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.

© 2012 Perkins Coie LLP