Government Contracts, Investigations & International Trade Blog : Government Contracts Lawyer & Attorney : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Bids, Licenses, Awards, Conflict of Interest.

By Bruce Shirk and David Gallacher

In March 2010, the U.S. Government rolled out a new tool promised to provide a centralized source for all publicly available contractor past performance and integrity information – the Federal Performance and Integrity Information System (“FAPIIS”). We have written multiple times about it (in June 2010, March 2011, and January 2012), including the importance of monitoring the information entered to ensure that past performance evaluations are accurate, complete, and fair, and also to prevent release of proprietary information to the public. But the system continues to evolve and, as contractors try to manage the information in FAPIIS, many companies find the process baffling due to (among other things) the multiplicity of modules within the system and the acronyms used to identify them. In fairness, government personnel tasked with implementing FAPIIS have developed on-line training to assist contractors in navigating this complex system. That said, not everyone involved in government contracting can or will take the training, but everyone does need a basic understanding of FAPIIS. So keep reading, because you won't find this information in the FAR.

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By Jonathan S. Aronie

There is a theory in physics that a seemingly isolated event in one part of the world can have a significant, downstream impact in another. They (the Physics set) call it the Butterfly Effect. It’s a central element of something called Chaos Theory (referenced by Jeff Goldblum in the original “Jurassic Park”), and you can see it in action in all walks of life. Even in Government contracting.
 

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