Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions
May 1999
INDEX
QUESTION 1. Has the Sidereal EDI VAN been certified?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal was one of the first VANs to be FACNET certified since August 1994.
QUESTION 2. Does Sidereal supply EDI translation and communications software?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal supplies Windows (3.1 and 95) based translation and communications software. The software will also run on a Apple platform using Soft Windows.
QUESTION 3. Is the PC translation software Windows or DOS based?
ANSWER: Sidereal provides Windows based software.
QUESTION 4. Has the Sidereal EDI software been compliance tested by the government?
ANSWER: Sidereal's software has been compliance tested for all of the X.12 versions currently in use on the FACNET as of 3/1/96, including 2003, 3010 and 3040 supporting the following implementation conventions (ICs), APADES, NRAD, ILSMIS, ITEMP, MADES I, MADES II, SACONS 2.5, SACONS 2.6, IDEAS, Federal and DPACS-EC. Sidereal shall support other versions and implementation conventions as they come into use.
QUESTION 5. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN provide RFQ sorting services? What are the charges?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal provides sortation services. Sortation by the first 2 digits of the Federal Supply Classification Code, i.e., the Federal Supply Group (FSG) is at no additional charge. It should be noted that the FSC code is the only mandatory code that is in every solicitation. SIC codes are optional and may not be in every RFQ (solicitation). The Sidereal supplied software allows further sortation by keywords on your PC at no additional charge. Optional custom searches on the Sidereal host (server) are available for a nominal charge.
QUESTION 6. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN provide interconnects with other VANS? If so, which VANS?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal will interconnect with any other VAN when requested to do so by a subscriber. Charges for the interconnection are $.20/per thousand characters transmitted or received to another VAN. Sidereal has in place or is negotiating interconnection agreements with GEIS, Harbinger, Advantis and other VANs.
QUESTION 7. How quickly are transmissions interconnected to and from government network entry points? To other VANs?
ANSWER: As soon as transmissions are received from the government and other VANS they are distributed to Sidereal subscribers. Immediately after transmissions are received from subscribers, they are queued for delivery to the government and/or other VANS.
QUESTION 8. Are there any other components necessary to implement EDI using Sidereal?
ANSWER: No, other than your PC and modem, Sidereal supplies virtually everything you need to implement EDI quickly. This includes service, translation software and communications software.
QUESTION 9. Has the Sidereal EDI VAN established a government supplier trading partner registration capability?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal can assist with registering with the government.
QUESTION 10. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN use the approved X.12 mailbag control structures or X.400/X.435 as a mechanism to control VAN interconnect?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal can use X.12 mailbag control structures or X.900 to interconnect with other VANS. It should be noted that the government does not use either X.12 or X.400 to interconnect with VANS.
QUESTION 11. What controls and assurances will the Sidereal EDI VAN provide to ensure only transactions set which meet the X.12 standards are sent?
ANSWER: Use of Sidereal supplied conformance tested software minimizes the risk of transmitting invalid messages.
QUESTION 12. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN require its own EDI Translation Software or can the user select other certified translation software?
ANSWER: The subscriber may use Sidereal supplied software or any other software that he/she desires. By using Sidereal supplied software the subscriber eliminates "finger pointing" that can occur when dealing with multiple vendors.
QUESTION 13. What are back up and recovery procedures?
ANSWER: Sidereal implements extensive backup and recovery procedures including RAID 1 (Disk mirroring), on-site redundancy and maintains an off-site back-up facility which reflects the configuration of our primary operations center.
QUESTION 14. Is there data recovery after a power loss? Explain.
ANSWER: Yes, the Sidereal supplied PC software prevents loss of data during downloads should you lose power to your PC. The Sidereal host (server) has an uninterruptible power supply for controlled shutdown in the event of a power failure in addition to mirrored storage and redundancy.
QUESTION 15. What communication equipment does the Sidereal EDI VAN support? What protocol and line speed?
ANSWER: Sidereal supports the following:
SPEEDS:
4800 bps; 9600 bps; 14,400 bps; 19,200 bps
PROTOCOLS:
Asynch, X.25; Reliable Asynch, TCP/IP, SMTP; Binsych and SNA
QUESTION: 16. What system requirements are necessary to run the software?
ANSWER: The following is the minimum configuration to run the software:
A. 386 or higher
B. 4 MB RAM (for Windows version), 1 MB for DOS
C. Modem 2400-28,800 bps supporting HARDWARE (not RPI software) MNP5 error correcting protocol (V.42 bis)
The following modems are known to work with our software:
a. BOCA 14.4K bps DATA/FAX modem Model # M144EW
b. GVC 14.4 FAX Model # F-1114V/R6
c. U.S. Robotics Sportser
d. Supra 144LC
e. Motorola UDS Fast Talk II
f. Zoom FAX/Modem 14.4V VFX 14.4V
QUESTION 17. What is the lead time to submit a bid?
ANSWER: You should submit your bid (quotation) as soon as possible after you receive the RFQ. After the government receives the bid from Sidereal, it must traverse numerous other computer systems and networks before it reaches the appropriate contracting office. This sometimes can take days. Sidereal, like all other VANS cannot initiate communications with the government, we must therefore hold your bid until we are polled by the government which can occur in 20 minutes to as much as 14 hour intervals.
QUESTION 18. How will I know when my messages have been received by the contracting agency?
ANSWER You should receive an acknowledgement message (X.12-997) when your transaction (Quotation, etc.) has been received by the contracting agency. It should be noted that unlike Sidereal, all VANs do not process or pass acknowledgement messages back to their subscribers.
QUESTION 19. Is there automatic purging and archiving?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION 20. How many password levels are there?
ANSWER: Several.
QUESTION 21. Is Sidereal's VAN service on-line or store-and-forward?
ANSWER: Sidereal's EDI service is store and forward. We can provide you with either a mailbox on our server where you can pull your transactions from or we can do forced delivery where we push your transactions to your computer as soon as we receive them on our server. We can also provide a combination or the two whereby if forced delivery fails we can mailbox the transactions for you and even notify you to check your mailbox for new traffic via your fax machine.
QUESTION 22. What are the advantages of store and forward vs on-line service.
ANSWER: Store and forward services require much less interaction and are thus more automated than on-line services. For example, Sidereal's service has been designed to require less than 5 minutes a day of interaction to determine if there are any RFQs of interest. It should also be noted that with Sidereal's implementation, EDI data is stored on your hard drive (not the service provider's) thus allowing you to further automate business processing (such as order entry, etc) by taking advantage of the re-usability of the EDI data.
QUESTION 23. What is the usual total amount needed to get started using your service?
ANSWER: $117.00.
QUESTION 24. What is the initial set up fee?
ANSWER: $60.00
QUESTION 25. What is your monthly fee?
ANSWER: $57.00
QUESTION 26. How much will it cost to use your service for the first year?
ANSWER: $744.00.
QUESTION 27. What is your minimum monthly commitment?
ANSWER: 12 months, there is a no-risk, money back trial period.
QUESTION 28. Are your prices fixed?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal's prices are fixed for a 12 month period.
QUESTION 29. Is there a Central Contractor Registration (CCR) registration fee?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 30. Is there a flat rate monthly fee?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION 31. Is there a connect fee (flat rate/air time)?
ANSWER: Flat rate.
QUESTION 32. Is there a cost per minute of connect time?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 33. Is there a per line charge?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 34. Is there an interconnect fee?
ANSWER: No, only if you send or receive data to/from another VAN, then the charge is $.20/1000 characters.
QUESTION 35. Is there a charge for adding trading partners?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 36. Is there a tech support fee?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 37. What is the basic price for software?
ANSWER: Software is not separately priced from the service and is included in the startup fee. However, additional licenses may be purchased for $90/license if you are a subscriber to our service.
QUESTION 38. Provide monthly cost for the following:
A: Receive 25 RFQs (840 Transaction Set) from the federal government with an average 1000 characters.
B: Send 25 quotes (843 Transaction Set) to the federal government with an average 1000 characters.
C: Receive 10 Purchase Orders (850 Transaction Set) from the federal government with an average 500 characters.
D: Send 10 invoices (810) to the federal government with average 500 characters.
ANSWER: $57.00. However, the government is not yet currently (as of January 31, 1996) accepting invoices (810) over FACNET.
QUESTION 39. Provide monthly cost for the following (which represents a more realistic scenario):
A: Receive 600 RFQs (840 Transaction set) from the federal government with an average 10,000 characters.
B: Send 300 quotes (843 Transaction Set) to the federal government with an average 1,000 characters.
C: Receive 30 Purchase Orders (850 Transaction Set) from the federal government with an average 15,000 characters.
D: Receive 300 Notice of Contract Awards (836 Transaction Set) from the federal government with an average 500 characters.
ANSWER: $57.00.
QUESTION 40. Is there a toll free number to dial to the network or is there a long distance charge?
ANSWER: Sidereal offers, local, toll free and long distance access to the network.
QUESTION 41. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN offer off peak rates or government supplier rates or volume discounts?
ANSWER: No. Sidereal's rates are very reasonable, flat, fixed and determinable, therefore discounts are not applicable.
QUESTION 42. Does the Sidereal EDI VAN provide special services that are included/excluded from the monthly fee?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal offers a number of optional enhanced features not included in the monthly fee including multi-user software licenses, additional mailboxes, global keyword sortation, delivery confirmation, Internet E-mail and the Commerce Business Daily.
QUESTION 43. Is there a hot line during off business hours? If so, who answers?
ANSWER: Yes, a person knowledgeable about the service answers the telephone.
QUESTION 44. Is there on-site training or workshops?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION 45. Is there toll free telephone support?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 46. Is there a bid history or award history?
ANSWER: Unlike other government EDI programs, FACNET is relatively new and therefore there is not a lot of award history available. It should also be noted that FACNET Award Notifications (836) do not usually contain a description of the line items awarded and in general contain very little information upon which to build an archive. What most VANS provide is bid/award history on certain Defense Logistics Agency solicitations that are not transacted over FACNET. This information is generally 3 to 18 months old and can be obtained virtually FREE from several sources.
QUESTION 47. What is my EDI address?
ANSWER: ISA 05 = 01
ISA 06 = Your Nine (9) digit DUNNS (Dunn & Bradstreet) number
GS 02 = Your Nine (9) digit DUNNS (Dunn & Bradstreet) number
QUESTION 48. Do I need an Internet account to use your service?
ANSWER: No.
QUESTION 49. Can I access your service through the Internet?
ANSWER: Yes.
QUESTION 50. Does Sidereal handle GSA Advantage EDI compliance? If so, what are the charges?
ANSWER: Yes, Sidereal handles GSA Advantage. You can use the free GSA provided software to prepare 832s catalog pages for transmission by Sidereal to GSA. Also, you may receive Purchase Orders (850s) and send invoices (when available) through your subscription with Sidereal at no additional charge.
