction communication that is required to fulfill Customer Order(s) between the http://apps.ocfo.gsa.gov/vendorpayment/index.htm vendors and its suppliers shall be the responsibility of the ”prime” vendor ONLY. No subcontractor submissions accepted, and contractor teaming arrangements must designate a lead vendor.

The Contractor is required to work with GSA to understand and adhere to GSA business rules and requirements as they relate to:

● Processing of backorders;

● Purchase order acknowledgements;

● Shipment information;

● Delivery information;

● Delivery documentation;

● Accuracy of data provided to GSA;

● Contractor cancellations;

● Customer cancellations;

● Interpretation of GSA data in order to meet GSA shipping documentation guidelines; and

● Processing of emergency purchase orders

All electronic communications between GSA vendors shall be through the GSA EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Gateway or a GSA identified third-party service provider.

C.1.3.1 Initiating Electronic Communications with GSA

GSA reserves the right to test and validate the vendor’s EDI capabilities for all required transaction sets before on-boarding is authorized.

GSA will coordinate the process to on-board awarded vendors directly to the GSA EDI Gateway or an approved GSA identified third-party service provider using the ANSI X-12 EDI standards detailed in the sections below and identified in Table 1 of this document.

To initiate the onboard process, GSA will provide vendors with a list of EDI questions which are used to determine specific vendor EDI capabilities. The questions shall be completed by the vendor and returned to GSA within five (5) business days.

Upon completing the EDI-Survey, GSA will coordinate end-to-end process testing with the vendor to assure compliance with EDI specifications. The end-to-end testing is estimated to be completed within 90 days after contract award/modification, excluding any protest periods.

C.1.3.2 EDI Transaction Implementation Conventions

The table below, shows the EDI Implementation Specification for a given transaction set. The following web site is available as a resource for researching detail on the business to government and government to business transactions https://vsc.gsa.gov/EDIUser/eddven.cfm

EDI TRANSACTION IMPLEMENTATION CONVENTIONS

EDI

Transaction Version Notes ISA GS (Group)

Version https://vsc.gsa.gov/EDIUser/eddven.cfm

(Interchange) Version

Invoice 810 4010 00401 004010

Invoice 810 3010 (4010 is preferred) 00401 003010

Purchase Order 850 3040 00304 003040 Purchase Order Acknowledgement 855 4010 00401 004010 Advance Ship Notice (ASN) / Manifest 856 4010 00401 004010 Purchase Order Cancellation / Customer Initiated Change 860 4010 00401 004010

Functional Acknowledgement 997

3010, 3040, Based on interchange version same version of transaction set it is acknowledging.

Note:

GSA reserves the right to implement additional ANSI X-12 transaction sets as its business operations deem appropriate and will require vendors to implement them in a timely manner.

Future transaction sets may include EDI 846 (Inventory Inquiry/Advice), EDI 214 (Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message/Shipment Delivery Date), EDI 865 (Purchase Order Change Acknowledgement), and EDI 315 (Status Details, Ocean).

C.1.3.3 Validation Testing of EDI Transaction Sets

GSA personnel will validate vendor’s EDI Transaction Set communication following contract award or modification. GSA will coordinate end-to-end testing with GSA systems and the vendor’s systems.

At a minimum, the following transactions will be validated:

● EDI 850 Purchase Order

● EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgement

● EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement

● EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice/Manifest

● EDI 860 Purchase Order Cancellation / Customer Initiated Change

● EDI 810 Invoice

GSA may select up to 20 items from the vendor’s catalog for end-to-end testing and conduct testing with live production orders. These items will be tested under a number of different scenarios (cancellation, backorder, multiple shipments, etc.)

C.1.3.4 Business Communications to and from the Government

GSA utilizes the ANSI X-12 family of EDI specifications to electronically communicate both “Inbound” (transactions provided by the vendor to GSA) and “Outbound” (transactions sent by GSA to the vendor) transaction sets for its business operations.

The following Inbound and Outbound EDI transaction sets shall be required for EDI vendors:

● Inbound EDI types (Transactions sent to GSA from Vendors)

● 855: Purchase Order Acknowledgement with three possible types of status:

o Accept, Backorder or Cancel (Note: Any backorder must be accompanied by an expected ship date)

● 856: Advance Ship Notice/Manifest with three possible types of status:

o Ship, Backorder or Cancel (Note: Any backorder must be accompanied by an expected delivery date)

● 810: Invoice

● 997: Functional Acknowledgement

● Outbound EDI types (Transactions sent from GSA to Vendors)

● 850: Purchase Order (PO) o GSA POs are transmitted hourly to the vendor. The vendor is required, at a minimum, to acknowledge all purchase orders within 24 hours of receipt.

● 860: Purchase Order Cancellation / Customer Initiated Change

● 997: Functional Acknowledgement

C.1.3.5 Business to Government Communications using EDI Transaction Sets

This section provides details regarding business-to-government transactions using EDI.

Vendors shall work with GSA to understand and adhere to GSA business rules and requirements as they relate to:

● Accuracy of data provided to GSA

● Purchase Order Acknowledgements

● Shipment information

● Delivery information

● Delivery documentation

● Processing of emergency Purchase Orders

● Processing of Backorders with the appropriate Estimated Ship Dates

● Customer cancellations

● Vendor cancellations

● The Interpretation of GSA data in order to meet GSA shipping documentation guidelines

Note: Submission of Vendor’s catalog will be direct to GSA using current mechanisms of EDI or the Schedule Input Program (SIP) process. Currently, GSA is transitioning to a new Formatted Product Tool (FPT) for catalog uploads which will replace the SIP process.

● Functional Acknowledgement (EDI 997)

An EDI 997 is sent from the vendor to GSA in order to acknowledge the receipt of any EDI transmission sent from GSA. The EDI 997 must be sent no later than four (4) hours after receipt of an EDI transaction set from the GSA.

● Purchase Order Acknowledgement (EDI 855)

Purchase Order Acknowledgements shall be communicated with one of three possible types of status for each line item of the PO. The possible status types are; Accept, Backorder or Cancel.

Any EDI 855 Backorder shall be accompanied by an estimated ship date.

● Advanced Ship Notice/Manifest (EDI 856)

The Advance Ship Notice/Manifest shall be communicated with one of three possible types of status for each line item of the PO. The possible types of status are; Ship, Backorder or Cancel. EDI 856 for shipped orders shall be communicated within 24 hours after an order has been shipped to a customer.

Any EDI 856 Backorder shall be accompanied by an estimated ship date.

For export shipments that cannot be mailed, this transaction set informs GSA of the Export Packing Facility or the Consolidation and Containerization Point (CCP) that received the shipment. The EDI 856 transaction set shall always include full line-item accountability by individually listing all requisition lines. Also, the shipment information, including Carrier and Tracking Number must be provided.

GSA reserves the right to require any additional information it deems appropriate to conduct normal business operations. This may include but is not limited to, Proof of Delivery, Signature information of the individuals receiving items and Date of Delivery, etc.

The EDI 856 shall be provided to GSA prior to submitting the invoice (EDI 810) for any item.

● Purchase Order Cancellations or Customer-Initiated Change Request (EDI 860)

Within 24 hours after a Purchase Order Cancellation or Customer-Initiated Purchase Order Change Request has been received by the vendor, the vendor shall provide status on any order with either a Purchase Order Acknowledgement (EDI 855) or the Advance Ship Notice/Manifest (EDI 856).

● Invoice (EDI 810)

Invoices shall be sent via the EDI 810 in a timely manner and only after the item(s) being invoiced have actually shipped and GSA has been provided the appropriate status via the EDI 856. Invoices shall be sent to GSA via their EDI Gateway and forwarded to Fedpay for processing.

C.1.3.6 Government to Business Communications Using EDI Transaction Sets

This section provides details regarding government-to-business transactions using EDI.

● Purchase Order (EDI 850)

GSA will submit Purchase Orders to vendors utilizing the EDI 850 transaction sets. EDI 850 transaction sets provide all the data necessary to identify commodity information and detailed customer information as well as delivery, payment and billing requirements for all orders. These POs are transmitted hourly to the vendor, seven (7) days a week.

● Purchase Order Cancellation (EDI 860)

An EDI 860 Cancellation (GSA Initiated) transaction set cancels a customer order in its entirety or for the full/partial quantity of a line item. GSA receives a cancellation status if the cancellation was successful or a shipment status if the cancellation was unsuccessful.

An EDI 860 Customer-Initiated Change Request transaction set initiates an overage shipment transaction (a situation where the customer desires to retain and pay for the extra items received) and provides the data necessary to generate a proper invoice.

● Functional Acknowledgement (EDI 997)

An EDI 997 is sent from GSA to the vendor to acknowledge the receipt of any EDI transmission sent to the GSA.

C.2 Customer Order Fulfillment Exceptions

All Purchase Order line item(s) that have not been fulfilled within the contractual delivery time-limit (exceptions) must be communicated to the GSA Contracting Officer, or a duly authorized GSA representative, on a weekly basis with the appropriate method and timeline for resolution. This communication must include the entire population of transactions and must include, at a minimum, the expected shipment or cancellation date for each line item. The preferred format for this communication is Microsoft Excel or equivalent.

Vendor Name: _________________________________________________________________

Utilizing EDI or VP? (Please select one): ____________________________________________

EDI or VP Point of Contact: _____________________________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________ Date: _______________________