Redstone Government Consulting Blog (46)

Government consulting may sound like a dry line of work, but in this fun introduction, you meet the quirky team here at Redstone. Our consultants are not only experts in the field but have some funny and entertaining stories to share.

Thanksgiving is a beautiful holiday. Thanksgiving is not a time for gifts or decoration, but rather a time to reflect on the blessings received and be thankful for those blessings, even if those blessings come in the form of challenges presented to us over the past year. We say we are thankful for the challenges, as our challenges make us stronger and ultimately better. And for that, we are thankful. As most everyone knows, Redstone GCI has faced significant losses and challenges this year with the passing of our beloved leader, mentor, friend and family member, Scott Butler. Scott was special to so many people and touched the lives of us all. He knew that the future of our firm was bigger than him and made it a priority to ensure future success even without his leadership. We often say that one of Scott’s many talents was being able to see the potential in all of us and having a true gift of making everyone around him better versions of themselves. This gift from Scott still stands true, even as we continue to mourn his passing. Leaders within our firm have emerged, teamwork has never been stronger, and a true sense of family radiates with every interaction we have with each other. Scott has and will continue to make us stronger, better versions of ourselves as the true sign of a leader is not in the present, but in what they leave for those that follow.  We are thankful for Scott Butler.

UPDATED – June 18, 2024

Section 880 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included provisions restricting the use of the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection criteria to only procurements where:

The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued an arbitration decision in European Communities and Certain Member States – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft, WT/DS316/ARB. The decision authorized the United States to impose $7.5 billion in tariffs, beginning October 18^th, 2019, on EU imports due to EU subsidies to Airbus, making the ruling the largest in the WTO’s history.

As we outlined in Applicability of DFARS Business System Rules to Small Businesses, small businesses are exempt from Cost Accounting Standards and therefore are not subject to the business system rules, based on the requirements for inclusion in the Business System Clauses as set out in DFARS.  DFARS Case 2009-D038 – Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Business Systems-Definition and Administration, final rule issue February 24, 2013 in the Federal Register specifically stated: “DoD does not expect this rule to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities within the meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., because contracts and subcontracts with small businesses are exempt from Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) requirements.”

As we begin October 31^st, we’ve invested heavily in researching all sources to identify the Halloween costumes which will most likely be used by Government entities (including Congress), agencies, and employees (or wannabe employees in the context of political candidates).

In 1948 the Armed Services Procurement Regulations (ASPR) was issued as a result of the Armed Services Procurement Act, remaining in place until 1978.  ASPR defined direct cost as “any cost that is specifically identified with a particular final cost objective, but not necessarily limited to items that are incorporated in the end product as material or labor.”  This is a fairly broad definition and clearly establishes that direct cost includes more than direct material and direct labor.  The APSR also discussed Other Direct Costs (ODC), which were costs that were not material nor labor and provided examples, such as “travel and subsistence, consultants, telephone, computer costs and report reproduction.” 

Believe it or not, getting DCAA to show up and complete a “Paid Voucher Review” is “Good News.”

To understand where I’m coming from with this statement, let’s start with a little history.  The way DCAA dug itself out of its incurred cost backlog hole was with low risk sampling, provided for under FAR Class Deviation (2012-O0013) – DCAA Policy and Procedure for Sampling Low-Risk Incurred Cost Proposals, issued July 24, 2012.

Per DFARS 252.204-7012, Contractors were to implement NIST SP 800-171 by 12/31/2017 “Safeguarding Cover Defense Information and Incident Reporting”. However, Contractors self-certification has not gone as well as the Department of Defense (DoD) had hoped.  They have even included it as part of 2019 Contractor Purchasing System Reviews (CPSR) for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to evaluate Contractors monitoring of subcontractor’s self-certification.  In the meantime, DoD has shifted gears and is developing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) to help strengthen the DoD supply chain's cybersecurity at all levels of the supply chain, from the prime Contractor on down to the lowest subcontractor.