Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (3)

In the June 27, 2024 Federal Register, the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) put out a notification that it was looking for input on its efforts to conform Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for Compensated Personal Absence (CAS 408) and Depreciation of Tangible Capital Assets (CAS 409). Back in March of 2019, the CASB published a Discussion Paper to collect initial input on the need for CAS 408 and 409 based on the changes that had been made to GAAP since the 1970’s.

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

DoD issued a final rule DFARS Case 2023-D010 on May 30, 2024, amending The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) implementing Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act on data required in support of commerciality determinations and price reasonableness under procurements for major weapon systems. The purpose is to provide additional guidance related to the data required to support a request for a commercial determination and the price reasonableness process.

Topics: Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Commercial Item Determination

In the June 27, 2024 Federal Register, the Department of Defense (DoD) is proposing to change the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 requiring that the generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) definition of a “material weakness” be used in place of the current definition of a “significant deficiency” when evaluating a contractor’s business system.

Topics: Small Business Compliance, DFARS Business Systems, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 409 provides the criteria for assigning costs (i.e., depreciation) of tangible capital assets to cost accounting periods and allocating those costs to contracts in an objective and consistent manner.

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, DFARS Business Systems, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

There is no such thing as a risk-free interaction with the Government when it comes to submitting data.

Topics: Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, Contractor Purchasing System Review (CPSR), Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Estimating System Compliance

CAS 404 provides the criteria for determining whether to assign the cost of a capital asset as a period expense when acquired or capitalize the item as a tangible asset and spread the cost over two or more accounting periods.

Topics: Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, DFARS Business Systems, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Besides the potential tax benefits of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2024 has introduced an additional benefit for employee-owned businesses contracting with the Department of Defense (DoD). A pilot program that will allow for the award of follow-on contracts without competition.

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Employee & Contractor Compensation, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Training and employee development, in our opinion, must be looked at as a necessary investment in the future of a business as well as the business’ key resource - its employees. That said, those businesses in the government contracting industry are also facing an ever-expanding list of required or at least expected training that is necessary to maintain compliance with their growing list of contract clauses.

Contract Requirements and Expectations for Training

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Compliance Training, DCAA Audit Support, Human Resources, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Organizational Change Management Consulting

If you want to provide cloud-based services to Federal Agencies, you will need to get your service approved through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) managed by the FedRAMP Program Management Office.

Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC) issued a guidance memorandum dated March 18, 2024 to Agencies based on the results of the Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) Audit of DoD Compliance on Whistleblower Protection Requirements. While the DoD IG found in most cases, that Contracting Officers included the DFARS 252.203-7002 Requirement to Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights clause in contracts, they did not verify whether contractors were complying with the clause.

Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Compliance Training, DFARS Business Systems, DCAA Audit Support, Human Resources, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)