Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Redstone Team (14)

This blog was first published on the Deltek Government Contracting Blog as a guest post by Redstone Government Consulting.

The incurred cost submission is required for all federal contractors holding cost-type or time and materials (T&M) contracts and is a universal requirement regardless of agency customer.  All contracts requiring the incurred cost submission will include the Federal Acquisition Regulations “Allowable Cost & Payment Clause” (FAR 52.216-7) and/or the “T&M Payment Clause” (FAR 52.232-7). Following are answers to frequently asked questions and pointers to resources to help you.

It seems like there are a lot of agencies being audited on what they are doing with DCAA audit findings. In September, the DoD-IG announced an audit of 26 contracts issued from FY 2014-2017 by Navy, DLA, Army and Air Force contracting officers. It’s stated objective is “to determine whether contracting officer actions during contract negotiations complied with acquisition regulations when contractor proposals were deemed inadequate by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).”  At the same time, they announced an audit of DCMA with an audit objective “to determine the appropriateness of contracting officer actions to resolve and disposition compensation costs that the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) has questioned in audits of DoD contractor incurred cost claims submitted to the Government.

Organizational Conflicts of interest have increasingly gained attention from the Government and Government contractors.  Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) are discussed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 9.5.  OCI rules are meant to prevent conflicting roles or unfair competitive advantage in government contracting.  Assessment of OCI is very fact specific, and mitigations should be sculpted to fit your contracts and situation. 

Updated May 19, 2025

Companies that incur significant costs for training and education of their workforce should have formal policies and procedures in place to ensure reimbursement on their government contracts and subcontracts.  As with all types of costs, there are three major components to consider: allowability, allocability and reasonableness.

Wage Determination Fact Finding

In ASBCA Case No. 61040, 61101, Sonoran Technology appeals their claim for an equitable adjustment due to an increase in the Service Contract Act Wage Determination after contract award.  The solicitation that controlled this contract award included a SCA wage determination and a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The bidders were required to use the current SCA wage determination (at the time of the bid) in the formulation of their proposals submitted to the Government.  For future increases in SCA wages and/or benefits, the FAR and the contract have provisions/clauses which cover a contract price change for a wage determination for a multi-year contract.  The issue here whether a new wage determination, incorporated into the contract, prompted a responsibility for the government to adjust the contract price to compensate Sonoran for a corollary increase in its state gross receipts taxes.

Having a well-defined travel policy is important to your employees, managers, accounting staff, contract customers, and auditors. A one-size-fits-all policy may be suitable for some companies, while others may benefit from having multiple policies focused on the business base and/or contract requirements. 

Although many of us think of contract disputes as those involving a prime contractor and a U.S. Government agency, subcontracts can also trigger differences of subcontract interpretation between the prime and subcontractor. In Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-215, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia decided a diversity breach of contract case between government contractors (the contractor and subcontractor names are a matter of public record, thus disclosure). Fluor (the subcontractor) contended that they did not agree to a 2.3% cap to their G&A on a proposal effort with the United States Air Force. Their proposal, as a subcontract to their prime contractor, PAE, was ultimately selected for the award, at which time, a subcontract agreement was executed and the two parties began their respective performance on the contract. The specific language of that subcontract agreement is the heart of this case (differentiated from a dispute over the regulatory language contained in a subcontract flow-down).

Is your purchasing system ready for a DCMA Contractor Purchasing System Review?  Time to dust off those policies and procedures, and make sure your employees are trained on FAR and DFARS requirements.

DCMA has been hard at work reviewing contractor purchasing systems, making several updates in 2016 to the CPSR Guidebook, the most recent being January 18, 2016.  In addition, in October 2016, the Director of DCMA issued a Class Deviation from FAR 44.302(a), increasing the CPSR threshold from $25 million to $50 million.  Questions remain on how this will impact contractors whose contracts include FAR 44.3 and who are on DCMA’s review schedule.  The threshold can be lowered if the ACO determines a contractor’s risk level warrants a review.  We have already seen the lower threshold enforced in the early part of 2017 for a couple of our clients.

For most small businesses - and especially for those in the early stages of their life cycle - Quickbooks is an excellent option and an almost fundamental starting point when considering an accounting software from which to grow your company. It is cost effective, easy to use, and given its popularity and presence in the market, training resources are readily available. But is it a viable option for Government Contractors?