Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Accounting System Compliance

The FY 2026 NDAA changed how fixed price contracts are treated in Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) cost impacts, but timing remains critical. Government contractors with CAS covered awards issued before implementation may still face current clause requirements, making award dates and clause language important compliance considerations.

Project health depends on more than customer satisfaction and technical performance. Government contractors also need healthy margins, efficient reporting, reliable billing support, and clear contract closeout documentation. Strong alignment between the project structure and the Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structure improves reporting, visibility into key metrics such as remaining funding, billing support, and contract closeout effectiveness. These elements help support audit readiness and more efficient project management processes.

Reporting of Independent Research and Development (IR&D) projects on the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) portal is normally due no later than three months after the contractor’s fiscal year-end, both annually and upon project completion. However, the DTIC portal was offline from November 2025 until approximately April 20, 2026, due to cyber vulnerabilities. Despite the nearly six‑month outage, Defense Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP) has provided contractors just over 30 days, until May 31, 2026, to enter all required IR&D information, including new projects, annual updates, and closed projects. This accelerated timeline contrasts with the DFARS allowance of up to three months after the fiscal year-end for reporting.

Incurred cost submission preparation often exposes problems that never surfaced during regular monthly accounting. A contractor can have a full year of QuickBooks data, a complete set of financial statements, and detailed job cost records, and still find that the information is not organized or consistent enough to support the annual submission process cleanly.

This is not an uncommon situation, and it matters most for contractors performing cost reimbursable work. The assumption that recorded data equals ready data is a costly misunderstanding in government contractor accounting.

Issues related to the disconnect between contracts management, project management, and accounting teams have been a topic I’ve needed to address recently with many of the customers I work with. Partially caused by disconnected systems and partially by siloed teams, issues between these teams cause significant breakdowns in maintaining an acceptable profit margin, accurate reporting for incurred cost submissions and contract close-out, and ultimately, healthy cash flow for the organization.

On April 20, 2026, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) announced yet another reorganization: a transition to 23 “hub” organizations while maintaining office locations at key defense contractor sites. This reduction reduces the 180 office (branch and suboffices) locations to 23 hubs covering only 19 of the 50 states in the continental U.S.

DCAA recently released Version 1.04 of the ICE Model that utilizes Microsoft Power Query to prepare incurred cost proposals. For government contractors preparing annual incurred cost submissions with Microsoft Power Query, this update should be used in replacement of the previous version released. Both the April 2026 Power Query version and the May 2019 Visual Basic version remain available, but each version carries different considerations for preparation, review, and submission through the Contractor Submission Portal.

The updated Power Query version is intended to improve compatibility with contract information such as contract ceiling issues on Schedule I. The instructions have been revised to provide better clarification of information required to properly run the power query version. The original Visual Basic version remains available, but contractors using this version need to be aware of a specific restriction in the Contractor Submission Portal. Files prepared in the Visual Basic version must be saved as .xls or .xlsx before uploading to the Contractor Submission Portal. The Contractor Submission Portal will not accept .xlsm macro files.

The chart of accounts is one of the earliest decisions made when setting up an accounting system, and for government contractors, it is one of the most consequential. What looks like a basic bookkeeping choice at implementation often shapes reporting quality, cost visibility, and compliance capacity long after the business has grown.

Most QuickBooks setups look perfectly functional at first glance. Transactions flow in, reports are generated, and the books balance. For a small commercial business, that may be all that is needed. But government contractors often find out the hard way that a system that appears to be working is not actually built for the work they do.

A successful ERP implementation isn’t measured only by meeting the go-live date. It is measured by a properly configured system, properly trained personnel, and confidence in the data output. Redstone GCI’s Deltek Costpoint consultants strive to ensure clients not only meet their go-live date but also feel operationally ready to run and use their ERP system. In this article, we focus on what a Costpoint implementation with Redstone GCI looks like from discovery through go-live. Our implementation approach is structured around more than system configuration. It is guided by government contracting expertise, operational understanding, and the compliance considerations that shape how government contractors need Costpoint to function.

Unanet implementation does not end at go live. The transition into live processing often reveals workflow issues, training gaps, and process risks that can affect billing, reporting, and overall system adoption. Ongoing support during this period helps organizations stabilize operations, reduce rework, and strengthen long term system results.