ALERT - As of April 29, 2018: Entities registering in SAM.gov (System for Award Management) must submit a notarized letter appointing their authorized Entity Administrator. It is crucial to complete your organizations registration with SAM.gov and send the notarized letter as soon as possible. Your organization must have an active registration in order to receive a contract award from USACE. This process can take up to 45 days to complete, so please do not delay this process.
All Contractor Performance Evaluations are now generated, reviewed, and finalized electronically via the Internet. Architect-Engineer Contract Administration Support System (ACASS) is used for A-E contracts, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) for services, and Construction Contractor Appraisal Support System (CCASS) for construction. In 2006, Department of Defense issued a requirement that all DoD agencies implement additional security measures to protect information stored on DoD computers from unauthorized access. The Public Key Infrastructure and PKI identity certificate requirement was implemented in response to the mandate.
ACASS, CCASS, CPARS and FAPIIS (Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System) no longer require user IDs and passwords for users who logon with a PKI certificate. The PKI requirement helps protect your information from being accessed by hackers and others who do not have valid privileges. To help DoD enhance security, contractors are encouraged to purchase and use a PKI certificate; average cost is about $100-$120. To obtain a certificate, look for the heading COE Approved ECA Vendors at http://www.cpars.gov/pki_info.htm. You may have to scroll down the page to see the list. An approved ECA vendor is one that has been validated as having processes that conform to DoD's rigorous security models. PKI certificates will not be issued to contractors in foreign countries; user IDs and passwords must be used by contractors in these instances.
For more information regarding PKI and PKI certificates, please visit http://www.cpars.gov/pki_info.htm.