eRETA and Customer Letters

The Acceptance, Completion, and Closeout letters are required for nonrecurring RWAs for Federal Customers (A, B, F, and N Type RWAs), with the exception of F-types which do not require a completion letter. The Follow-Up Letter and Cancellation Letter are both optional for all RWA Types.

These letters are official RWA correspondence generated by PBS’s official RWA system, RETA. They are not signed by PBS, but are intended to communicate with the customer at important trigger points throughout the project.

PBS requires customer letters be sent to all contacts (PBS and Customer) listed on the RWA. Additionally, PBS may add anyone else identified as being involved with the project.

No, but eRETA will send the customer an automated communication whenever their Work Request/RWA is cancelled (either by GSA or the customer).

GSA and Customers can access the letters in RETA/eRETA. Customer access is limited only to Agency Bureau Codes they are authorized to use.

The Acceptance Letter is sent specifically for amendment that changes the authorized amount and/or the Description of Requirements (scope). Administrative amendments do not require an acceptance letter.

The Acceptance Letter communicates PBS’s acceptance of the RWA, signaling the project execution of the RWA, and it is when customer agencies should obligate the funding associated with the RWA. It is important to remember customer agencies should only obligate once the agency receives the Acceptance Letter from PBS.

When routing an RWA for signature, the GSA Data Entry User should select the option for RETA to automatically send the Acceptance Letter once signatures are captured (this option is disabled if the RWA requires Central Office review, and the region will receive an email to create the Acceptance Letter in RETA after Central Office has approved the RWA). If the Acceptance Letter is sent manually, it must be within 5 business days of when PBS signs and accepts the RWA.

The Follow-Up Letter is used when no activity has been performed on an RWA and PBS is not able to move forward on a project until the customer responds with information. PBS uses the Follow-Up Letter when normal communication lines have not proven successful. Further delay could result in the closure of the RWA, and need for additional funding when/if the issue(s) preventing the continuation of the project is provided.

The Completion Letter is sent when the project or service is substantially complete. It informs the customer that the bulk of work is done and the product is ready to use for its intended purpose (for projects: minor defects will likely remain — called a “punch list”), however financial activity is NOT complete and the funds are still needed. The Closeout Letter is sent when all payments have been completed and no financial activity remains.

No. De-obligation should NOT occur until the customer receives the Closeout Letter, which comes AFTER the Completion Letter and identifies financial closeout.

F Type RWAs do not require a Completion Letter, but they do require a Closeout Letter.

The customer should follow the instructions included in the Closeout Letter. Receipt of this letter indicates the customer may de-obligate the amount identified.

RWA Entry and Tracking Application.

When a customer creates a Work Request in eRETA, a unique seven-digit tracking number is automatically generated. This number stays the same throughout the lifecycle of the WR and even after it becomes an accepted RWA. The only exception is for A and B-type RWAs: their number will change, but the RWAs can still be tracked by both the original number generated in RETA and the A/B-type ASID generated from IRIS.

gsa.gov/ereta has lots of great training materials, including recorded training videos and guides to help you through the process. eERTA users may also email eRETA@gsa.gov to speak directly to our eRETA Experts who can walk you through most general questions regarding the application.

Please reach out to eRETA@gsa.gov for assistance with any technical difficulties including error messages and system outages.

External RWA Entry and Tracking Application.

RETA is used internally by GSA associates. eRETA is a customer-facing version for RWA customer agencies. Customer agencies have access to view and edit Work Requests and RWAs associated with Agency Bureau Code(s) their user ID has access to. GSA RETA users have access to all Work Requests and RWAs within their own region (regardless of Agency Bureau Code).

A WR is sent by a customer to PBS via eRETA as an identification of a need for a project or service, and it does not contain any financial information. PBS will develop requirements with the customer and after requirements are fully developed (and an estimate is linked and approved to the WR), the customer may enter remaining required information in eRETA and send to GSA for potential acceptance when they are ready to fund the WR. A WR does not become an RWA until requirements are developed and it is signed by the customer and PBS. If you have any questions visit www.gsa.gov/ereta where we have an eRETA “Quick Tip” on the difference between a WR and an RWA.

Starting October 1, 2019, all federal customers must use eRETA to send all WR/RWA information to GSA. Non-federal customers (e.g. private entities, state and local governments) cannot access eRETA and thus must manually submit WR/RWAs.

Yes, go to www.gsa.gov/ereta and navigate to the “eRETA Training Materials” page located on the left navigation pane.

Yes, the “RWA Search” and Summary screens have summary level financial information about the RWA. The “Financial Review” section includes a more detailed breakdown of financial activity against the RWA.

Immediately. Work requests initiated by the customer electronically in eRETA will be visible at all times after it is saved, routed to GSA, and on to become an eventual RWA.

Yes, up to a certain point. As long as the Work Request/RWA has a status of “Planning/Estimate” or “Pending-New” the customer can still make changes to the WR/RWA. However once GSA routes for signatures, the status changes to “Sig-Requested” and becomes unavailable to edit. If a customer needs to edit the RWA after GSA has routed for signatures, they need to reach out to a GSA POC to abandon signatures. Modifications sent to GSA are not editable by the customer — if the customer needs edits after the modification is submitted to GSA, GSA must first reject or delete the pending amendment.

If the Fund Certifying Official is not receiving the email to apply digital signature, do the following:

1. See if the email address entered in the Customer Approval tab in eRETA is correctly spelled, and if it is for the correct person: within the RWA, go to the “Customer Approval” tab to see the signer’s info.
2. Check with the Fund Certifying Official to see if he/she received an email from dse@docusign.net, dse_na2@docusign.net, or dse_na3@docusign.net.
3. Check with the Fund Certifying Official to see if the email was sent to their spam folder. If it was, make sure he/she saves dse@docusign.net, dse_na2@docusign.net, and dse_na3@docusign.net to their contacts list so future emails don’t go to spam.
4. If you try everything listed above and still cannot locate the email, send an email to eRETA@gsa.gov.

The Closeout Letter date reflects the timing of when the most recent Closeout Letter sent to the customer by GSA.

Emails requesting digital signature are not routed until after GSA has entered the data on the “GSA Only” tabs in RETA (the equivalent of page 2 of the RWA 2957 Form). Once a GSA RETA Data Entry user finishes entering all fields and clicks the “Request Signatures” button, then the customer Fund Certifying Official will receive an email requesting their digital signature.

Contact the National Application Helpdesk (NAH) at COPBSApp@gsa.gov or at 866-367-7878.

Email eRETA@gsa.gov to request the new AB Codes while copying your supervisor on the email, and state in the body of the email “I have copied my supervisor on this request.”

Yes. eRETA provides global project and financial information on individual Reimbursable Work Authorization (RWA) projects. eRETA also includes a document storage tool that includes copies of signed RWA forms, estimates, customer letters, other customer communications, and much more. VCSS is a complementary application to eRETA and specifically provides access to bills and billing data for not only RWAs, but all GSA business lines. For more information on VCSS, please go to vcss.gsa.gov.

No. To gain access to eRETA, please visit www.gsa.gov/ereta and click on the “How Do I Access eRETA” on the left pane. To gain access to VCSS, visit vcss.gsa.gov and click on the “New Registration and Account Access Requests” button.