Recent ASBCA and Court of Appeals Decisions Impacting Undefinitized Contract Actions


April 25, 2023; the Court of Appeals agreed with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) that a contractor cannot take a unilaterally established Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) to the Board without first submitting a certified claim request for a final decision by the contracting officer.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

What to Do and Not to Do When DCAA Cites Findings Against Your Company


So, the Defense Contract Agency Audit (DCAA) auditor comes into your office, performs an audit, and…they have findings. What do you do? Wait…is there something that I should not do?

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Labor Qualifications under Time and Material Contracts

All Time and Material (T&M) contracts with the Federal Government, even commercial ones under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) part 12, have one big thing in common. That big thing is that all of the labor hours delivered must be performed by individuals meeting the labor qualifications specified in the contract. The Federal Government uses very strong language in its contract requirement related to this, stating the hours “will not be paid to the extent the work is performed by individuals that do not meet the qualifications.”

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Human Resources, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

DCAA Audit Programs Impacting Small Business


Starting back in 2021, DCAA issued updates to its audit programs supporting the audit of incurred cost. Here are a few interesting things we noted in the updates.

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Topics: Incurred Cost Proposal Submission (ICP/ICE), DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Procurement Standards under 2 CFR 200 for Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements

2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200 lays out the Procurement Standards (i.e., purchasing system requirements) in section 317 to 327. 2 CFR 200.317 (Procurement by States) requires State Governments making purchases under Federal awards to use the same policies and procedures it uses for placing purchases when it spends State funds. 2 CFR 200.318 (General Procurement Standards) relates to non-Federal entities[1] other than State Governments. This section requires the non-Federal entity to have and use documented procurement procedures, consistent with laws and regulations and conform to the procurement standards identified in §§ 200.317 through 200.327.

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Topics: Compliant Accounting Infrastructure, Government Regulations, Grants & Cooperative Agreements (2 CFR 200)

The Debt Ceiling – What Does It Mean to Government Contractors?

Does a Government default due to the debt ceiling result in a Government shutdown? Well maybe. It all depends on how the Government reacts or directs its contracting officers to react. A default is different than the – shall we say itnormalyes, we said it – Government shutdowns we have been dealing with for the past decade or so.

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Topics: Government Shutdown, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

FAR Part 31 Provides Special Treatment for Construction and A&E Contracts

FAR 31.105, Construction and architect-engineer contracts, provides somewhat unique cost accounting expectations (i.e., cost principles and procedures) the Federal Government has when awarding contracts for construction management or construction, alteration or repair of buildings, bridges, roads, or other kinds of real property. It also addresses architect-engineer (A&E) contracts related to construction projects. This applies to all cost-reimbursable contracts and the pricing of contracts based on cost analysis as required by FAR 15.404-1(a)(3).

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Topics: Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Federal Construction Contracting

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 405 – Accounting for Unallowable Costs

Comparison to FAR

Like CAS 401 and CAS 402 (see previous blog posts on these CAS Standards), CAS 405 is part of modified CAS coverage and is one of the first CAS standards a company encounters. Compliance with this standard will likely not call for any changes to the company’s cost accounting system if the company is compliant with FAR 31.201-6 (Accounting for Unallowable Costs) because the FAR clause has more requirements than CAS 405.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 402 - Consistency in Allocating Costs Incurred for the Same Purpose

Comparison to FAR

Like CAS 401, CAS 402 is part of modified CAS coverage and is one of the first CAS standards a company encounters. It likely will not call for any changes to the company’s cost accounting system because Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 31.202 (Direct costs) and 31.203 (Indirect costs) give us words very similar to the CAS words.

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Topics: Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

The Hidden Competitor in Federal Construction and A&E Contracting

FAR 36.203, Government estimate of construction costs, and FAR 36.605, Government cost estimate for architect-engineer work, require the development of an independent Government estimate of the cost of construction costs and architect-engineer services when the value is expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold ($250,000). The estimate shall be prepared in as much detail as though the Government were competing for award or on the basis of a detailed analysis of the required work as though the Government were submitting a proposal. Access to the Government estimate is limited to Government personnel unless during negotiations the contracting officer identifies a specialized task and discloser is deemed necessary to arrive at a fair and reasonable price.

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Topics: Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Federal Construction Contracting