Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation
Listed
below are the steps you must follow in order to successfully order an Open
Ratings Past Performance Evaluation Report:
1.
A. Go to the Open Ratings website (see the link below) and access the
simple, online order form.
http://www.openratings.com/capabilities/ppe/ ,
OR
B.
Complete Attachment II of the Solicitation and submit the form to Open
Ratings by fax or mail to:
Open Ratings, Inc.
600 First Avenue North, #200
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
E-FAX: 866-743-4239
FAX: 727-867-4129
email: reports@openratings.com
Note 1: Your company is responsible for payment of $125.00 to Open Ratings,
Inc. Payment may be made by credit card
or by check. Open Ratings, Inc. will not
process your order until it receives the $125.00 payment (see below).
Note 2: Do not submit your order form to Open Ratings until you have fully read
this Help Summary and, most importantly, have read and complied with the
instructions in Section 3 below.
Note 3: To receive an evaluation, your
company must have a D-U-N-S number. If you do not have one, you can obtain a
D-U-N-S number by calling call (800) 333-0505 or by going to the following URL:
https://eupdate.dnb.com/requestoptions.html?cmid=EOE100537.
2.
Save a copy of the order form you send to Open Ratings, Inc. If you
order the report online, remember to print out a copy of the order prior to
exiting the website. Include one copy of the completed order form (the
completed Attachment II or a copy of your online order form) with your offer to
GSA. When submitting the evaluation order forms, clearly show the date of
submission to Open Ratings, Inc. If you
receive your Open Ratings report prior to submitting your offer to GSA, you
must also include a copy of the final report with your proposal. In the event your report is not received
prior to the proposal’s submission, Open Ratings will send a copy directly to
the GSA office designated on your order form.
3. Steps to Undertake Prior to Ordering Your Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation Report
a)
Qualify
Your References
·
As the
Open Ratings order form shows, your business must compile and submit to Open
Ratings a list of as many as twenty (20) customer references (see definition
below).
· A “customer reference” is defined as a person or persons who have purchased product or services from your company. If you have fewer than 20 customer references, list as many quality references as you possibly can. According to Open Ratings, the minimum number of references it will accept is 10. If you have fewer than 10 references, please call Open Ratings’ customer service department. The customer service department may be reached at 781-290-0828.
· Contact each reference prior to submitting your order form. Ask the reference if he or she is inclined to give your company a good reference. Tell them that your goal is to garner a rating in the high 80’s or 90’s. Assess whether you think that particular reference is inclined to give you an excellent rating. If you are unsure, it is better not to include that reference. It is believed that GSA is looking for scores in the high 80’s or 90’s and final scores below this level may adversely affect your offer.
· Open Ratings will contact your references directly. It will not contact all of your references – it will pick and choose from your list. Therefore, list first those companies that will likely provide the most favorable evaluations. Again, carefully avoid unfavorable evaluations.
· Once you have pre-qualified all of your contacts, you are ready to submit your order form to Open Ratings.
·
The
price for the report is $125.
·
Open
Ratings requires pre-payment for all orders. You may pay by credit card (MC,
VISA, AE, or Discover) or by check.
Checks for evaluations should be made payable to Open Ratings, Inc. and mailed to: Open Ratings, Inc, 200 West Street, Waltham, MA 02415.
b) Process
of Evaluation After Submission
·
The
reports are based on feedback from your recent customers as well as all other
data about your company listed in the Open Ratings and Dun & Bradstreet
databases. The final evaluation is calculated based on ratings of your company
on key performance issues, including the timeliness of delivery of your product
or services, the overall quality of your product or services, and the support
your company offers its customers.
·
Open
Ratings will contact your references and ask them to complete a short survey.
·
Open
Ratings keeps your customers’ feedback completely confidential in order to
ensure that references feel free to truthfully evaluate your business.
c)
Getting Your Completed Reports
If a
company or organization has no relevant corporate past performance, then the
offeror is not required to submit past performance information to Open Ratings,
Inc. In lieu of the Open Ratings
submission, offerors shall provide a minimum of 10, and a maximum of 20,
work-related references for current or proposed staff prior to joining the firm
or organization, on MOBIS or similar types of work, to allow GSA to conducting
a meaningful Past Performance Evaluation.
Note: If you are working on a contract that has not yet been completed, it may be used as a reference assuming that a significant portion of the work is completed so that your reference has a basis upon which to rate your performance.
5. Open Ratings Frequently Asked Questions
· Question – Can a government agency (or one of its employees) be used as a reference?
Answer – Yes, a government agency (or one of its employees) may be used as a reference.
· Question – Can my company list more than one reference from a particular company or government agency?
Answer – Yes, if the additional references from that one company or government agency have an independent basis upon which they may judge your company’s performance.
· Question – May a business list a customer that is located overseas as a reference?
Answer – Yes, you may.
· Question – Our company, acting as a subcontractor on a government contract, does business with a prime contractor. Who is our customer - - the prime contractor or the government agency for which the work was performed?
Answer – In the situation described above, the prime contractor would qualify as your customer (not the government agency).