Polaris Symphony Portal FAQ

Review these frequently asked questions for a successful experience with Symphony for the Polaris solicitation. The required URL for Polaris offerors is https://polaris.app.cloud.gov/.

How do I respond to Clarifications? 

When your company receives the notification, follow these steps:

1. Login to Polaris instance of Symphony https://polaris.app.cloud.gov/
    
2. From your Symphony Dashboard, navigate to your socioeconomic submission(s).
   - On the tab that states Submitted, select View Details.
   - Your proposal details will be displayed.
     
3. Select the Clarifications tab to view the clarifications (see Responding to Clarifications).
   - You must be an Administrator or Open Market Proposal Manager to respond.
     
4. A clarification response that Needs Attention will be displayed.
   - Review the Program Office inquiry.
   - Enter your clarifying information in the response space.
   - Attach documents to support your response.
   - Make sure you save your response to edit later if you are not ready to submit.
   
   
5. Submit your clarification response to the Program Office before the clarification deadline.
   - You cannot recall your response or make any changes once you submit.

How do I provide my Clarification response? 

Responses to Mass Clarifications are only available to Symphony Administrators and Open Market Proposal Manager(s) if a response is required. 

• Ask your administrators to assign you a role with the required permission. 
• The Proposal Manager Assignment is the last one in User Management within Administration (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Administrators and Open Market Proposal Manager(s) can respond to clarifications.

I can't provide the response for my HUBZone proposal Amendment 0008. The system says No Response Required but the instructions are asking for a response.

The Clarification does not allow a response because of how it was issued by the Program Office. It is a correction to a Mass Clarification issued previously, and the response can be provided in that one (see How Mass Clarifications Work). If you have already uploaded a file, reach out to PolarisHUBZone@gsa.gov to request instructions on how to provide this information.

How do I know if my Clarification response went through? It's still orange.

The color refers to the way the Clarification was issued by the Program Office. 

• Green means no response is required, and orange means that a response is required. 
• If the status is Responded to Program Office, you have provided the response for the government to review.

How can I revise my Clarification response? I uploaded the wrong SF-30. 

You cannot retract or modify your response to a clarification after you submit it. 

• Email Polaris@gsa.gov and provide the correct form. 
• Polaris will make the update on their end, which will not be visible through the PSP. 

I'm seeing error messages in my submitted Proposal summary. How do I clear them?

Your proposal cannot be modified after the submission deadline and the error messages cannot be cleared. 

• Any messages displayed during the evaluation period were part of it at the time of submission. 
• Reach out to the Program Office to advise of any changes or updates you wish them to be aware of, and they may choose to send a Clarification request so that you can provide that information through Symphony.
  

Why can't I modify my Polaris proposal? 

• Ask your administrator to assign your account the Open Market Proposal Manager role in the administration link (see Figure 1). It's the big green button.

Can the SAM data be updated for Polaris? 

No. Your SAM data needs to remain unchanged to reflect the original submission. 

Please notify Polaris@gsa.gov of any changes that they should be aware of. 

Can offerors update their Professional Employee Compensation Plan (PECP) and submit a revised version with their response?

Yes, but only in accordance with the Polaris modification request. (See Making Changes to Business Factors).

• The PECP is in My Company > Business Factors 
  - or-
• My Company > Team Members > Business Factors 

Why do my Projects show the Primary NAICS File and Tag Reference as missing?

There were some changes to tags/file references in the core project details that weren't available in the original submission. 

• The red file references and tags for North American Industry Classification (NAICS) code were added to Symphony in June 2023. 
• You can ignore those messages because NAICS was optional for Polaris and your project documents were used as references without linking to that field.

Need technical help? Contact us  

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