The normal way to use the Liferay "Configuration" feature is to create a class that implements the
ConfigurationAction interface. Also, the FQCN of the class must be registered in the portlet WAR WEB-INF/liferay-portlet.xml with the configuration-action-class element. The lifecycle of your ConfigurationAction implementation takes place outside of the JSF lifecycle, so there would be no way for your JSF managed bean to participate in the lifecycle.
However, there might be a way. I recommend that you try registering
GenericLiferayFacesPortlet instead of GenericFacesPortlet in your portlet.xml descriptor. I haven't tried that in a long time, but it might be that, according to line #41 in the GenericLiferayFacesPortlet.doDispatch() method, that it will detect the "Config" custom Liferay Portlet Mode and call GenericFacesPortlet.doView(), which will cause your JSF view to be rendered.
If you have time, please give that a try and let me know if it works. Thanks.
