Industry Support

Please review the below frequently asked questions that you may have in order to have a successful experience with Symphony for the Polaris solicitation. The required URL for Polaris offerors is https://polaris.app.cloud.gov/.

• Administration and Registration
• Business Factors
• Projects and Past Performance
• Relevant Experience & Tags
• Solicitation and Scoring Questions
• Teaming
• Other
  
  

Administration and Registration

Can All users/Team Members see all data that is put into the system? 

Yes. The team member would be able to upload documents themselves if they register under the prime's UEI and cage code, however, they would be viewable by any others to whom are provided access.  This is done so that the user who is responsible for submitting the proposal can verify that the information uploaded is done accurately.  Per How to Manage Users, you can limit those who have access, or provide access and then remove access after specific items were uploaded via the administration link. 

Do all members of an SBA Mentor-Protege Joint Venture need to create their own registration/accounts within Symphony? Or should the registration be done under the MPJV name? 

You should register with the UEI for the company that will be the prime for the proposal. You can then add the JV Mentor and/or Protege to your team members.

How do I restrict user view in the portal as an admin? 

Users in Initial, Suspended, or Delete status will not be able to sign in because there are not any restricted viewing roles in Symphony once a user is in the active status. In addition, a staff user will not have access to administration and cannot submit proposals.

Where is the Contract Manager/Program Manager role assigned?

The Contract Manager and Program Manager roles are designations required for the submission. They are assigned to registered users in your proposal(s). They are not available in the Administration link.

Why are we not seeing registered users show up in the administrator tab? 

If you added partners as Team Members to your company asset library, any users from those partners, need to register in Symphony with your UEI/the prime offerors, and then the Administrator can activate their accounts so that they can add their information to My Company/Team Members/Team Member/Business Factors/Documents. If incorrect registrations were done, please let us know the user's email address and confirm the correct UEI/Cage that they should have registered for.

Business Factors

Symphony does not validate Business Factors beyond the requirements seen in the system. For business factors, Full Shading means the information is coming from the prime. You should only see full shading for the business factors that belong to the prime in My Company > Company Overview. 

When you add team members to your proposal, the Business Factors on the Pool Submission > Proposal Overview page should show half-shading to represent the factors coming from the members (regardless of how many have a factor). 

Do we need to combine the documents we will have more than one of? Example: each team member should submit a GSA 527. 
In My Company/Business Factors, the claimed business factors are only the Prime offerors. Team Member's documents should be uploaded individually in the business factors for each team member (My Company/Team Members/Team Member/Business Factors). Symphony will keep everything organized by Team Member for you and the evaluators in the Document Library. 

How do I delete certification documents once they've been uploaded? 
Click the Unclaim button to be able to edit or delete the documents from the business factor. If the documents are attached to a team member, you would delete the documents from the Business Factor they are attached to when you click on the Team Member link as long as they are not in a Pool Submission. Then, click the Unclaim button to be able to edit or delete the documents from the business factor. 

What is the file size limit, as well as the limit for the entire library of documents we plan to submit? 
Symphony will allow you to attach as many files as you need to support your claims but the size limitation of 20 MB for an individual file is mandated by GSA security. File uploads also have additional rules.

1. File names cannot exceed 250 characters
2. Files cannot be combined into a "zip" folder but there is no limit to how many files you can upload.
3. You can not drag and drop from Sharepoint or other Cloud Drives. Files must come from your computer.

Projects and Past Performance

How do we add more tags to the legend?

How do we identify projects/past performances performed as a subcontractor?

If you are adding a project where you performed as a subcontractor, since you are not contracting directly to the government, this would be considered a commercial project.  You would then enter your subcontract information and you would be the Team Member on your contract.

What do we do if the Funding Agency ID is missing? 

We get our data directly from FPDS. If the agency you need is not listed, please contact us with the FPDS code from your contract and your contract number so that we can assist. Submit a copy of the FPDS report to the Symphony Help Desk. If an FPDS report does not exist, please contact Polaris directly at polaris@gsa.gov.

Where is the location of the Project Verification Form (Attachment J.P-6)? 

Symphony generates the form on the project page by clicking the Generate as PDF button in My Company/Projects/Project name.  You would then complete the form and send it to the CO/COR outside of the system and then upload it into Symphony once it is signed.  We generate it so that the information you entered doesn't have to be entered twice and it should match the data you entered in the system and therefore be easier for the evaluators to confirm.

Relevant Experience & Tags

How do we identify projects/past performances as either primary relevant experience, cybersecurity, or emerging technology relevant experience?

1. When you are working in the My Company link, you are building your asset library.  Upload the business factor documents for the prime or the team members as applicable and then add your Projects/Past Performance.
2. When you Start your Submission from the dashboard, you then add the desired assets (team members and projects) to your proposal for scoring. 
3. When you add the projects to your submission(s) click the Begin button under Functional Factors to claim Primary Relevant Experience, Cybersecurity, or Emerging Technology Relevant Experience.

What does "location in file mean?

The location can mean a keyword or can include a brief description of where the information can be found in the document: page number, section, paragraph, etc.  A keyword becomes known as a tag. Tagging is like the "Find" feature in software systems. Therefore, if you have a keyword already in the document you can enter it into the tag field (location in file).  Or you can add tags throughout the document(s) like Relevant - with an explanation and then enter "relevant" in the tag field. It's up to you. At the evaluation, we will find all instances of that tag in one or more documents that you added to the file reference field and display them for the evaluator. 

Where are offerors supposed to define Emerging Technology Relevant Experience?

Solicitation and Scoring Questions

How does Symphony calculate the points for 4 Unique Customers?

Once you add projects from your company asset library to your submission, unique scoring starts with the second customer after you Begin or Modify the functional factors that apply to the project. 

1. 2 Unique customers = 500 points
2. 3 Unique customers = 1000 points
3. 4 Unique customers = 1500 points
4. 5 Unique customers = 2000 points

Is any sort of receipt provided after the proposal submission? 

You can use the print button at the top of the Review screen to save a copy of your submission, or you can click View Details after submission and Print/Save a copy.  

Where do you upload the J.P-7, SF 33, and SF 30 for amendments?

The J.P-7, SF 33, and SF 30 are considered solicitation documents. They can be added in the Submission Documents tab within your proposal submission for the selected pool. Only the SF 33 and subsequent SF 30(s) are required. The Confidentiality Disclosure Statement is an optional Submission Document that users have requested. It is not required. You can also use this option for a Cover Letter, which is another optional document that you can add to your submission. 

Who can submit the proposal?

The administrator(s) or Open Market proposal manager can submit your proposal(s). Then the applicable pool will display the submission date and time, with the option to view the details of it. If the details are viewed, these users can undo the submission, and make edits until the solicitation deadline. However, they should carefully review and resubmit if changes are made. Once the Solicitation deadline is met, all assets are frozen and Polaris will only receive submitted proposals.

Why doesn't Symphony calculate the points for Unique NAICS?

If you used copy and paste to put the NAICS codes into Symphony, try to re-enter the NAICS manually to see if Symphony picks them up. Some users have found an extra space that is causing the NAICS to not get picked up by the system. In addition, when you add the projects to your submission(s) click the Begin or Modify button under Functional Factors to claim Primary Relevant Experience, Cybersecurity, or Emerging Technology Relevant Experience to receive the applicable scoring credit.

Teaming

Can Team members see all data that is put into the system? 
Yes, if they register under the prime's UEI and cage code, all data would be viewable by any others to whom are provided access.  This is done so that the user who is responsible for submitting the proposal can verify that the information provided and uploaded is done accurately.  Per How to Manage Users, you can limit those who have access, or provide access and then remove access after specific items are uploaded via the administration link.

Is it possible to change our Team Member’s type designation? 
You can delete the team member and add them back with the correct relationship type as long as they are not listed in any projects. You must remove all links to the team member before you can delete them from your assets. When documents are attached to a team member, you would delete the documents from the Business Factor they are attached to when you click on the Team Member link. Then, click the Unclaim button to be able to edit or delete the documents from the business factor. Once all documents are removed, you can delete the team member and add them back with the correct relationship type. 

Where are the JV Agreement, Mentor-Protege agreement, and the Subcontractor Letter of Commitment uploaded? 
Upload the supporting team members' documentation, such as the team member agreement, and any other supporting documents to your Team Member(s) documents tab (My Company/Team Members/Team Member/Documents). These documents cannot be added at the prime level. They are Teaming documents.

• A Joint Venture requires a JV agreement. 
• A Mentor-Protege requires an SBA-approved Mentor-Protege agreement. 
• Subcontractors require a Subcontractor Letter of Commitment.

Other

Can GSA review/see the documents I post before my submittal? 

No, the GSA team will only receive Submitted proposals when the solicitation deadline is met. Up until the deadline, offerors may review and edit their proposals. Once the deadline is met, all assets are frozen.

Can I change the timeout logout?

The timeout is set to 15 minutes.  This is a security requirement from GSA security.

What security protocols are in place to protect my proprietary data? 

Symphony is hosted on cloud.gov with a FISMA Moderate 3-year ATO. All data is encrypted in transit and rest. Details can be requested from the GSA IT Security office directly.

If you still need help, please click here to contact us.