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United States: Federal Awardee Performance And Integrity Information System: Update On Increased Availability Of Contractor Information And Procedures For Objecting To Disclosures
In April 2012, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity
Information System ("FAPIIS") database, with the
exception of contractor past performance reviews, became available
for public review. The FAPIIS database is part of the effort to
streamline past performance and responsibility information enacted
into law in 2008 in the Duncan Hunter National Defense
Authorization Act (the "Act") (Public Law 110-417). The
Act requires the development and maintenance of an information
system that contains specific data on the integrity and performance
of certain federal contractors and grantees that contracting
officers must consult before awarding a contract. FAPIIS allows
users access to centralized information from different Governmental
reporting mechanisms such as the Contractor Performance Assessment
Reporting System, the Central Contractor Registration
("CCR") database, and suspension and debarment
information from the Excluded Parties List System. FAPIIS, through
its component systems, contains contractor records of any mandatory
disclosures in connection with a Government contract, as well as
information on civil and criminal proceedings and defective cost or
pricing data.
Observers have expressed concern that some of the information
available on FAPIIS, notably documents related to suspension and
debarment proceedings, contains sensitive and proprietary
information that a company would not want disclosed to the public.
In response to this and other concerns, such as the potential
reporting of false information about a contractor, the Government
has included a feature in FAPIIS that gives a contractor seven
days' notice of proposed information disclosures on the system
and the opportunity to object. FAPIIS provides the notice to the
point of contact identified by the contractor on the CCR database.
The contractor's objection must explain which Freedom of
Information Act exemption precludes release of the information,
reference the FAPIIS clause (FAR 52.209-9) and explicitly request
that the information be removed. The short turn around on
objections means that the contractor must ensure that the matter is
received and handled expeditiously and that an appropriate response
team is in place to refute any false information as well as to
object to any information that should be protected.
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