Redstone Government Consulting Blog (37)

On June 24, 2021, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) opinioned that Intellicheck, Inc., a subcontractor, did not have privity of contract or even an implied-in-fact contract with the Government to allow for the recovery of costs incurred by Intellicheck, Inc. to maintain and store Government property after the completion of a Task Order for the Navy. A tale as old as time, the Government lets years go by before taking action to dispose of its property being held by a subcontractor. Then finds a legal out for not paying the costs the Government caused to be incurred.

Source: Deltek blog

A full DCAA Business System Audit can be the longest and one of the most difficult audits a government contractor can experience. To provide some perspective, at a recent audit of one of our clients, DCAA sent 15 auditors to perform the audit. In general, our experience is that these audits take 12 months to over 18 months for DCAA to perform.

In 2017 Congress directed through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that changes be made to the treatment of independent research and development (IR&D) costs and required the Defense Contract Audit Agency to provide as part of its annual report to Congress both independent research and development and bid and proposal (B&P) costs expended by DoD contractors. Congress intended this change to apply to indirect costs incurred on or after October 1, 2017. The Defense Acquisition Regulation (DAR) Council must have read over that part.

Deltek Costpoint Planning provides access to up-to-date, accurate information for developing, adjusting, auditing, approving, and re-forecasting project budgets and annual operating plans. We usually see three types of users in the Planning module: Business Development, Project Managers, and Project Control/Financial Analysts. Business Development users have access to develop new business budgets. Project Managers can create project budgets and run meaningful reports allowing them to make real time decisions and properly manage their programs. Project control/financial analysts can develop organization budgets and reconcile corporate and project budgets more accurately to better forecast their indirect rates.

DCMA updated the Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR) Handbook on September 10, 2021.

Recently, our office has become aware of a few instances of auditors misunderstanding the DCAA Headquarters’ guidance pertaining to the treatment of credits associated with PPP Loan Forgiveness.

In our last newsletter, we focused on some of the unnecessary obstacles small businesses face in the regulatory environment and areas where, in our opinion, Government auditors, particularly DCAA, misinterpret regulatory guidance in their efforts to question costs.

This is the second of a two-part blog series where we tackle small business joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program. In this blog, we will discuss small business joint ventures and how a government contractor can get involved in one.

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.”