This blog post was co-authored by Phil Seckman, Arash Heidarian and Justin Ganderson.
On November 22, 2012, the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) website officially retired. Government acquisition officials, contractors, and the general public used EPLS primarily to ensure excluded entities or individuals did not receive federal prime contracts, federally-approved subcontracts, and other federal awards or assistance. While EPLS is no more, its capabilities survive and are now found within the federal government’s so-called “one stop shop” for acquisition-related information, known as the System for Award Management, or SAM. Contractors who have integrated EPLS checks into their internal contracting and subcontracting policies and procedures should update their policies and procedures to reflect SAM’s functionality.
As we first reported here in May, SAM is being created to “include streamlined and integrated processes, eliminat[e] . . . data redundancies, and reduce costs while providing improved capability.” Other Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE) systems being consolidated during SAM’s first phase integration are: Central Contractor Registry (CCR), Federal Agency Registration (Fedreg), Online and Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA). Other IAE systems will follow in subsequent phases.
Please review our recent client advisory for more information on the various systems this transition will impact.