Glossary / Evaluation
Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting SystemCPARS
The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) is the governmentwide system of record for past performance ratings on contracts over the simplified acquisition threshold. The Contracting Officer completes CPARS annually for active contracts and at final close-out. Ratings cover categories like quality, schedule, cost control, management, and small-business subcontracting, using a 5-point scale from Unsatisfactory to Exceptional. Source selection officials see finalized ratings when they evaluate later proposals (PPIRS, the older retrieval system, has been folded into CPARS).
Why it matters to your pipeline
Agencies use CPARS ratings for three years after a contract or order is complete (six years for construction and architect-engineer work), so a poor rating can follow a firm into later competitions. Contractors get 14 calendar days to comment on an evaluation, so it helps to track performance as you go and answer factual errors on time.
When this term shows up in an opening GovSmith finds for you, your vCM explains what it means for that pursuit and does whatever it calls for. You decide; we do the work.
Example
At year-end CPARS, a COR drafts a 'Satisfactory' rating for cost control because a modification was required. Within the 14-day comment period, the contractor submits a factual rebuttal showing the modification was caused by a government-directed change, not contractor inefficiency. The CO updates the rating to 'Very Good,' which helps the firm win a re-compete the following year.
Find out what applies to you
Some terms will matter to your business right away and some won’t for years. A vCM can tell you which are which.