July 24, 2016
The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued its final rule significantly revising the General Services Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to add the new transactional data reporting requirement. The rule imposes new reporting requirements on contractors holding certain Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and Government-wide Indefinite…
November 2, 2015
The Inspector General for the Department of Defense (DoD IG) just completed an evaluation of the corrective actions taken by several DoD components, including the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), in response to the IG’s 2012 Report finding significant shortcomings in the “alignment” of DCMA findings with those of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). DoD IG Report 2016-005.…
November 25, 2014
Contracting personnel are required to obtain approval of cost reimbursement contracts at least one level above the contracting officer. FAC 2005-50 states “the contracting officer shall document the rationale for selecting the contract type in the written acquisition plan and ensure that the plan is approved and signed at least one level above the contracting officer.” The documentation must…
November 18, 2014
Defense companies often conduct internal audits to ensure the integrity of their business systems. These internal audits may contain information about company operations and internal controls related to the performance of government contracts. Many defense contractors are not willing to share their internal audit reports with the government, and for good reasons.
Section 832 of the National…
September 16, 2014
The Truth in Negotiations Act requires the Government to obtain certified cost or pricing data under certain circumstances. Although contractors may request an exemption from this requirement, exemptions are only available under certain limited conditions and even then other information must be provided instead.
The requirement for certified cost and pricing data has resulted in over…
May 20, 2014
A recent protest demonstrates that while an agency source selection authority (SSA) may disagree with the agency evaluators, and can conduct an independent reevaluation of proposals, the SSA’s independent judgments must be reasonable, consistent with the stated evaluation factors, and adequately documented. That was not the case in Prism Maritime, LLC, B-409267.2; B-409267.3…
February 18, 2014
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States, No. 13-5030 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 3, 2014), recently affirmed a lower court decision denying Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (“KBR”) more than $6 million in costs it incurred while providing food services to the United States Army in Iraq. The reason for the…
January 21, 2014
It’s taken a long time but, on January 6, 2014, the Department of Energy (DOE) finally issued DOE Acquisition Letter 2014-03 implementing the Federal Circuit’s holding in Secretary of the Army v. Tecom, 566 F.3d 1037 (Fed. Cir. 2009). Tecom addressed the allowability of contractor costs incurred in defending and settling legal claims brought by a third party.
Tecom,…
November 5, 2013
On October 29, 2013, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) issued a proposed rule incorporating a newly created “Proposal Adequacy Checklist” into the NASA FAR supplement (NFS). NASA intends for the rule to ensure that offerors submit thorough, accurate and complete proposals by self-validating the adequacy of those proposals and improve the quality of initial submissions. The…
July 26, 2013
In a series of regulatory actions, the limit on allowable costs for compensation of most contractor employees has been limited to the Executive Compensation Benchmark, a level of allowable compensation traditionally applied only to senior executives.
Previously, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy set a $763,029 cap for allowable costs incurred after January 1, 2011 related to senior…
March 28, 2013
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) recently dismissed a $17 million government claim as untimely in Raytheon Missile Systems, ASBCA No. 58011 (Jan. 28, 2013). This is yet another case in a string of recent decisions over the last year (reported here) in which the government’s claim was barred by the 6-year statute of limitations under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA). With…
February 11, 2013
Contractors negotiate labor costs with the Department of Defense (DOD) – as part of the price DOD will pay on a contract – based upon the compensation they pay to their employees. Since defined benefit pension contributions are a routine part of employee compensation, the amounts a contractor contributes to its employees’ pensions are included in these negotiated labor costs/rates. …
July 24, 2016
The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued its final rule significantly revising the General Services Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to add the new transactional data reporting requirement. The rule imposes new reporting requirements on contractors holding certain Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and Government-wide Indefinite…
November 2, 2015
The Inspector General for the Department of Defense (DoD IG) just completed an evaluation of the corrective actions taken by several DoD components, including the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), in response to the IG’s 2012 Report finding significant shortcomings in the “alignment” of DCMA findings with those of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). DoD IG Report 2016-005.…
November 25, 2014
Contracting personnel are required to obtain approval of cost reimbursement contracts at least one level above the contracting officer. FAC 2005-50 states “the contracting officer shall document the rationale for selecting the contract type in the written acquisition plan and ensure that the plan is approved and signed at least one level above the contracting officer.” The documentation must…
November 18, 2014
Defense companies often conduct internal audits to ensure the integrity of their business systems. These internal audits may contain information about company operations and internal controls related to the performance of government contracts. Many defense contractors are not willing to share their internal audit reports with the government, and for good reasons.
Section 832 of the National…
September 16, 2014
The Truth in Negotiations Act requires the Government to obtain certified cost or pricing data under certain circumstances. Although contractors may request an exemption from this requirement, exemptions are only available under certain limited conditions and even then other information must be provided instead.
The requirement for certified cost and pricing data has resulted in over…
May 20, 2014
A recent protest demonstrates that while an agency source selection authority (SSA) may disagree with the agency evaluators, and can conduct an independent reevaluation of proposals, the SSA’s independent judgments must be reasonable, consistent with the stated evaluation factors, and adequately documented. That was not the case in Prism Maritime, LLC, B-409267.2; B-409267.3…
February 18, 2014
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States, No. 13-5030 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 3, 2014), recently affirmed a lower court decision denying Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (“KBR”) more than $6 million in costs it incurred while providing food services to the United States Army in Iraq. The reason for the…
January 21, 2014
It’s taken a long time but, on January 6, 2014, the Department of Energy (DOE) finally issued DOE Acquisition Letter 2014-03 implementing the Federal Circuit’s holding in Secretary of the Army v. Tecom, 566 F.3d 1037 (Fed. Cir. 2009). Tecom addressed the allowability of contractor costs incurred in defending and settling legal claims brought by a third party.
Tecom,…
November 5, 2013
On October 29, 2013, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) issued a proposed rule incorporating a newly created “Proposal Adequacy Checklist” into the NASA FAR supplement (NFS). NASA intends for the rule to ensure that offerors submit thorough, accurate and complete proposals by self-validating the adequacy of those proposals and improve the quality of initial submissions. The…
July 26, 2013
In a series of regulatory actions, the limit on allowable costs for compensation of most contractor employees has been limited to the Executive Compensation Benchmark, a level of allowable compensation traditionally applied only to senior executives.
Previously, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy set a $763,029 cap for allowable costs incurred after January 1, 2011 related to senior…
March 28, 2013
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) recently dismissed a $17 million government claim as untimely in Raytheon Missile Systems, ASBCA No. 58011 (Jan. 28, 2013). This is yet another case in a string of recent decisions over the last year (reported here) in which the government’s claim was barred by the 6-year statute of limitations under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA). With…
February 11, 2013
Contractors negotiate labor costs with the Department of Defense (DOD) – as part of the price DOD will pay on a contract – based upon the compensation they pay to their employees. Since defined benefit pension contributions are a routine part of employee compensation, the amounts a contractor contributes to its employees’ pensions are included in these negotiated labor costs/rates. …
