Managing Awards

Awards in Contract Writing

Contract Writing (CW) provides a guided experience for creating, updating, and releasing awards and contract modifications throughout the procurement lifecycle. From the Procurements page, you can view all active awards, filter by status, team, or program, and take action on individual records.

Awards in Contract Writing follow a lifecycle from Draft through Under Review and Approved to Released and Closed. You can also create modifications to update released awards and use the DocuSign integration to collect electronic signatures during the release process.

For an overview of navigating the CW workspace and finding your awards, see CW Quick Start User Guide.

Create an award in Contract Writing

Contract Writing guides you through a wizard to enter all required award data. You must have membership in the Award — Create & Update (GCW) permission set to create awards.

To create an award:

1. From the Procurements page, select the Awards tab.
2. Click CREATE AWARD.
3. In the guided configuration, enter the following details:
   • Award Details: Title, contract period, instrument type, and description.
   • Codes: Product Service Code (PSC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes associated with the award.
   • Office Information: Issuing office, administering office, paying office, and team members.
   • Vendor Information: Vendor name, details, and point of contact.
   • Team Members: Contracting Officer, Contract Specialist, and Contracting Officer Representative.
4. Click CREATE.

After creation, CW displays a confirmation dialog with a link to the award summary view.

Create an award from a solicitation in Contract Writing

Contract Writing can pre-populate award data from an existing solicitation, reducing duplicate data entry.

To create an award from a solicitation:

1. Navigate to the solicitation summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Create Award.
3. Review the pre-populated award data in the guided configuration.
4. Complete any remaining fields.
5. Click CREATE.

If the solicitation uses the SF1447 form type, CW carries forward all SF1447 form data to the award automatically. The SF1447 serves as the contract document sent to the vendor for signature, and the release form defaults to Bilateral release.

Create an award from an evaluation in Contract Writing

Contract Writing integrates with Government Source Selection (GSS) to create awards from completed evaluations. When an evaluation reaches Awardees Selected or Complete status, you can create awards for winning vendors with pre-populated data.

To create an award from an evaluation:

1. From the Procurements page, select the Solicitations tab.
2. Open a solicitation that has a completed evaluation.
3. Click the … menu and select Create Award.
   1. In the Vendors tab of the award wizard, select a winning vendor from the suggested awardees list.
   2. Complete the remaining award details.
4. Click CREATE.

Contract Writing pre-populates the vendor information and copies vendor-submitted documents from the evaluation into the award's contract file.

Select a standard form type for an award in Contract Writing

Contract Writing supports government standard forms for awards. You can select a standard form for ad-hoc awards that are not created from a solicitation.

To select a standard form for an ad-hoc award:

1. In the Award Details step of the award wizard, locate the Form Information section.
2. In the Form Type dropdown, select the appropriate form (SF1442, SF1447, or OF347).
3. Complete the form-specific fields that display based on your selection.

Import an award in Contract Writing

Importing an award brings in award data from an external source. You must have membership in the Award — Create & Update (GCW) permission set to import awards.

To import an award:

1. From the Procurements page, select the Awards tab.
2. Click IMPORT AWARD.
3. Follow the guided import configuration to map the external data.
4. Click IMPORT.

Update an award in Contract Writing

You can update awards that are in Draft status. Contract Writing provides multiple entry points for editing award data.

To update an award from the summary view:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Update.
3. Edit the award details in the guided configuration.
4. Click SAVE.

You can also update individual sections directly from the summary view by clicking the edit icon next to each section:

• Award Details: Title, instrument type, contract period.
• Performance Information: Period of performance dates.
• Vendor Information: Vendor name, details, and point of contact.
• Description: Award description text.

Duplicate an award in Contract Writing

Duplicating an award creates a copy of an existing award, including its data and line items. The duplicate is created in Draft status.

To duplicate an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Duplicate.
3. Review and modify the duplicated award data as needed.
4. Click CREATE.

Delete an award in Contract Writing

You can delete awards and modifications that are in Draft status. Deleting an award permanently removes the record and its associated data.

To delete an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary, or select the award from the grid.
2. Click the … menu and select DELETE.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Reassign an award in Contract Writing

Reassigning an award transfers the Contracting Officer and/or Contract Specialist assignment to a different user.

To reassign an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Reassign Award (or Reassign Modification for modifications).
3. Select the new Contracting Officer and/or Contract Specialist.
4. Click SAVE.

Manage viewers on an award in Contract Writing

Viewers can see award details but cannot edit the record. You can add viewers from the available business groups.

To update viewers on an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Update Viewers.
3. Add or remove viewers from the available business groups.
4. Click SAVE.

Add funding sources to an award in Contract Writing

Funding sources define the budget allocations available for the award. Adding a funding source makes the funds available to obligate at the line item level.

To add a funding source:

1. Navigate to the award summary and select the Funding tab.
2. Click +ADD.
3. Enter the funding source details.
4. Click ADD.

Contract Writing automatically calculates the Obligated Amount and Available Amount based on obligations made at the line item level.

For detailed funding management including obligation workflows, see Managing Line Items and Funding.

Add contract text to an award in Contract Writing

Contract text sections correspond to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based sections of the contract document. You can add custom text to each section manually or use AI assistance to generate content.

To add contract text:

1. Navigate to the award summary and select the Contract Text tab.
2. Select a contract text section.
3. Click +ADD TEXT.
4. Enter the contract text manually, or select Use AI assistance to generate content from a prompt.
5. Click SAVE.

Add line items to an award in Contract Writing

Line items define the goods or services covered by the award. You can add, update, duplicate, and delete line items on draft awards.

To add a line item:

1. Navigate to the award summary and select the Line Items tab.
2. Click +ADD.
3. Enter the line item details (description, quantity, unit of measure, pricing information).
4. Click SAVE.

For detailed line item management including subline items, deliveries, inspection and acceptance, and funding obligations, see Managing Line Items and Funding.

Submit an award for review in Contract Writing

Submitting an award for review creates a review task assigned to a group or individual user.

To submit an award for review:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Submit for Review.
3. Select the reviewer (group or individual).
4. Set the review due date.
5. Click SUBMIT.

Request CO approval for an award in Contract Writing

Requesting Contracting Officer (CO) approval assigns a review task to the Contracting Officer assigned to the award. CO approval is required before an award can be released.

To request CO approval:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Request CO Approval.
3. Confirm the request.

Release an award in Contract Writing

Releasing an award changes its status from Approved to Released and generates the contract documentation. You must have membership in the Award — Release (GCW) permission set to release awards.

To release an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Release.
3. Review the release details and select the release type:
   • Unilateral: The Contracting Officer signs the award without vendor signature.
   • Bilateral: The award requires both Contracting Officer (CO) and vendor signatures before it is finalized.
4. Click RELEASE.

After release, the award is locked for editing. To make changes to a released award, create a modification.

Create a modification in Contract Writing

Modifications update released awards. Creating a modification creates a new draft version of the award that you can edit and release independently.

To create a modification:

1. Navigate to the released award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Create Modification.
3. CW creates a draft modification based on the current award data.
4. Edit the modification as needed.

Create a modification from a requirement in Contract Writing

Contract Writing can start a modification directly from an approved requirement, so you do not need to locate the released award and create the modification separately. When you create a modification from a requirement, CW quickly creates a modification record that uses the latest line item details and contract file documents associated with the latest requirement.

You start this action from the requirement's row menu on the Requirements grid. Contract Writing then guides you through a two-step form: select the award to modify, then enter the modification details.

To create a modification from a requirement:

1. On the Requirements grid, find the approved requirement.
2. Click the … menu on the requirement row and select Create Modification.
3. In the Create Modification form, select the released award to modify from the award-selection grid.
4. Click NEXT.
5. Enter the modification details, including the modification reason.
6. Click CREATE.

Contract Writing creates the modification in Draft status and links it to the originating requirement. The modification then proceeds through the normal Contracting Officer approval and release process.

Create mass modifications in Contract Writing

Contract Writing supports mass modifications so you can add, remove, or replace clauses across many released awards at once, rather than modifying each contract individually. Mass modifications are useful when a policy change, such as an executive order, requires the same clause update across a large set of awards.

A mass modification applies all of the clause operations you queue as a single official modification per award, producing one Standard Form 30 (SF30) for each award. You queue the operations you want, review the results, and create the modifications in one action, rather than running a separate modification for each clause change.

Mass modifications work with the Government Clause Automation (GCA) integration to manage clauses, so the GCA integration must be active. The CREATE MASS MODS action is restricted to the contract manager role because of the privilege level required. Mass modifications in this release support clause changes only. Mass modifications do not include mass release of awards, DocuSign mass signing, Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) Contract Action Report updates, or fill-in clauses.

Contract Writing guides you through a three-step wizard: modify clauses, review modifications, and add modification details.

To create mass modifications:

1. On the Awards grid, click CREATE MASS MODS.
2. In the Modify Clauses step, add one or more clause operations. For each operation, select the change type:
   • Add a New Clause: Search for and select the clause to add to the affected awards. To add more than one clause, add a separate Add a New Clause operation for each clause.
   • Remove a Clause: Search for and select the clause to remove, then select a clause exclusion reason and enter a justification.
   • Replace a Clause: Search for and select the clause to remove, select a clause exclusion reason and enter a justification, then search for and select the replacement clause to add.

3. Identify the awards each operation applies to by selecting a clause present on the award, or by filtering the awards and clicking APPLY FILTERS. You can filter on period of performance, contract period, total amount, instrument type, form type, pricing arrangement, small business set-aside, Product Service Code (PSC), North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, vendor, and contracting officer. In the awards panel on the right, Contract Writing selects all awards that match the filter criteria by default. Deselect any awards you want to exclude. You do not need to deselect an award that shows a temporary modification warning. Leave it selected, and the Review Modifications step adds it to an exception list so you can reconcile it manually later.

   • Note: For the second and later operations, select Copy from Previous to reuse the filter criteria from the previous operation. You still select the clause exclusion reason for each remove or replace operation.
4. Click NEXT.
5. In the Review Modifications step, review the clause changes on each tab before you commit them:
   • Validated: Awards where the clause change passed Government Clause Automation (GCA) validation and is eligible for a modification.
   • Duplicates: Awards where the clause change is not applied because the clause already matches the requested change, such as an award that already contains a clause you are adding.
   • Mod Conflicts: Awards that cannot receive a modification because a conflicting modification already exists.
6. Click NEXT. Contract Writing enables NEXT only when at least one award has a validated clause change.
7. 1. In the Add Modification Details step, enter the reason for modification and a justification. Contract Writing applies the reason and justification to every modification created during this process. The justification appears in Block 14 of the SF30 for each modification.
8. Click CREATE.

Contract Writing creates a modification record for each eligible award. Because the number of awards can be large, Contract Writing processes the modifications in the background and displays an In Progress banner above the Awards grid so you can continue other work while the process runs. The banner is visible only to the person who initiated the mass modification run. The banner refreshes automatically, and the modifications appear in the Awards grid as they are created. When the process completes, Contract Writing displays a success banner.

Contract Writing sends two emails for each mass modification run:

• When the run starts, an email lists the awards that need attention: awards excluded because they already have a draft modification, and awards where the clause change was a duplicate. For an excluded award with an existing draft modification, the assigned contracting officer navigates to that modification and makes the proposed clause changes manually. The duplicate entries are informational and need no follow-up.
• When the run completes, an email lists the awards for which a modification was successfully created.

Each resulting modification then proceeds through the normal Contracting Officer approval and release process.

For information on how GCA applies the clause changes and records them, see the Manage Clause Sets documentation for Government Clause Automation.

Release a modification in Contract Writing

Releasing a modification finalizes the changes and makes them part of the official award record.

To release a modification:

1. Navigate to the modification summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Release.
3. Review the release details and select the release type (Unilateral or Bilateral).
4. Click RELEASE.

Close an award in Contract Writing

Closing an award marks the contract as complete. Closed awards cannot be modified further.

To close an award:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Close Award.
3. Confirm the closure.

Create an FPDS contract action report from an award in Contract Writing

Contract Writing integrates with the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS-NG) to create Contract Action Reports (CARs) directly from awards. The FPDS integration must be active in the Contract Writing Settings site before creating CARs.

To create an FPDS CAR:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. In the FPDS-NG section, click Create.
3. Click CREATE CAR.
4. CW pre-populates the CAR data from the award record and submits the report to FPDS-NG.

After the CAR is created, CW confirms the submission and provides a link to the CAR record in FPDS-NG. See Setting Up FPDS Integration for configuration details.

Manage alerts on an award in Contract Writing

Alerts notify assigned users of important dates and milestones associated with the award.

To add or update award alerts:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Click the … menu and select Manage Alerts.
3. Configure alert conditions, notification timing, and recipients.
4. Click SAVE.

View related records for an award in Contract Writing

The Related Records tab provides a centralized view of previous modifications, the related solicitation (if created from a solicitation), the related requirement (if created from a requirement), and associated evaluations.

To view related records:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Select the Related Records tab.
3. View previous modifications, the associated solicitation or requirement, and any linked evaluations.

View task history for an award in Contract Writing

The Task History tab displays a consolidated audit trail of all checklist and task actions taken on the award. Task history tracks who created, assigned, claimed, completed, or canceled each task and when.

To view task history:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Select the Task History tab.
3. Review the history log showing the task name, action taken, user, and date.
4. (Optional) Filter history entries by user, action type, or date.

View award history in Contract Writing

Contract Writing maintains an audit trail of all changes made to an award. The history tab displays the date, user, and details of each change.

To view award history:

1. Navigate to the award summary.
2. Select the History tab.
3. Review the list of changes, including what was modified, who made the change, and when.

View obligated amounts on an award in Contract Writing

Contract Writing displays obligation information on released awards to track spending across the contract lifecycle:

• Action Obligation: The difference in the amount obligated between the previous version and the current version, visible on the Line Item Summary tab.
• Total Obligated Amount: The cumulative total of all amounts obligated through the lifecycle of the award, visible on the Award summary.

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