The Open Ratings Report is a summary of a survey of the company’s customers conducted by Dunn and Bradstreet. The Open Ratings Report is part of the application process for a GSA schedule. GSA requires this survey from a minium of 4 to maxium of 20 customer references. The results of the Open Ratings survey indicate where the company’s overall performance falls in comparison to related industry groups. The report provides a breakdown of survey responses rated on a 0-10 scale for each question. A customer reference is a person or company that has purchased products or services from the company. Vendor references are excluded from the survey. Dunn and Bradstreet sends a questionaire to the company referencesasking them to rate the company’s past performance. The survey covers overall performance, reliabilirt, cost, order accuracy, delivery/timeless, quality, business relations, personnel, customer support and responsiveness. GSA will only select the companies with a score of 9.0 and above.
The Open Rating Report should be part of the company’s marketing tool box. Depending on the score, the company should let all customer prospects see the report. Federal contracting officers are very interested in a company’s past performance and the the Open Ratings Report provides a snap shot. Companies interested in doing business with government should consider using this Dunn and Bradshreet tool regardless of applying for the GSA schedule.