Symphony Platform Security: Automatic Session Timeouts and Session Expiry

Purpose: This guide explains Symphony’s automatic session timeout policy, why logouts occur, and best practices to avoid losing unsaved proposal data while working in the portal.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Information Sections

1. Automatic Inactivity Timeout Limits

2. Why Automatic Logouts Occur

3. Best Practices to Prevent Loss of Proposal Data

• Troubleshooting
• Related Articles / Links

Information Sections

1. Automatic Inactivity Timeout Limits

To satisfy federal security compliance standards for unclassified government procurement systems, Symphony enforces automatic session limits:

• Inactivity Limit: Users are automatically logged out after 15 minutes of continuous inactivity.
    
• Unsaved Work: Any text, field entries, or document uploads that have not been explicitly saved before the 15-minute mark will be lost upon session expiration.
    
• Background Tabs: Running Symphony in a background tab without actively clicking or typing does not count as system activity.

2. Why Automatic Logouts Occur

Automatic session termination is a mandatory platform security control:

• FedRAMP & NIST Compliance: Government procurement platforms must prevent unauthorized access to sensitive vendor data if a terminal or laptop is left unattended.
    
• Single-Token Session Protection: Symphony restricts each user account to a single active session token to maintain data integrity during proposal evaluation and submission window peaks.

3. Best Practices to Prevent Loss of Proposal Data

• Save Frequently: Click the Save or Next button on proposal forms continuously while drafting responses.
    
• Draft Content Offline: Write lengthy technical responses, narrative blocks, or proposal details in an external document editor (e.g., Microsoft Word or Notepad) before pasting them into Symphony.
    
• Complete Uploads in One Sitting: Do not leave document upload screens open while retrieving files or waiting on team approvals.

Troubleshooting 

Session Errors

If you encounter an "Invalid Token," "Session Expired," or continuous redirect loop upon logging back in:

1. Close all open Symphony browser tabs.
     
2. Clear your browser's Cache and Cookies.
     
3. Re-launch your specific Contract Vehicle portal URL and log in using your MFA authenticator code.

Plain Text Sanitization

Issue: Text form fields, draft boxes, or file uploads fail or throw errors after copying/pasting from Microsoft Word.

Fix:

1. Sanitize Your Text: Paste the text into a plain-text editor (like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit in Plain Text mode on Mac) first. This strips out invisible formatting, smart quotes, and non-standard dashes. Then, copy from Notepad into Symphony.
     
2. Clean File Names: Ensure uploaded filenames use only alphanumeric characters, standard hyphens (-), or underscores (_). Avoid smart quotes (“ ”), special symbols (&, #, %), or en-dashes (–) in your file names.
     
3. Use Keyboard Shortcuts: When pasting into rich-text text boxes in Symphony, use Ctrl + Shift + V (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + V (Mac) to "Paste as Plain Text" directly into your browser.

Related Articles / Links

• Symphony Sign-In Guide: Credentials, Password Resets, and Account Activation—Manage credentials, password resets, and authenticator apps.
    
• Get Help from the Support Center—View support hours, SLAs, and submit a technical ticket.