April 24th, 2012
Please click on the question to review the answer.
Q.
When was eSRS official launch?
A. Its initial operating capability (IOC) official launch was on October 28th, 2005. Full operating capacity (FOC) was launched March 25th, 2006 and the system continues to be enhanced.
Q.
When did DOD start using eSRS?
A.
Department of Defense organizations that handle unclassified contracts began using eSRS in October 2008. Classified contract reporting should still be done through your government contracting official.
Q.
How can a contractor change their registration data? When I entered my DUNS number on the registration screen, the system self populated my organizational information and it is incorrect. The system will not allow me to edit it.
A.
When a contractor enters their DUNS number to register, the eSRS will self populate the Contractor Information, and the Physical and Mailing address data fields from the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). If there is an issue with the pre-populated data, the contractor will need to contact CCR and correct their data in that system prior to registering in eSRS. Once the contractor corrects the data in the CCR, it will take approximately 48 hours before eSRS is refreshed with the new data. Again, the "rule of thumb" is that any change a contactor makes in the CCR, they should wait approximately two days before trying to register in eSRS again.
If you registered even though the data was wrong, please fix the data in CCR and check to see if eSRS refreshed the information after two business days. If not, please contact the eSRS Helpdesk and make them aware of the situation.
All prime contractors are required to be registered in CCR to do business with the government. Lower tier contractors do not have the requirement to register in CCR unless they themselves have a contract with the government. However, in the event the contractor has not registered in CCR, the contractor must now manually input, update and maintain the physical and mailing addresses in eSRS at time of registration.
If you are interested in registering at CCR please visit http://www.ccr.gov/.
Q.
What are Individual Subcontract Reports (ISR), Summary Subcontract Reports (SSR), and Commercial Reports?
A.
- ISR
-
An ISR (formally the SF 294) collects subcontract award data from prime/subcontractors that: (a) hold one or more contracts over $650,000 (over $1,500,000 for construction or public facility); and (b) are required to report subcontracts awarded to Small Business (SB), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), HUBZone Small Business (HUBZone SB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business concerns under a subcontracting plan. For the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Coast Guard, this form also collects subcontract awards for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs).
The ISR is not required from small businesses or for commercial items for which a commercial plan has been approved, nor from large businesses in the DoD Test Program for Negotiation of Comprehensive Subcontracting Plans.
- SSR
-
An SSR collects subcontract award data from prime/subcontractors that: (a) hold one or more contracts over $650,000 (over $1,500,000 for construction or public facility); and (b) are required to report subcontracts awarded to Small Business (SB), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), HUBZone Small Business (HUBZone SB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business concerns under a subcontracting plan. For the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Coast Guard, this form also collects subcontract awards for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs).
- Commercial Reports
-
Contractors with Commercial Plans (formerly known as Commercial Products Plans) are required to file only the SSR, not the ISR; moreover, they are required to file only once a year. When a contractor enters an SSR, the eSRS will prompt the user to specify whether or not the report is for a commercial plan. If the contractor indicates that this is so, the eSRS will provide a variation of the SSR specifically for contractors with a commercial plan. There are Help bubbles in the additional fields to guide the user through the report.
Q.
When are ISRs, SSRs and Commercial Reports due?
A.
- ISR
-
The ISR is due semi-annually and at contract completion, always within 30 days after the close of each reporting period unless otherwise directed by the contracting officer. Normally these deadlines would be April 30th for the period ended March 31st and October 30th for the period ended September 30th. A separate report is also due within 30 days after contract completion. Reports are required when due, regardless of whether there has been any subcontracting activity since the inception of the contract or since the last reporting period.
- SSR
-
SSRs must be submitted semi-annually (for the six months ended March 31st and the twelve months ended September 30th) for contracts with DOD and NASA, and annually (for twelve months ended September 30th) for contracts with civilian agencies, except for contracts covered by an approved Commercial Plan (see below). Reports are due 30 days after the close of each reporting period.
- Commercial Reports
-
This report is due within 30 days after the government's fiscal year.
Q.
How can I receive training?
A.
Contractors should contact their SBA Commercial Market Representative (CMR) for training.
- The CMR listing at http://www.sba.gov/GC/cmr.html provides the names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses of SBA's CMRs -roughly 36 people.
Training for government officials will be provided by their eSRS Agency Coordinator.
Q.
Who needs to use eSRS?
A.
In accordance with the memorandum issued by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) on November 3, 2005, along with other notices, all agencies submitting unclassified contracting information into FPDS-NG, their large prime contractors, and large subcontractors (i.e., subcontractors with subcontracting plans under the flow-down provision) should begin using eSRS upon deployment of IOC for both the summary and individual subcontract reporting. Entitlement Programs like OPM contractors under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and contractors holding Medicare contracts with HHS are currently exempt from this requirement and should continue to submit paper SF-294s and SF-295s to those agencies.
Q.
Is there any assistance when entering subcontracting reports?
A.
The system offers assistance in several ways. First, there are user guides available on the eSRS homepage (see the list on the right-hand side of the screen). Second, before entering the reports, the system will prompt you with a notice explaining the information that you will need to have on hand to enter those reports. Third, there are help bubbles ( ) throughout the reports that explain the data fields. You can also review the training webinars available on the site.
Further help for the contractors can be obtained from their regional SBA Commercial Market Representative (CMR). Government employees can contact their eSRS Agency Coordinator.
Q.
What do I do if I am unable to find my contract that I am contractually responsible for reporting our accomplishments?
A.
If you are a large prime contractor: In the event that you are unable to find or report against a contract that should be available through eSRS, you must contact your cognizant contracting officer for help. In order for you to report against your contract, your government contracting authority will have to report your award to Federal Procurement Data System -Next Generation (FPDS-NG), and they must flag the record as having a subcontracting plan. FPDS-NG is the central repository containing a searchable collection of over 12 million federal contract actions. FPDS-NG is the authoritative source of the basic contractual information used to pre-populate many of the eSRS fields when entering your contract number. For more information on FPDS-NG please visit https://www.fpds.gov.
If you are a large lower-tier subcontractor: In the event that you are unable to find or report against a contract that should be available through eSRS, you must contact the contractor with which you company has the contractual relationship.
Q.
How do I get help registering in the eSRS?
A.
To register in eSRS, the users should click their user type at the top of eSRS homepage, either government or contractors, and then click the Register tab on the following page.
If you have any questions about eSRS:
- Contractors should contact their nearest SBA Commercial Market Representative (CMR) (see list at http://www.sba.gov/GC/cmr.html).
- Government officials should contact their eSRS Agency Coordinator.
Q.
How does the eSRS impact my agency?
A.
Contracting officers and the Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBUs) will no longer receive paper SF-294s and SF-295s. Instead, they will log on to the eSRS to view their contractors' achievements. The system will provide a variety of standard reports, including Analysis of Subcontracting Plan Goal Attainment (SBA Form 1907), a Five-Year Trend Analysis, and a number of other reports - as well as a robust ad hoc reporting tool for users who wish to design their own reports. The agency OSDBUs will no longer need to input the SF-295 data into a Government database, as they have done in recent years, nor will they have to develop a special report for SBA; everyone will have access to the data at the same time. Also, the eSRS will provide automatic reminder notices to contractors when reports are due and generate delinquent notices when contractors fail to submit reports by the due date.
Q.
I was told that contractors who were registered under the same DUNS number can see each others work. Why is this not happening for our organization?
A.
Everyone must enter the contract numbers that their company has with the government under the Contract Worklist on their homepage. Once that is done, they will see a listing of all reports that are entered by others, but they will not be able to review or edit the reports submitted by other individuals in their company. In the future, we hope to make additional changes to the system to accommodate contractors to have permissions to see reports entered by other individuals in their organization.
Q.
What reports do the contractors review and what does the government review?
A.
The Prime or higher-tier subcontractors will review their subcontractors' Individual Subcontracting Reports (ISRs), and the government will review the Prime's ISR and all of the Summary Subcontracting Reports (SSR). Please note: Contractors do not need to review their subcontractors' SSRs.
Q.
What if my report is still pending? How long should it take the government to accept both my ISR and SSR?
A.
Contractors need to keep in mind that once the reports are submitted to the government, they have met their reporting requirement. This does not mean that the government does not have the right to reject the report for necessary revisions. The government may reject a report at any time and ask for revisions.
Q.
What if I do not know the email address of the government or higher-tier individual who will review my reports?
A.
If you are the prime contractor filing an ISR or SSR, or if you are a subcontractor filing an SSR, you should contact the Contracting Officer on the contract(s) you have with that agency and ask them for this information. If they do not understand the process, then ask to talk with their eSRS Agency Coordinator. If you cannot determine the name of that person, please send an email to the eSRS Helpdesk, and label it as a policy question asking for that agency coordinator's name.
If you are a subcontractor reporting to the prime contractor or a higher-tier subcontractor, we recommend that you call the person who awarded your subcontract; or, if that person is unknown, you may contact the Small Business Liaison Officer of that company.
Q.
Why does my contract number appear different in eSRS compared to what is on my contract? There are more numbers and letters added to it.
A.
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 4.602(e) prescribes the use of a unique Procurement Instrument Identifier. In accordance with FAR 4.602(e)(2) Agencies were required to have this in place prior to October 1, 2003. Any new contractual action awarded or issued by the Federal Government in Fiscal Year 2004 forward would adhere to this standard. For any action awarded prior to Fiscal Year 2004, a unique Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID) was created using your Contract Number and augmenting it with the additional information to conform to the regulation and ensure enforcement of the standard and uniqueness in the numbering system.
Q.
How can a contractor revise a report that was submitted to the government or higher-tier subcontractor?
A.
The contractor needs to contact the individual at the government or higher tier who will be reviewing their report and request it be rejected for revisions.
Q.
What if a contractor registered under the wrong DUNS number?
A.
Please send an email request to the eSRS Helpdesk and ask for them to change your registration from the existing DUNS number to the DUNS you require. Please send the helpdesk your e-mail address (you registered in eSRS), the old DUNS, and the DUNS you would like to be moved to.
Q.
Why can't I see my lower-tier subcontractor's ISRs?
A.
First, have you submitted your ISR? If your ISR has not been submitted into the system, there is nothing for the lower-tier report to link to in eSRS. Second, if the lower tier did not put your email address on the report as the reviewer, you will not see the report. You should ask your lower-tier subcontractor whose email address they put on the report. If it is incorrect, they can easily change the email address by going into eSRS and look at their ISR list. Next to the report on that list is a button called "Update email target." They can click on that button and a box will appear asking for the correct email address. They enter in the new email address and submit. Now you can see the report.
Q.
How long does it take to get updated information from FPDS-NG into eSRS?
A.
Updates to contract actions in FPDS-NG are pulled real-time into eSRS.
Q.
Should contractors be submitting ISRs for Task or Delivery orders?
A.
eSRS does not currently accept ISRs for Task and Delivery Orders. SBA is working with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and other agencies to develop a Government-wide policy. The feature will not be "turned on" until there is an official, written policy issued by either OFPP or SBA.
Q.
How can I enter more than one SSR to an agency?
A.
Since the SSR is a summary report, a contractor would normally submit only one SSR to each agency. The principal exception to this rule occurs when a contractor has both a commercial plan (i.e., for commercial items) and also one or more individual contract plans (i.e., for products or services not meeting the definition of a commercial item) with the same agency. Under this circumstance, the contractor must file two (2) SSRs, one for the commercial plan and the other representing the summary of subcontracting activity on all other contracts. A contractor with this requirement must be careful to isolate the subcontracting activity on the commercial plan and ensure that there is no double-counting.
Q.
When a contractor has a combination of individual and commercial plans for various contracts, are they required to submit one SSR for their commercial plan and a separate SSR for the individual plans?
Q.
Why am I receiving errors when entering data into numeric fields?
A. When entering data in eSRS fields that require numbers, enter the number without decimals, commas, symbols, or spaces.
If you have any questions regarding any of the Integrated Acquisition Environment's other systems (i.e., FEDBIZOPPS, FPDS-NG, etc.), click here.
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