When the Approve without Reporting checkbox is selected, the contract action can be approved without being reported or without having an authenticated CAR in FPDS-NG.

When the Approve without Reporting checkbox is not selected, the contract action must be reported and must have an authenticated CAR before it can be finally approved. In such scenario, a notification is sent to the user (approver or buyer) to let them know that the CAR was not reported or authenticated. The user can then ensure that the CAR is reported and authenticated. The notification has an Edit Document option, that the user can use to update the CAR. Note that the CAR is saved and submitted for approval. The relevant validations during saving and submitting take place during this time.

Thus the user can ensure that the CAR is reported and authenticated. However the document can be submitted for approval and intermediate approvers can also approve the document.

When a contract action has been reported and has an authenticated CAR, the CAR approval is triggered along with contract action approval and after approval the CAR status gets changed to Approved.

If there are any issues with the approval process, a notification is sent to the user (buyer or approver) to let them know that the CAR was not approved, even though the contract action was approved. In such a situation, the FPDS-NG Reporting Information page now displays the Approve CAR action in the Action LOV. Using the Approve CAR action, the user can submit the CAR for approval as a document separate from the contract action.