Redstone Government Consulting Blog | John Shire, Director & Lynne Nalley, Director

Both the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) used by Federal Agencies to acquire products and services to support their operations and 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200 used by Federal Agencies for grants to support Federal programs set forth requirements that the organizations awarded contracts or grants have an established purchasing/procurement systems. Before getting a procurement under a grant, you must determine if any lower-tier organization is either a subrecipient or a contractor (read more in this article, “Understanding your Lower-Tier Relationships with Subrecipient and Contractor Determinations under 2 CFR 200.” In this article, we are only dealing with contractors under 2 CFR 200 and subcontractors under the FAR.

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR), Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Grants & Cooperative Agreements (2 CFR 200)

On October 15, 2024, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) published the final rule of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) requirements in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, effective December 16, 2024. The Final Rule updates DoD national security regulations to ensure contractors have implemented cyber security measures to safeguard Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). CMMC will be contractually required when the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (“DFARS”) clause has not been finalized (see our article, “DoD Issues CMMC Proposed Rule – Submit your comments by October 15, 2024”). We will refer to this DFARS clause throughout this blog as the DFARS CMMC Clause Final Rule.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Cybersecurity

Direct Costs

To understand indirect costs, it is always best to understand direct costs. Below is a comparison of the definition of direct cost in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and 2 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 200. FAR Part 31 provides the cost principles for commercial for-profit organizations and 2 CFR 200 Subpart E provides the cost principles for all other organizations (e.g., non-profits and educational institutions).

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Grants & Cooperative Agreements (2 CFR 200)

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC) issued a guidance memorandum dated March 18, 2024 to Agencies based on the results of the Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) Audit of DoD Compliance on Whistleblower Protection Requirements. While the DoD IG found in most cases, that Contracting Officers included the DFARS 252.203-7002 Requirement to Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights clause in contracts, they did not verify whether contractors were complying with the clause.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Compliance Training, DFARS Business Systems, DCAA Audit Support, Human Resources, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

In November of 2023, DoD issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to partially implement a section of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) addressing the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and DFARS contract clauses impacting prime or higher-tier contractors issuing commercial subcontracts for commercial products, including commercially available off-the-shelf items, and commercial services.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Service Contract Act, Commercial Item Determination

The FAR Council issued an interim rule, effective December 4, 2023, which implements the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (FASCSA). This included three new FAR clauses which prohibit the delivery or use of “covered articles” subject to a FASCSA order in the performance of a government contract.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DFARS Business Systems, Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR), Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Manufacturing Operations Consulting

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023 permanently authorized the Department of Defense (DoD) “to acquire innovative commercial products and commercial services through a competitive selection of proposals resulting from a general solicitation, known as a commercial solutions opening (CSO).” On August 17, 2023, the final rule was published in the Federal Register under DFARS Case 2022-D005 changing several parts of the DFARS – with most of the changes within DFARS part 212.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DFARS Business Systems, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)