Redstone Government Consulting Blog (40)

What is FAR 52.204-10 – Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards?

FAR 52.204-10 requires the contractor to report executive compensation of first-tier subcontracts with a value of $30,000 unless an exemption applies. Contracting Officers are required to include the FAR clause 52.204-10, Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards, in all solicitations and contracts of $30,000 or more. A first-tier subcontract is a subcontract awarded directly by the contractor for the purpose of acquiring supplies or services for performance of a prime contract. This does not include long term arrangements between the prime and first-tier subcontractors for material or supplies that benefit multiple contracts.

Where does DCAA’s View of the Contractor and their Role in Acquisition Come From?

DCAA Auditor Training

DCAA website provides that new auditors receive in-depth professional training from DCAA’s Defense Contract Audit Institute (DCAI), along with on-the-job training at their assigned field audit office. DCAI is located in Atlanta, GA and provides auditors with an excellent basis on which to start their careers in contract audit. Many at Redstone GCI can speak from personal experience that, once you get past the exciting MARTA ride from the airport, the instructors at DCAI provide a good hands-on learning environment. However, we are not sure if it is a subliminal message piped into the classroom or local indoctrination at assigned field offices, but the auditors are coming away with the impression that no contractors can be trusted, and a good audit opinion has to include questioned cost.

Let’s Set the Stage

So as a contractor you have received several cost-based contracts (i.e., subject to FAR Part 31), however they have all been less than $7.5M. You are flying under the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) radar. You get a $9M cost-based contract that does not meet any of the exceptions to CAS covered listed at 9903.201-1(b) – categories of contracts and subcontracts exempt from all CAS requirements. The dreaded “trigger contract.”

DCAA/DCMA Viewpoint

If you look through the DCAA audit guidance and the DCMA Contractor Purchasing System Review guidance, you would think that the Government is only concerned with a Commercial Item Determination when the purchase value exceeds $2M. This is all based on commerciality being an exception to the requirement for certified cost or pricing data at FAR 15.403-1(b)(3) & (c)(3).

Overview:

• OFCCP recently amended its Supply and Service Scheduling List
• On March 11, 2021, Biden signed the “American Rescue Plan of 2021
• On March 12, 2021, Biden’s DOL announced plans to rescind two “Final Rules”

Need some simple suggestions for basic contract management? This is a follow on to the previously published blog, Simple but Effective Subcontract Management Suggestions. Below are a few suggestions to consider when initiating and managing your prime contract within your contracts group.

Have you made a change in accounting practice that would require a Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) Cost Impact? Watch our latest blog to help you understand the requirements and potential issues.

DCAA created a new portal called Contractor Submission Portal (CSP) which is addressed in DCAA’s Memorandum for Regional Directors (MRD) 20-OTS-005(R) dated September 29, 2020. The portal allows contractors a means to submit their Incurred Cost proposals electronically. There are three options available to contractors when uploading the incurred cost proposal:

• Submit a new proposal
• Update an existing proposal
• Withdraw a proposal

DCAA’s Authority for Interim Vouchers

DCAA is given the authority under DFARS 242.803(b) to approve interim vouchers for DoD. DFARS 242.803(b) states DCAA will approve interim vouchers using sampling methodology for provisional payment after a prepayment review. This also includes reviewing completion/final vouchers and issuing a DCAA Form 1, Notice of Contracts Costs Suspended and/or Disapproved when DCAA questions the allowability of costs.

This article is under review as a result of EO 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, signed by President Trump on January 21, 2025. As we await further information from OFCCP and the courts, please reference this article for current status and action items.

You’re probably not feeling quite like THIS about training, but we do want to remind you of a few topics that you, as a federal government contractor, need to address with your workforce on a fairly regular basis. We can’t hit them all, but this is a list of those that should be on the radar of your Human Resources staff and are relevant to most contractors.