The General Services Administration (GSA) no longer utilizes Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) reports to check the performance of companies wishing to sell to the federal government through the multiple award schedules (MAS) program.
Use of the D&B reports — known as Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluations — was discontinued in December.
MAS offerors now demonstrate their performance records through one of two means:
- Verifying in their eOffer submittal that they have three or more CPARS assessment reports that meet the solicitation criteria, or
- Submitting a past performance narrative and list of customer references as outlined in the solicitation.
If the offeror uses the second option, GSA will contact each customer reference and request they complete a past performance questionnaire. A copy of the questionnaire can be downloaded here: GSA MAS Past Performance Questionnaire.
In a request for information posted Jan. 23, DARPA said it wants information on off-the-shelf options for robotic and intelligent process automation tools that can increase efficiency and expand its ability to manage routine administrative tasks such as proposal evaluation, market research, cost and price analysis and documentation related to price negotiations.
Witness the sudden disappearance last month of Imperatis Corp., the contractor renovating the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) computer network in the wake of last summer’s breach of the personnel and background investigation records of 21.5 million people. 
Deeper understanding of the interactions, trends, constraints, behaviors and financials of vendors, their supply networks and buyers in the IT services market will significantly reduce the risk that OPM or other agencies will face incidents like this one.
