The FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) Councils are proposing to amend the FAR to bring it into conformity with certain SBA (Small Business Administration) regulations regarding limitations on subcontracting.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Limitation on Subcontracting – Simplifying the Calculations
FAR 52.204-23 is a relatively new contract clause that is appearing in a lot of contracts. It prohibits the Government from contracting for hardware, software, and services developed or provided by Kaspersky Labs and other covered entities. Covered entities includes successor entities to Kaspersky Lab, entities that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with Kaspersky Lab or another entity of which Kaspersky Lab has a majority ownership.
Every DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) audit, whether requested or self-initiated, begins with a risk assessment. A risk assessment is a set of tools auditors – all auditors – use to help decide where and what to focus on in an audit. So, for example, if only $100 of material costs have been charged against a $1 million contract, the auditor would probably conclude that his/her limited resources can be better spent on other than material costs.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: What is a Profit Margin Test?
Last week, the CAS Board (Cost Accounting Standards Board) published an agenda for its November and January meetings. There are four topics on the agenda (see CAS Board Meeting) including a couple that we have decided to cover in more detail for its potential impact on small businesses. Even though small business contractors are exempt from CAS, most of the 19 existing standards have been folded in part or in whole into the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) over the years. Yesterday we covered Agenda Topic #4 which consists of a discussion on the Section 809 Panel’s recommendation to eliminate the Defense CAS Board, a Board that was created by the 2017 NDAA but has yet to organize (see Will the Newly Created Defense CAS Board Survive?). Today we will cover Agenda Topic #2, Conforming CAS to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
Section 829 of the 2017 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) directed DoD to establish a preference for fixed-price contracts (including fixed-price incentive contracts) when determining contract types and also to establish a required for “higher-level” approval for certain cost-type contracts.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Defense Department Preference for Fixed-Price Contracts
We ended last week’s blog with a news article about the CAS (Cost Accounting Standards) Board’s upcoming meetings and the agenda topics for the Board’s November and January meetings (see CAS Board Meeting). Today and tomorrow we want to take a closer look at two of the agenda topics for their potential impact on small Government contractors.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Will the Newly Created “Defense CAS Board” Survive?
By all appearances, A&D General Contracting was a fairly successful Government contractor performing construction work for VA (Veterans Affairs) and the Army Corps of Engineers in California. Together in joint venture with another company, (Action Telecom), they pursued and were awarded more than $11 million in contracts set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB). The problem was, neither A&D or its owner Andrew Otero qualified for those set-aside contracts.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Secret Side Agreements and “Rent-a-Vet” Schemes
We wonder how many companies survey their workforce and think that there is no way they could be in noncompliance with any form of employment discrimination. They might conclude that since they employ a ton of this minority and a ton of that minority and plenty of women employees, what could go wrong? Plenty, as one Government contractor found out. If you’re a Government contractor, beware of “routine compliance evaluations” by OFCCP (Labor Department’s Office of Federal Compliance Programs).
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Too Many Minority Employees?
The OFPP (Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards Board (CAS Board) published notification of planned meetings this month and January 2019. The public notification is required but the meeting itself is closed to the public. The last meeting of the CAS Board was more than seven years ago – October 5th, 2011.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: What? The Moribund CAS Board is Meeting?
The GSA (General Services Administration) issued a solicitation to procure information technology services. GSA required that offerors submit proposals in seven volumes. and a “document Verification and Self Scoring Worksheet. In the scoring worksheet, offerors were required to claim points for meeting specific criteria in the solicitation and for every claimed point, offerors were required to include supporting documentation in the appropriate volume of the proposal. GSA also set forth specific substitution rules for points claimed by joint-ventures.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Bid Protest – Plain Reading of Solicitation Prevails