May 2007

Cleaning Up FPDS-NG Data Top Priority

Paul Denett, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) has announced that his top priority is timely, accurate, and complete data being input to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) database. In a memo dated March 9, 2007, he made all the Chief Acquisition Officers (CAOs) responsible for the accuracy of this data. Molly Wilkinson, the new GSA CAO, has stated that FPDS is her top priority as well.

FPDS is the chief repository for acquisition information.  It is critical that the data entered into FPDS is totally accurate and dependable because it is used as the authoritative data source.  It provides:

Agency decisions on organization, staffing, and training are dependent on correct procurement data as well.  By ensuring FPDS data is accurate, CAOs will also be better able to meet the requirements of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which requires a public website listing the government's contracting and grant information to be operational by January 1, 2008.

Mr. Denett hopes by making the CAOs accountable that steps will be taken to fix this problem "once and for all."  He is requiring that CAOs validate and sign off on the data that their agencies submit to FPDS.  To do this, CAOs must establish a routine verification process, assigning clear areas of responsibility for verifying the data, and annually certify the data's accuracy to GSA.  Training should be offered when necessary.  An interim FAR case, 2004-038 "Revisions to FPDS Reporting," which clarifies FPDS roles and responsibilities, has been sent to the DAR Council for review.

The quality of the data input to FPDS is dependent upon each agency; however, in order to "get the word out" about the importance of entering data correctly, the IAE Program Management Office (PMO) is working with the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and the Federal Acquisition Institute to help agency users understand the importance of the data.  The IAE PMO recently reviewed relevant DAU courses and provided information on changes needed to improve use of FPDS and the other IAE systems.  DAU is in the process of preparing a training module specifically on FPDS and the importance of entering data correctly.  Additionally, the IAE PMO is assisting in preparing training sessions on FPDS for the upcoming GSA EXPO and the Federal Acquisition Conference and Exposition (FACE)-see the article on these conferences for more information.

The IAE PMO hosts the Contract Writing Systems Round Table and in this forum focuses on the need for commercial contracting writing systems to improve their applications so the data goes in correctly the first time it is entered.  The Central Contractor Registration (CCR) validates vendor data, ensuring that the government is recording data in a standard format.  IAE is working to get as many systems integrated as possible because each time data is re-used and pre-populated a manual re-entry is eliminated reducing the likelihood of another error.

It is hoped that Mr. Denett's memo will hit home the seriousness of the inaccurate data input and ensure that contracting offices take decisive steps to resolve this ongoing problem. Agencies have until May 16 to establish procedures and policies needed to ensure the quality of FPDS data and submit that plan to OFPP.