Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Small Business Compliance

The SBA’s final rule changes how individually owned firms establish social disadvantage for 8(a) eligibility by removing the rebuttable presumption and individual narrative test. Effective September 10, 2026, the new standard applies to pending and future applications and adds a requirement to show material harm resulting from discrimination or bias.

Topics: Litigation Consulting Support, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Human Resources, Government Regulations

The Department of War has suspended CMMC Phase II implementation while it reviews the program and seeks industry input on reducing compliance burdens. Government contractors should understand which requirements remain in effect, how active solicitations may change, and what the temporary pause could mean for assessment costs and future cybersecurity obligations.

Topics: Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DFARS Business Systems, Government Regulations, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing Operations Consulting, REAs, Claims & Terminations

QuickBooks is often one of the first accounting systems used by small and growing government contractors. It is accessible, familiar, and capable of supporting many core accounting needs. But the way QuickBooks is set up matters. Early decisions about accounts, projects, payroll, cost pools, and reporting may not seem significant at the time, but those choices can create problems later when the government contractor needs to support contract billing, indirect rate analysis, incurred cost preparation, or questions from a government customer or auditor.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, DCAA Audit Support, Quickbooks

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Unanet, Organizational Change Management Consulting, Program Management & Project Cost Control

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Incurred Cost Proposal Submission (ICP/ICE), Small Business Compliance, Quickbooks

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, Unanet, Organizational Change Management Consulting, Program Management & Project Cost Control

OMB’s new guidance directs agencies to expand commercial acquisitions and justify non-commercial awards. Government contractors may see closer review of commerciality, pricing, option periods, and cost-reimbursement contracts, making support for market research and contract decisions more important.

Topics: Proposal Cost Volume Development & Pricing, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DFARS Business Systems, DCAA Audit Support, Government Regulations, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Material Management & Accounting System (MMAS), Cybersecurity, Commercial Determination, Manufacturing Operations Consulting

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, Contracts & Subcontracts Administration, DCAA Audit Support, Human Resources, Government Regulations, Organizational Change Management Consulting, Manufacturing Operations Consulting

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, Quickbooks

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.

Topics: Accounting System Compliance, Small Business Compliance, Deltek Costpoint, Organizational Change Management Consulting, Manufacturing Operations Consulting