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Fequently 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 vendor’s 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. I’m a group owner. When I make a determination to deny a person’s 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 user’s account should be deleted.

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4. I’m 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 I’m 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 manager’s 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 doesn’t 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 isn’t 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. Eventually we hope to add ACASS and CCASS data to PPIRS but it is not yet present in this release. Another guide that is applicable to all agencies is the OFPP Best Practices for Collecting and Using Current and Past Performance Information. The latest version should be available at http://oamweb.osec.doc.gov/pbsc/library/OFPPbp-collecting.pdf --Download Adobe Acrobat Reader. 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 (603) 431-9460 ext. 486 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.

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