February 2018 - page 7

When contract auditors questions a particular cost in a contractor proposal or claim they are just doing their jobs. It happens day in and day out, all across the country. Auditors report their findings to contracting officers, contracting officers agree (usually) and the Government doesn’t pay the expense. The Government conservatively estimates that it recovers $5.70 for every dollar it spends on contract auditing.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Unallowable Litigation Costs

DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) is not the only organization capable of performing audits of incurred costs and other types of audits designed to support Government procurement. DCAA’s activities are not an inherently governmental function – a function so intimately related to the public interest as to require performance by Federal Government employees. Consider the Energy Department and to a lesser extent NASA who routinely outsource their contract audit requirements.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Outsourcing Contract Audits

We’ve been discussing some of the recommendations coming out of the Section 809 Panel for the past few days and we want to continue in that vein by highlighting another recommendation for re-making DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) into a vital component of the Defense acquisition process. This one deals with the timeliness of audits, or the timeliness any any advisory services provided by DCAA.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Statutory Due Dates for DCAA Audits – A Recommendation