Frequently Asked
Questions
If your question is not answered here, please
contact our helpdesk.
Government Users:
1. Who should have access to the Past Performance
Information Retrieval System (PPIRS)?
A: PPIRS is a shared data warehouse of report
cards that detail a vendors performance on current
(or completed) contracts. The information is restricted
to use for source selection. Contracting officials and source
selection team members are the only personnel with need
to PPIRS access. Contractors may obtain access to only their
own data that is stored in PPIRS. This ensures that the
information contained in PPIRS is valid accurate data. (See
contractor users, below for more information).
2: How is access controlled? What is this
thing called a membership request?
A: A team of access authorization agents controls
access to PPIRS. The government is divided along organizational
lines into manageable segments known as groups.
Each group has a primary Point of Contact (called a Group
Owner). Each group may also have secondary Point of Contact
(called a Group Manager). Generally, group managers function
as alternates to manage the group while the owner is on
travel or leave. Individual users create a PPIRS account
and then ask permission of the Group owner or manager to
join their group. The membership request is the tool used
to gain access to this business sensitive information. Group
owners and managers receive an e-mail notification whenever
a membership request is submitted. Owners and managers then
review the request (which contains organizational information
of the user along with a justification as to why they need
access to this information). The owner or manager then either
grants access to this information or denies
access. In all cases, an e-mail is sent to the requester
when a decision is made to either grant or deny the request
for access to this information. Top
3. Im a group owner. When I make
a determination to deny a persons membership request,
is their account also deleted from PPIRS?
A: No. In the current system, that membership
request is returned to the pool of PPIRS users as an unassigned
account. The individual who submitted the original request
is then allowed to request membership in a new group. When
an owner or manager determines that an individual does not
have need for access to PPIRS, notify the PPIRS application
manager that the account should be deleted and then deny
the application request. The reasoning for this is as follows:
An individual may make a mistake in submitting their initial
membership request to a wrong group. When that occurs, the
group owner or manager should just deny them membership
in the initially requested group. The submitter is then
free to resubmit his application to the correct group. However,
when the group owner or manager has properly received a
request for membership and determined that they do not have
a legitimate need to know, then that users
account should be deleted.
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4. Im not a contracting official
but have recently been named to serve on a source selection
panel as a technical expert. I need to have access to past
performance information while Im serving on the source
selection panel. How is this handled in PPIRS?
A: This is done with feature called View
All Reports that is a part of the group managers
option to grant you an account. Suppose you are a Subject
Matter Expert (SME) who sometimes is named to source selection
panels. When you are actively serving on a source selection
panel, the group owner or manager may grant you access to
view reports. They would do this either on your original
membership application or as a separate function under Manage
Groups. When your source selection assignment is completed,
the group manager may elect to retain you as a member of
his group (because there is a good likelihood that you may
be named to source selection teams in the future). However
he or she doesnt want you to have the ability to view
PPIRS information when you are NOT serving on a source selection
team. He or she merely deselects the View All Reports
option for your account. When that is done, you will no
longer see Reports listed as an option on your
start up menu. You will retain the ability to maintain your
account (change passwords and update your account information)
and you will have the ability to Log Out of
the application. When you are again named to a source selection
team, the group owner simply goes into Manage Accounts,
selects your account, and clicks on View All Reports.
Whenever View All Reports is selected, you will
have full access to the information in PPIRS. Top
5. I'm not a contracting official but
have recently been named to serve on a source selection
panel as a technical expert. What does this marking "Source
Selection Sensitive Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104"
really mean?
A: It means that you must use PPIRS information
for official use only. Treat it as you would any business
sensitive data. PPIRS may contain information about an offeror
that is "business sensitive" information. It could
have proprietary information about an offeror's processes
or procedures. It may contain sensitive financial information.
You may use that information in your official capacity as
a source selection official, but you may not divulge that
information to anyone else outside of the current source
selection team. Top
6. I'm not a source selection official
but I think this PPIRS information would be a great market
research tool. Can I get access to PPIRS to do market research?
A. No. While it is true that PPIRS assessments
may contain information about an offeror's capability
to perform on a government contract, it is not intended
for market research. There are other databases and tools
available to try to determine which vendors may be able
to produce a product or provide a service. One of these
would is CCR, which is available at http://www.ccr.gov.
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Contractor Users:
1. How do I get access to view my past
performance information?
A: Contractors obtain access to PPIRS through
the Central Contractor Registration process. To obtain access,
a contractor must enter a Marketing Partner Identification
Number (MPIN) in their profile in the Central Contractor
Registration system (http://www.ccr.gov/). This can then
be used to access their own reports in PPIRS. If they are
already registered in CCR, contractors will be asked for
their DUNS number and Transaction Partner Identification
Number (TPIN) when they update their contractor profile
to include the past performance point of contact and MPIN.
Contractors should ensure that they know their DUNS number
and TPIN number in order to update contact information in
their CCR profile. To access information in PPIRS, they
log in using their DUNS and MPIN number.Top
2. I do business with the government and
I have access to PPIRS. When I input one of my contract
numbers no records appear in PPIRS. Are report cards required
on every contract? Why isnt this information listed
for this contract?
A: Performance Assessment reports are NOT
required on every contract. The government has issued agency
guidelines that define when a report card should be completed.
Generally report cards are required for all contracts for
products or services that are greater than $100,000. However,
DOD has been granted a waiver to that requirement (See class
deviation 99-O002 of 29 January 1999). Instead, within DOD,
they categorize procurements by business sector and dollar
value groupings. These are listed in the DOD Guide to Collection
and Use of Past Performance Information. A copy of that
guide is available at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/PPI_Guide_2003.
If you are providing commodities or services in the Systems
or Operations Support business sector then a report would
be required if the total dollar value of any one contract
exceeds $5,000,000. For Services and Information Technology,
the threshold is any contract that totals over $1,000,000.
For Ship Repair and Overhaul contracts the reporting threshold
is $500,000. For Fuels and Healthcare, it is only $100,000.
Within DOD, there are also specialized past performance
databases for the Construction (CCASS) and Architect-Engineering
(ACASS) business sectors. If you are doing business in those
specialized business sectors, your past performance information
would be in either ACASS or CCASS. For more information
ACASS/CCASS, go to https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/ct/i.
Another guide
that is applicable to all agencies is the OFPP Best Practices
for Collecting and Using Current and Past Performance Information.
We've been collecting report
card information for about the past five years. Not all
assessing officials have yet gotten into the habit of completing
report cards. If one is not completed, it will not be in
the PPIRS system. If you know that you have a contract that
falls within the reporting limits indicated above, then
you should contact that contract's program manager or
contracting officer to assure that a report card is completed.
By doing that, you will ensure that a record of your performance
will be available to source selection officials for consideration
in future contract awards.Top
3. I updated my past performance point
of contact information in CCR earlier today. When I try
to access PPIRS, I still get the message: Invalid
DUNS/MPIN when I enter the correct information. Why?
A: CCR information is contained in a different
database than PPIRS. Currently, the CCR file is updated
to PPIRS weekly (usually on Thursday mornings). Wait up
to a week and then try accessing it again. You should have
no problems. If you do, then call our Help Desk at (207)
438-1690 and we will research and help correct
the problem.
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4. I have been able to access PPIRS but
I still am unable to retrieve any information. I input what
I know is a valid contract number and all that I receive
is No reports exist for these qualifiers. Why
is this?
A: There could be two reasons. First, a report
card is not required until at least twelve months have passed
since the contract was awarded. So, a report card may not
yet be due. Second, the government is allowed an additional
period of time for report processing. Even if a contractor
has commented on a report card, it still must be processed
by the program manager/assessing official and possibly a
reviewing official before the completed report is entered
into the PPIRS database and made available to source selection
officials. Tip: As a contractor, you do not have to enter
any parameters on the Assessment Reports selection
screen to view all of the information assigned to your DUNS
and MPIN number. Just click on Submit to view
all the PPIRS information for your company. The application
has already restricted you to view only PPIRS information
assigned to your DUNS and MPIN combination. The filters
that are available on the Assessment Reports
retrieval menu simply allow you to further restrict your
view to a defined subset of the information that is available
to you.
5. Is all of my government-wide past performance
information available in PPIRS?
A: PPIRS contains all of the records that
have been submitted by the contracting official responsible
for preparing the report. NIH, NASA and DOD operate systems
to track contractor performance. These systems feed into
PPIRS. DOD also has specialized databases that track performance
on construction (CCASS) and Architect-Engineering (ACASS)
contracts. ACASS data is not yet in PPIRS, but plans are
underway to make that information available in PPIRS. Use
of PPIRS is not mandatory, therefore an agency may track
performance using a manual process.
6. I am a contractor responding to a solicitation with the provision at 52.209-7 Information Regarding Responsibility Matters and/or a contract with the clause 52.209-8 Updates of Information Regarding Responsibility Matters. How do I enter/update my information in FAPIIS as required by the provision and clause?
A: This information shall be entered in FAPIIS via your Central Contractor Registration (CCR) record. The website for CCR is http://www.ccr.gov. Questions regarding entry of this information in CCR should be directed to the CCR Help Desk (select Help at the CCR website).
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