Redstone Government Consulting Blog (53)

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) implemented Section 822 of the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which requires contactors to submit additional certified cost or pricing data when only one offer is received in response to a competitive solicitation.  Certified cost and pricing data is required when the following three criteria are met:

GSA establishes the per diem rates for the lower 48 Continental United States (CONUS), which are the maximum allowances that federal employees are reimbursed for expenses incurred while on official travel.

DCAA’s July 19^th AGM or Audit Guidance Memorandum (19-PAS-003(R)) implemented the Section 803 requirement of the 2018 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) that DoD/DCAA adopts commercially accepted standards of materiality (in application) to incurred cost audits.  This requirement is in the broader context of continuing Congressional interest in the incurred cost backlog and performance of incurred cost audits.   More specifically, the subsection which requires commercially accepted standards of materiality is designed to improve the efficiency of the contract auditing process.

It is with a heavy heart and eyes filled with tears that we write this message.  Scott Butler, our beloved friend, mentor, and the founder of Redstone Government Consulting has passed away after a strong, faithful and diligent battle with cancer.  If you knew Scott, you instantly loved and admired Scott.  He was a friend to everyone he met, and he deeply and truly cared for those around him.  Scott had an incredible faith and love of Jesus Christ and it showed in every interaction he had, whether good or bad.  Our lives will be forever changed, because we had the fortune to work with Scott daily.  In a picture hanging in Scott’s office was a quote, 

At Redstone GCI we are constantly seeking new tools to make our clients (and by extension us too) lives easier when it comes to maintaining compliance and completing deliverables for government customers.  One of the most challenging areas for contractors of all shapes and sizes in the proposal management process.  The government’s increasing use of multiple award IDIQ and other task order driven contracts often necessitates the formation of contractor teams.  In these situations, not only are you worried about your prime proposal, but you’re also managing data calls to your subcontractors to create the consolidated volumes for response to the government customer.  To say managing this process can be a challenge, is an understatement.

Have you ever considered the power of the Pay Code function in Unanet? Pay Codes are the earnings and leave categories your organization uses to track and classify reported hours on employees’/subcontractors’ timesheets.

Did you know that you can and should record your Intellectual Property such as Trademarks and Copyrights with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) using their e-Recordation system? Once you do so, CBP can help prevent the importation and exportation of infringing goods. In fact, you must record your IP with CBP because CBP cannot help you with infringing or counterfeit imports/exports if you don’t! This service is readily available here.  

We get lots of questions about Government property and how it should be handled with subcontractors. Remember, and it has been said over and over, the prime contractor is responsible for just about anything subcontractors do in support of a contract. And yes, that includes Government property requirements.

We are expecting changes this year related to Emerging Technologies Export Controls. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is holding its’ annual conference this week on Export Controls in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year’s conference is “Emerging Technologies, Strategic Trade, and Global Threats”.  This event will cover:

As a follow-up to our recent blog post, My CPA Audited My Financial Statements. Does That Mean My Accounting System is Adequate?  where we covered some differences between a financial statement audit and an adequate accounting system, we received several great questions from our readers.  We thought it might be beneficial to address them via a new blog post for the benefit of all our readers.  We welcome discussion on our blogs, though we do so in private via email.  In this case, though, these questions are ones we see frequently and impact all companies doing business with the U.S. Government.