BAAR Overview and Key Changes

Billing and Accounts Receivable (BAAR) Modules

GSA is modernizing its core financial management system through the Billing and Accounts Receivable (BAAR) Project. This will mean changes for customers, and this website provides information to assist customers in managing the changes.

Central to the project is the three-phased release of the Vendor and Customer Self Service (VCSS) website. By the end of the third phase, VCSS will provide all GSA customers with online access to billing and accounts receivable data.

In August 2011, Phase 1 was completed for GSA Fleet and PBS Rent. Phase 2, going live in 2013, will affect customers of Reimbursable Work Authorizations (RWA), Heating Operation and Transmission District (HOTD), and GSA Global Supply.

BAAR Overview and Key Changes

In August 2011, GSA implemented the first phase of a three-phase migration of its billing and accounts receivable functions from our custom legacy systems to a more modern financial management system. The first-phase implementation launched the billing, accounts receivable, and collection functions for motor vehicles leased through the GSA Federal Acquisition Service (GSA Fleet) and rent bills for tenants of space provided by the GSA Public Buildings Service (PBS Rent). Customers of the remaining GSA business lines will be impacted as subsequent phases of GSA’s modernization are implemented. This modernization effort supports:

Streamlining and reducing the cost of federal financial management through standardization and online access,
GSA’s efforts to achieve a “Zero Environmental Footprint” by reducing the use of printed paper and production of waste, and
Better customer service by providing a single online source to view accounts receivable and collections data.

The key changes that will impact various GSA customers at this time include:

All agencies that rent vehicles through GSA Fleet are now able to access and download bills and collection data electronically through the new Vendor and Customer Self Service (VCSS) tool. Account history prior to implementation is maintained in WebBill. For GSA Fleet customers, GSA has phased out paper bills and no longer sends electronic billing files by e-mail or file transfer protocol (FTP).
For PBS Rent customers, VCSS does not replace Rent on the Web (ROW); however, it provides another way for the financial community to view its bills. Flat files and FTPs sent to PBS Rent customers will continue.
GSA has standardized data population in the Intragovernmental Payment and Collection (IPAC) files for GSA Fleet and PBS Rent customers. Two brochures explaining the changes for each business line are available from the Quick Links box in the upper right corner of this web page and on the More Information page.
GSA has redesigned the bill format for GSA Fleet customers. Two brochures explaining the changes for IPAC and non-IPAC customers are available from the Quick Links box in the upper right corner of this web page and on the More Information page. This change does not impact PBS customers, but it will impact other GSA business lines as they implement the billing and accounts receivable functionality in the future.
VCSS provides improved security by enabling agencies to manage access to their billing and collections data. This is now in place for GSA Fleet and PBS Rent customers.

We look forward to working with you as we modernize GSA billing, accounts receivable, and collection functions.