Redstone Government Consulting Blog (32)

Every month our team’s charity committee comes up with clever ideas centered around a truly important part of our organization: giving back to the community. In this month’s installment, they took it to the next level with the so called, "One Chip Challenge."

Overview

• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the OFCCP Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) Verification Program.
• The EEOC will soon require contractors to use new EEO tabulation data from 2014-2018 in their AAPs.
• The OFCCP is rescinding its previously issued notice stating that it would not request, accept, or use EEO-1 Component 2 data. 
• The Department of Homeland Security has extended the Form I-9 verification flexibility.
• As part of President Biden’s COVID-19 Plan, an Executive Order (#14043) on COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Workers and Contractors was signed on September 9, 2021. 
• As a reminder, September 30^th is the deadline to file the VETS-4212 report.
• You are invited to join a national online dialogue on “Advancing Worker Equity at the U.S. Department of Labor.”

This is the first of a two-part blog series where we will tackle small business joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program. In this blog, we will discuss the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program.

As we approach the third quarter of the year, now is a good time to review your payroll setup and wages for accuracy. I often find that whether the client is a seasoned payroll processor, or new to Costpoint and payroll in general, there can be errors in wages that are not obvious in day-to-day processing. There are numerous actions you can take to prepare for a smooth year end. For example, start by ordering forms early in the last quarter of the year. Many sources for W2s, 1099s, ACA forms, etc. will sell out in January. Also, be sure to register for access to the Social Security Administration for W2 upload since this process can be time consuming waiting on the access codes to be snail mailed.

DoD Inspector General Audit on Whistleblower

We issued a blog in May 2021 addressing the Department of Justice, Inspector General. The IG found that DOJ contracts did not comply with the whistleblower requirements to include whistleblower clauses in the contract, disseminate the rights and protections in writing to employees, and include required information in confidentiality agreements/statements to employees. We indicated we would not be surprised to see the DoD IG pick up on this area and review DoD Contractors.

In 2020 Congress directed through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that contracting officers be prohibited from determining that the price of a contract or subcontract is fair and reasonable based solely on historical prices paid by the Government. Congress goes on to provide that if the contractor fails to provide data supporting the proposed price, the contractor is ineligible for award, unless the head of the contracting activity (HCA) determines that it is in the best interest of the Government to make the award. Let’s face it they are saying contracting officer should be asking for “cost data.”

The Redstone GCI Costpoint group finalized participation in the Early Adopter 8.1 testing program at the end of June. In this wrap-up we want to focus on the Projects and Contracts modules of Costpoint, as well as some additional highlights for Time and Expense. We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with Deltek on this program and are excited to see the new release of the update in the future.

Overview:

• The EEOC has introduced a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) workshop series.
• The US Department of Labor (DOL) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to create standards and procedures to implement and enforce President Biden’s earlier Executive Order (EO 14026) that will increase the federal contractor minimum wage.
• Unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic is still an issue for workplaces across the country.
• The EEO-1 Reporting deadline has been changed again to October 25, 2021.

This video and article discuss the importance of provisional billing rates for government contractors. If you have cost-reimbursable vouchers or progress payments based on costs, you want to make sure you have established provisional billing rates.

On July 9th, 2021, the Department of Defense (DoD)issued a final rule in the Federal Register to implement 10 U.S.C. 2330a which requires the DoD to establish a data collection system to provide certain management information about an awarded contract or task order that is valued in excess of $3 million. This new rule is applicable for the following service acquisition portfolio groups:

• logistics management services
• equipment-related services
• knowledge-based services
• electronics and communications services

You may read the entire rule here.