For Prime Vendors: Subcontracting in PASSPort

Your Responsibilities as a Prime Vendor

• Assign User Roles
• Submit Subcontractor Approval Request
• Submit Subcontract Modification Requests
• Record Subcontractor Payment Information
• Monitor M/WBE Utilization

These are the responsibilities of the parties involved in the subcontracting process:

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Assign User Roles

You must assign the necessary user roles to your organization's contacts to complete required subcontracting tasks. Check in with your subcontractors to confirm that their contacts are properly set up in PASSPort.

For more information, see Add Users and Assign Roles.

Note: Only users with the Vendor Admin role can manage contacts and assign roles.

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Submit Subcontractor Approval Request

If you are planning to use a subcontractor as part of your contract, submit a subcontractor approval request.

Your contract or contracting agency may have requirements on how many levels of subcontractors need agency approval. Check your contract and ask your agency for specific details.

Before submitting an approval request, check that your subcontractors have:

• Assigned the required user roles to their contacts
• Become Filed in PASSPort (completed PASSPort Enrollment)
• Created a Payee Information Portal (PIP) account
• Received active NYC M/WBE certifications, if applicable

The subcontractor approval process has three main steps:

1. Vendor Submission: You submit a subcontractor approval request.
2. Agency Initial Approval: The agency reviews the request. For contracts with M/WBE goals, the agency reviews the subcontractor's NYC M/WBE certifications.
3. Final Subcontractor Approval: Depending on the decision made in this step, the process leads to one of the following:
   • Denied. You and your subcontractors are notified by email.
   • Pending Contract Registration. A temporary status until the contract is registered.
   • Approved. You and your subcontractors are notified by email.
   • Preliminary Approval Received. You and your subcontractors are notified by email.

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Submit Subcontract Modification Request

You can submit a modification request to update the following parts of a subcontract:

Only prime vendors can submit subcontract modification requests. Subcontractors should reach out to the prime vendor if updates are needed.

Note: Modification requests cannot be used to replace a subcontractor. See Replace the Existing Subcontractor for more information.

Like subcontractor approvals, modification requests follow a three-step process:

1. Vendor Modification Request Submission: You Submit a Subcontract Modification Request.
2. Agency Initial Approval: The agency reviews the request.
   The request can be sent back to the vendor (Return to Vendor) for correction and resubmission. For contracts with M/WBE goals, the agency reviews the subcontractor's NYC M/WBE certifications.
3. Agency Final Approval: Depending on the decision made in this step, the process leads to one of the following:
   • Approved: The changes are applied to the subcontract. You are notified.
   • Denied: You are notified.

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Record Subcontractor Payment Information

After making payments to subcontractors outside of PASSPort, you must log into PASSPort to record the payment information. Both subcontractors and agencies then validate the payment information.

The payment recording and validation process has three main steps:

1. Prime Vendor Payment Recording: The prime vendor enters the subcontractor payment information, uploads proof of payment, and submits the information. Timely recording and validation of subcontractor payments in PASSPort ensures accurate reporting on the Comptroller's Office website, Checkbook NYC. To learn more, see Record a Subcontractor Payment.

2. Subcontractor Payment Validation: The Subcontractor reviews the payment information and documentation and either confirms it or returns it to the prime vendor. To learn more, refer to this guide: For Subcontractors: Confirm a Payment.

   Subcontractor payment validation advances directly to agency validation if:

   • There is no active subcontractor user in PASSPort.
   • The subcontractor does not validate the payment within 14 days.

   Important:

   • You must record payments to Tier 1 subcontractors in PASSPort. Tier 1 subcontractors are subcontractors you directly hired and paid.
   • Do not record payments from subcontractors to their subcontractors in PASSPort.
3. Agency Payment Validation: The Agency reviews the payment information and documentation. They approve or return the information to the prime vendor.

PASSPort sends the subcontractor payment information to the Comptroller's Office website Checkbook NYC.

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Monitor M/WBE Utilization

For subcontracts with M/WBE goals, prime vendors and agencies can track M/WBE participation goals using the M/WBE Utilization Tracker in PASSPort. The tracker connects prime vendor-recorded subcontract payments to the goals, simplifying compliance.

How does the tracker work?

The M/WBE Utilization Tracker takes information from the contract, subcontract, and payment recordings, and uses that data to calculate the projected utilization and actual completion percentage in real-time.

Where is the tracker and who can view it?

The tracker is in the M/WBE Goals section of the Contract's Header page and can be viewed by agencies and prime vendors. Subcontractors cannot view the tracker.

What does the tracker look like?

How do I read the tracker?

The tracker is a table listing a different M/WBE group in each row. The tracker is a table listing a different M/WBE group in each row. The columns show numbers tracked, explained below.

• Current Participation Goal (%): This column lists the goal percentages of the contract that M/WBE groups need to manage.
• M/WBE Total Contract Amount ($): This column lists the dollar value of the contract that M/WBE groups should be paid to meet the goal percentages.
• Projected Utilization (%): This column lists the percent of the contract registered with Agency-approved M/WBE subcontractors.
• Paid Amount ($): This column lists how much in dollars the M/WBE groups have been paid for this contract.
• Actual Completion (%): This column lists the percent of the contract that has been paid to M/WBE subcontractors.

Note: The Actual Completion (%) will never show 100%. If the current participation goal is 10% and the subcontract meets that goal, the Actual Completion field will display 10% once the utilization goal has been satisfied.

For more information, see M/WBE Utilization Tracker: An Overview.

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