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bjbj"9"9 Hello! Today you will learn about the System for Award Management known as SAM.
As you will see during this briefing, SAM is creating efficiencies through integration
and consolidation of both data and systems. s start with a look at our current system
environment and its origins: Automation of the federal procurement and awards processes
has evolved over time, through development of systems to perform individual steps in
the process. First we had paper-based systems and business processes. Then various groups
in the government automated the paper-based systems, as the Internet became widely available.
Systems that started in one Agency have become used across the Federal Government to support
a single step in the process. All of the systems you see here are managed by the General Services
Administration for governmentwide use. These systems are critical to Federal Procurement
and Awards, so much so that they are called out in various regulations and guidance documents,
including the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Despite its necessity and widespread use,
this suite of systems has its limitations: While automation was good, the siloed systems
present challenges for users, such as the multiple passwords they have to remember to
complete an award cycle. In addition, the presence of the same data in multiple systems
creates opportunities for conflicting values. There is also the challenge of the separate
hosting facilities for the systems. With separate facilities, you ve got the potential for varying
levels of service And managing that many systems separately isn t the most cost-effective approach.
SAM will change the way we do business. It is NOT creating a portal for the existing
legacy systems. Instead SAM is merging not only systems but also processes, integrating
steps and data to streamline the user experience. SAM is taking the current siloed systems,
with their redundant data, managed in separate locations and merging them into one system.
In short, SAM is taking 9 systems and merging them into 1. Users will have one login that
will provide access to all the capabilities In addition, SAM is consolidating data from
all these systems into a single database. This will eliminate data overlap and, to some
degree, also will yield improved data quality as data redundancies and conflicts are eliminated.
It is still incumbent on us as users to understand what we are entering and to get help when
we are not sure. We are ultimately responsible for the data, but these system changes are
going to help reduce opportunities for error. It also reduces some of the domino effect
of system changes. Right now, one little change to a federal regulation could mean changes
to several systems that are scheduled to become part of SAM, which means changes for all the
systems that pull data from those systems, and so on. With SAM s single database and
data model, the web of complexity will be significantly simplified. And the last point,
as Taxpayers, we should all care about cost savings and the cost savings SAM brings will
be significant as we move from multiple hosting facilities into just one. The processes and
data are being consolidated, but to make that happen, we re dividing the work. In an effort
to increase competition and secure an overall lower cost for the system long term, GSA is
breaking up the various facets of development and support for the effort into 4 parts: Help
Desk, Hosting, Requirements, and Operations Development for each Phase of SAM and then
for future system enhancements Requirements and Operations IBM is currently documenting
the SAM architecture and requirements, in phases. Once the system is operational, IBM
will operate and maintain SAM. Phased System Development This is the development work.
Once the IBM team has documented the system requirements for each phase, a solicitation
will go out for the development work. The developer will do their own unit testing,
which will be followed by testing by the IBM team and then users. The architecture leverages
open source technologies, providing opportunities for open competition. FSD The Tier 1 Help
Desk. It is already operational for several systems: CCR, CFDA, EPLS, eSRS, FBO, FedReg,
FSRS Contracts, and FSRS Grants. FSD will serve the remaining systems (FPDS-NG, ORCA,
WDOL, and the past performance systems) after they are migrated to SAM. Consolidated Hosting
Services This is where we ll be putting the servers that run SAM. SAM will have one common
database, which means one hosting location, one set of security protocols, one login for
users, and one reporting tool that allows you to draw from all the system data. That
translates into lower costs and happier users. As data is consolidated into a single database,
a couple of things are happening: 1. Process improvements re actually discovering ways
to reduce the number of interfaces needed to keep SAM running, which will make maintaining
SAM easier 2. Data Organization changes because the data is moving from multiple systems into
one database, the organization of the data has to change. While these changes will ultimately
create efficiencies for everyone, there is work that Must be done now for business to
continue as usual. Most government organizations and many outside entities use data from SAM.
Systems like Contract Writing Systems pull vendor information from CCR in order to process
awards. Financial systems use the data in CCR to know where to send payments. Others
use the data to create reports. As you can see, the impacts of not having your interfaces
ready for SAM would be significant. No agency wants to be the one who cannot award contracts
or pay its vendors. All the information needed to make the changes is available on our website
at SAM.gov. I cannot stress this strongly enough: ALL systems that interface with the
SAM Phase 1 legacy systems MUST make changes if they are to continue sending or receiving
the data when SAM goes live. Federal agencies, please tell your contracts groups, grants
groups, financial groups, and anyone else who you think may use the data from CCR/FedReg,
ORCA, or EPLS. Their systems MUST change. The organization of SAM is important. As we
put these capabilities together we have the opportunity to make the process better so
that s exactly what s happening. The team broke the existing process models apart, analyzed
them, and put them back together in a more streamlined way, without regard for existing
system boundaries. The result is a system organized by functional area. Entity Management
is the first functional area you see here. Entity may not be a term you ve heard before
in relation to the legacy systems. Because SAM serves multiple user communities it isn
t just for vendors or just for grantees or other award recipients or just for Federal
agencies we needed an all-encompassing term. So now we refer to all of them as entities
. All entities need to register to do business with the government, which they did previously
in either CCR or FedReg, and then those seeking contracts, i.e. the vendors, need to complete
representations and certifications as they used to do separately in ORCA. Award Management
refers to everything associated with the award itself. For contracts this means finding opportunities
and reporting on them after they re won. Currently we look for opportunities in FedBizOpps, report
contracts in FPDS, and report sub contracts and sub awards in eSRS and its module FSRS.
Wage Data stands alone. This functional area will have the capabilities of the Wage Determinations
OnLine system which supports contracting officers and vendors in complying with the requirements
of the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act. Performance information will include
the capabilities the government uses in reporting on the performance of entities (as found in
PPIRS/CPARS/FAPIIS). It also includes the suspension and debarment records (as found
in EPLS). The Assistance Program Catalog also stands alone as a list of award programs.
The last item is the support capabilities that cross functional areas. These foundational
things like security, access control and reporting capabilities. SAM Phase 1 will create the
Entity Management functional area in SAM. This will include the capabilities previously
found in CCR/FedReg and ORCA. Phase 1 will also create the exclusions portion of the
Performance Information functional area. This will include the capabilities previously found
in EPLS. Phase 1 will bring some great and long-awaited improvements for various groups
of users. All users win. As we ve spoken at various events about SAM, the reception has
taken many forms from thunderous applause, to high fives, to shouts of hallelujia! It
just makes sense for all types of users. Contracting Officers and Grants Officials win. You ll
have one login instead of the half dozen you usually need in order to complete an award.
The benefits will become even greater as additional system capabilities are moved into SAM. The
integration will eventually provide a snap shot of an entity all in one location. Entities
win. That s any potential award recipient. In the first migration group, the SAM team
is integrating CCR/FedReg and ORCA, so all entities interested in contracts will be able
to enter data and complete their representations and certifications in a streamlined, integrated
process. Users will only have to enter data once and it will populate every form or step
in the process that requires that data. An improvement that will be particularly helpful
for first-time registrants, is the movement of the Tax ID number match to earlier in the
process. These and other process improvements will speed up the time required to complete
or validate a registration. For those interested in award types other than contracts, SAM allows
them to specify their registration purpose at the beginning of the process, allowing
them to skip the contract-specific questions. SysAdmins for interfacing systems also win.
As data is merged into SAM s single database, there will be a significant decrease in the
number of required interfaces. For the people who have to maintain those interfaces, it
is challenging news right now, as they work to adjust their systems to SAM s new data
model, but as time goes on, the consolidation will actually lessen their maintenance burden.
While interfacing systems need to be working to update their interfaces with SAM, other
users don t really need to do anything at this point, except be aware that changes are
coming. As we prepare for new capabilities to be moved into SAM, we will be involving
the agencies in government acceptance testing and then making training available to everyone
to increase their comfort level with the new look and feel and the streamlined approach.
Training will be available online beginning about 4 weeks before SAM goes live. The big
change when SAM goes live will be that the capabilities of CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS
will be found at SAM.gov instead of their previous locations. That means you ll have
only one login instead of three! The legacy URLs will automatically redirect you to SAM
and then will walk you through the process of getting a new user ID. SAM will allow you
to create the same user ID in SAM that you used in any of the legacy systems or to create
a new one, if you would prefer. Your roles and permissions in SAM will align with the
access you had in the legacy systems. The process of logging into SAM will connect you
with the data that is familiar to you. If you used publicly available data before, that
data will still be publicly available. SAM is not going to solve every problem in the
world. We ve taken steps to consolidate information and improve processes within the confines
of policy requirements, but there is always more work that can be done. We will be addressing
specific improvement needs through the formal change control process whenever funding allows.
Thank you for viewing this presentation on the System for Award Management. As you work
through the challenges that are sure to come with a significant change like this, we hope
you will also look forward to the many benefits you will enjoy as SAM s streamlined processes
become more familiar to you. Hello Administrator Normal.dot Administrator Microsoft Office
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