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General Services Administration
31 March 2016

FAQs for Implementing the Activity Address Code as the Office Code in FPDS

1. General FAQs

What is an Activity Address Code?

The Activity Address Code (AAC) is a six-character code used to identify an office in a uniform way across federal agencies. An office is the smallest organizational unit in an agency with direct responsibility for awarding or funding most of the actions. Effective March 31, 2016, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires the use of AACs to identify contracting and funding offices for procurement awards captured in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).

How does my funding or contracting office code in FPDS relate to the AAC?

Essentially, they are the same thing. Beginning on April 1, 2016, the funding office and contracting office codes are AACs. When you select an office code to use when reporting procurement awards in FPDS, you are selecting an AAC.

I only just found out my office codes in FPDS were being replaced by Activity Address Codes (AACs). Why is this happening?

The change to using the AAC as the standard and uniform office identifier will provide greater consistency in how data is collected and reported as well as transparency for both the public and for federal agencies using such award data for spending management purposes, such as category management. Each office identified by a department or independent agency has a unique AAC.

What role will the AAC play in the upcoming PIID changes?

The contracting office AAC will serve as the first six characters of the new unique PIID effective October 1, 2017 in accordance with FAR Subpart 4.16 Unique Procurement Instrument Identifiers.

Does the AAC itself have any meaning?

The first two characters generally represent the department or independent agency. The remaining four characters do not consistently have any inherent meaning. Contact the appropriate agency lead for more information on a specific code as structured for their agency.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

Where can I find general information on the use of the Activity Address Code (AAC) as the Contracting/Funding Office Code in FPDS?

Review the information posted on the MAX Community page for Activity Address Codes.Consult the FPDS online help for more information about using FPDS. Contact the Federal Service Desk to report any FPDS technical issues.

How do I get MAX access?

You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.If you are a new user, please self-register in MAX. Self-registration in MAX is available to Federal government employees and contractors with a Federal government email address. Federal employees/contractors with a non-government email address as well as non-federal employees performing Federal activities should contact MAXSupport@omb.eop.gov or 202-395-6860. Please visit the OMB MAX Community FAQs for any questions about accessing MAX or to view the user agreement.

2. Managing Offices in FPDS

I got an error message saying I selected an end-dated office code when creating a CAR. What does this mean?

Civilian agency offices in FPDS were end-dated on March 31, 2016. Only offices containing the new Activity Address Code (AAC) are available for use for CARs with a signature date of April 1, 2016 and beyond.

How can I edit or end-date an office in FPDS now that we use the Activity Address Code (AAC)?

Your FPDS System Administrator needs to ask the agency lead to update the AAC record in the DoDAAD. FPDS pulls changes from the DoDAAD daily. Any change made to an AAC record in the DoDAAD should appear in FPDS within one business day.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

I see an office in FPDS that should also be a Contracting Office, not just a Funding Office. How can I make that change?

Your FPDS System Administrator needs to ask your agency lead to add the Procurement Authority flag to the AAC record in the DoDAAD. FPDS pulls changes from the DoDAAD daily. Any change made to an AAC record in the DoDAAD should appear in FPDS within one business day.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

I see an office in FPDS that should be only a Contracting Office. How can I end-date the Funding Office?

Your FPDS System Administrator can add a funding office end-date on the Government Office screen.

As an FPDS System Administrator, I used to be able to create an office. I can no longer do that. Why?

The source of the Activity Address Codes (AACs) for civilian and DoD offices is the Department of Defense Activity Address Directory (DoDAAD), which is managed by DLA. FPDS pulls AAC information through a web service daily. AACs are initially loaded into FPDS as funding offices. If the AAC record has the procurement flag, it is also loaded as a contracting office. Since the DoDAAD is the source for the office code, name, address, and procurement flag, FPDS no longer allows FPDS System Administrators to add Contracting or Funding Offices directly from the Government Office screen. All fields on the Government Office screen except 'Region Code' and 'Funding Office End Date' have been disabled and grayed out indicating the data is locked.

Can I still update the Region Code for an office in FPDS?

Yes. Region Code is one of two fields for the office record which your FPDS System Administrator can edit in FPDS from the Government Office screen.

What do Department and Agency codes represent in FPDS?

The Department Code represents the department or independent agency, e.g. General Services Administration. The Agency Code represents the sub-tier agency within the department, e.g. Federal Acquisition Service.

If I am awarding a contract, who do I contact to obtain the appropriate funding office AAC?

The funding office information should come from your customer. If you know the office name, you can search in FPDS by office name or select the elipsis (...) icon next to the office name to see a full list of offices for your agency.

What happened to the existing contracting office codes in FPDS?

Existing civilian agency contracting office codes were end-dated on March 31, 2016. They are not being overwritten for any existing base awards or modifications in FPDS where the date signed is on or before March 31, 2016 regardless of Draft, Validated, or Final status. You can still search for and run reports against the end-dated contracting office codes.

Why are the old codes showing in a list with the new codes? How can I just see the new codes?

Because the old codes are still valid for the contract actions reported against them, they remain in FPDS. You will see by their end-date they are not active. To narrow the search, you can type in the first two digits of the new AAC (e.g. “69” for DOT). This will filter out codes that don’t begin with the new prefix.

My user account is associated with an existing contracting office code. This populates on the Contract Action Reports (CARs) I create in FPDS. Will that code be updated to the new AAC?

If your department or independent agency provided a mapping showing which Activity Address Code (AAC) replaced your existing contracting office code, your user profile will be updated. If not, your FPDS System Administrator can associate your user profile to the correct AAC.

How can I get a complete picture of contracting office activity across this Activity Address Code (AAC) transition? Do I need to run two reports?

If your agency provided a mapping from the old to new codes, you only need to search by the new office code. However, if your agency did not provide a mapping for the old office codes to the new office codes, to get a complete picture of contracting office activity across the transition date, you will need to run two reports: one using the old office code (for actions with a date signed of March 31, 2016 and earlier) and one using the new office code (for actions with a date signed of April 1, 2016 and later). Then merge the reports. Please reach out to your agency lead to see if a mapping was provided to FPDS.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

Where is the authoritative list of funding offices in FPDS?

Your FPDS System Administrator can run the Contracting Office Report for your department or independent agency. This standard report will display the contracting and funding offices and indicate if they are active or inactive.

3. Managing AAC Records

If I need to create a new office, who do I contact in my agency?

Please reach out to your agency lead to create a new office for reporting federal awards in FPDS.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

The name of my office is incorrect, how to I fix it?

Please reach out to your agency lead to correct your office name.

Note: You need MAX access in order to access the list of designated agency AAC leads.

What is the difference between an FPDS System Administrator and a designated Agency Lead for the Activity Address Code?

Your FPDS System Administrator is the individual or individuals within your agency responsible for managing user accounts and data submission permissions for your agency. If you don’t know who your FPDS System Administrator is, contact the supporting Federal Service Desk.

Your agency lead for AACs was designated by the DATA Act Senior Accountable Official for your department or independent agency. This agency lead can coordinate all things related to the AAC implementation for your agency. You can find your agency lead in the MAX Community for AACs.If you don’t have it, you need to register for MAX access first.

I am a smaller agency. How do I find my AAC to report contract actions?

Your FPDS System Administrator can run the FPDS Contracting Office Report in the Standard Report section to see a list of your active offices. If all your offices were end-dated on March 31, 2016, this means your agency did not create AACs for use. Your FPDS System Administrator should coordinate with your Small Agency Council Procurement Committee representative (https://sac.gov/committees/procurement/) to gather the information needed to create an AAC.

I am a smaller agency. Who do need to contact to to create my AACs?

Your FPDS System Administrator should coordinate with your Small Agency Council Procurement Committee representative (https://sac.gov/committees/procurement/) to gather the information needed to create an AAC.

What is the turnaround rate for an AAC change/addition to be implemented?

Changes made to the AAC record in the Department of Defense (DoD) Activity Address Database (DoDAAD) take one complete business day to process through to FPDS. For example, if you make a change at 4:45 pm on a Monday, it should appear in FPDS no later than Wednesday morning.

What is the turnaround time for a data management fix in FPDS?

Data management fixes are implemented on the last Friday of the month. Any requests submitted to the Federal Service Desk by the fifteenth of the month will be considered for that month’s data management fix. FPDS will confirm receipt and inform the requestor of when the data management fix is scheduled.

I’m a DoD user. How do I find my DoDAAC for reporting contract actions in FPDS?

Contact Lisa Romney (janice.l.romney.civ@mail.mil) or Brian Davidson (george.b.davidson.civ@mail.mil) in Defense Procurement & Acquisition Policy (DPAP), Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)).

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Important Vehicle Ordering Changes

Beginning March 31, 2016, all vehicle purchase orders must be executed in accordance with final FAR rule, Unique Procurement Instrument Identifier, FAR Case 2012-023. For more information, please read. http://www.gsa.gov/portal/getMediaData?mediaId=123870