How to Order from Networx
- Develop requirements
- Conduct fair opportunity
- Get a contract modification for your SOW requirements
- Place the order
- Fulfill the order
- Evaluate past performance
Also: What if things go wrong?
For a complete description of these steps, download the Networx Fair Opportunity and Statement of Work Guide (PDF, 264k).
1. Develop requirements
Develop your requirements for Networx ordering based on your inventory (if transitioning) and your understanding of your future operational needs. These requirements will help you select an industry partner through the fair opportunity process.
Tools and resources
Networx Enterprise or Networx Universal?
Your requirements might lead you to use both Networx acquisitions, Universal and Enterprise. For example, if you need call center services, you may want to use Enterprise. If you need information transport services, such as frame relay services, you may want to use Universal. You should make this decision before you conduct fair opportunity.
2. Conduct fair opportunity
To conduct fair opportunity, you must compete your requirement to all Networx Enterprise vendors or all Networx Universal vendors, depending on which contract you’ve selected. There are two ways to order from Networx and provide fair opportunity:
- Standard process – you use the established fixed-price Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs) in the Networx contracts
- Statement of work (SOW) process – you have a unique requirement that has no established CLINs in the Networx contracts (see step 5 below)
Select the Networx industry partner best suited to provide the services you need. You must document the basis for your decision, and then forward the decision to the Technology Service Manager.
Tools and resources
- Networx Fair Opportunity and Statement of Work Guide (PDF, 264k)
- Networx Best Practices: Creating A Statement of Work (PDF, 80k)
3. Get a contract modification for your SOW requirements
Tools and resources
- Networx Contract Modification Guide (PDF, 7,240k)
4. Place the order
Your agency’s Designated Agency Representative (DAR) should place orders for Networx. Your industry partner(s) might provide them with tools or training on ordering. When the industry partner receives the order, they should provide you an Order Receipt Acknowledgment within one business day.
If the order is valid, you should receive a Service Order Confirmation within five business days. If the order is not valid, the industry partner will let you know. (Reasons for invalid orders include emailing a summary of a mass order, or ordering items still pending modification onto the contract.) In general, the industry partner will provide order tracking and help you and us monitor billing, service inventories, and credits.
5. Fulfill the order
The industry partner will let you know how long the service will take to implement, and will do verification and acceptance testing. When the service is ready, they will give you a Service Order Completion Notice (SOCN) and start billing you.
6. Evaluate past performance
Per FAR 42.1502, the contracting officer at your agency for Networx must input past performance data about your industry partner(s). Go to the Contractor Performance Assessment and Reporting System (CPARS) to input your data. Other agencies will be able to access what you reported at the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).
What if things go wrong?
During verification and acceptance testing
Verification testing. If you want, you can observe or have a representative observe any part of the verification testing and request that the industry partner re-run it if necessary.
Acceptance testing. After verification testing, acceptance testing begins. If you have problems with the service during acceptance testing, you can open a trouble ticket with the industry partner. The industry partner should correct the problem, repeat verification testing, and issue a new Service Order Completion Notice (SOCN) with a new completion date, which will be the new billing start date.
After you transition to Networx
During the cutover from FTS2001 to Networx, if you or the industry partner determines that the new service is not working properly, there are terms in both the Networx and FTS2001 contracts for falling back to the FTS2001 service. You can find these terms by asking your Technology Service Manager or by reviewing your contracts.
Tools and resources
