PNWC’s Government Contracting Update - page 33

L3 Technologies’ Communication Systems-West Division (CSW) filed a suit against the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) last month for $21 million alleging that DCMA’s Divisional Administrative Contracting Officer (DACO) inappropriately directed the contractor to discontinue proposing its Material Adjustment Factor (MAF) on all proposals to the Government.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Contracting Officer’s Alleged Misconduct Cost a Contractor $21 Million

From time to time, we provide updates to some of the activities of the Section 809 Panel, an advisory panel created by the 2016 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) to make recommendations on streamlining the Defense Department’s acquisition regulations. The Section 809 Panel solicits recommendations and ideas from anyone that has an interest in Government procurement and wishes to offer up ideas for streamlining the acquisition process.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: More Recommendations for the Section 809 Panel

The New York Foundation for Fair Contracting (NYFFC) is a not-for-profit organization established to support, promote and encourage fair contracting by leveling the playing field in public works construction for the benefit of taxpayers, contractors and workers (online source). According to NYFFC, not all construction contractors play by the rules. Unfortunately a number of them skimp on safety, cheat workers out of wages and use shoddy materials. When this happens, the construction industry, the taxpayers and the local economy pay the price. The NYFFC works to ensure that only responsible contractors – contractors that pay the proper wages, perform quality  workmanship and complete projects on-time – are awarded the opportunity to perform work on public works contracts.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Another “Rent-a-Vet” Scheme Settlement

For the past 10 years, the U.S. Army has been upgrading Camp Humphreys to be its new flagship installation in South Korea. The bulk of U.S. forces and civilians stationed in South Korea, including those stationed at the current Eighth U.S. Army Headquarters in Yongson (Seoul) will be relocated to Camp Humphreys once the upgrades are completed. This will allow U.S. Forces to consolidate its footprint from more than 100 installations throughout South Korea to less than 50. Camp Humphreys has the added benefit of being located beyond the range of most of North Korea’s 14,000 artillery pieces.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Former Contracting Officer Accused of Accepting $3 Million in Bribes

A Bill that would authorize the head of a federal agency to pay a cash award to federal employees who identify unnecessary expenses (i.e. waste, fraud, and abuse) resulting in cost savings for the agency has been introduced in the House and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The maximum amount of the bonus would be $20,000 and certain Government employees would not be eligible including (i) an officer serving in a position at Level I of the Executive Schedule, (ii) the head of an agency, (iii) anyone employed by the Office of the Inspector General, and (iv) a commissioner, board member, or other voting member of an independent establishment.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: The Bonus for Cost Cutters Act of 2017

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked (by Congress) to review the extent of the contract closeout backlog at large federal agencies. It published its findings this month (see Additional Management Attention and Action Needed to Close Contracts and Reduce Audit Backlog). As the report title implies, the GAO was not satisfied that agencies have been effectively managing the contract closeout process. GAO attributed most of the problem to everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: New GAO Report on DCAA Incurred Cost Audits

A former Raytheon engineer filed a $3.56 million lawsuit claiming that he had been fired from his job in retaliation for raising concerns about timecard fraud to company ethics officials. The former employee complained that the company refused to compensate employees for time worked in excess of 40 hours per week.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Jury Finds Raytheon Not Guilty of Retaliation in Labor Charging Case

Not to be outdone by its sibling DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency), DCMA (Defense  Contract Management Agency) has rolled out its own internal Hotline. Doesn’t there seem to be a lot of redundancy here. The Inspector Generals (IGs) have their own hotlines. Contractors should be well aware of these since there are contractual requirements to post hotline posters in prominent locations (or on an employee website). DCAA established its own hotline a couple of years ago, encouraging auditors and outsiders to report matters relating to contract and procurement irregularities, cost/labor mischarging, defective pricing, defective parts, bid rigging, and bribery and acceptance of gratuities. Why are so many hotlines necessary?

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Defense Contract Management Agency Gets its Own Hotline

While performing a pro-active review of  SBIR/STTR awards (Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer), NASA (National Aerospace and Space Administration) found that an individual was listed as a PI (Principal Investigator) for contracts awarded to two separate companies. Investigation revealed that a group of scientists and engineers who had worked together at ATK, a defense contractor in Huntsville, Alabama, came to an agreement in 2006 with another company, Amtec, also of Huntsville, to work for Amtec with the understanding that they would eventually become their own company. These Amtec employees incorporated their own business, Scientic, Inc in 2008 and beginning in 2009 worked as dual employees of both Amtec and Scientic.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: You Cannot be a Principal Investigator for Two Companies at the Same Time under SBIR Rules

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last Friday a partial settlement in a case involving questionable subcontracting practices by an Energy Department contractor and one of its subcontractors. The investigation is ongoing but one of the parties agreed to pay $2 million to resolve its part of the case.

Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: $2 Million Settlement in Small Business Subcontracting Fraud