DCAA Compliance Blog

ReliAscent would like to remind all Small Business Federal Contractors that the DoD's SBIR/STTR 2018.3/C BAA closes to proposal submission tomorrow, Wednesday October 24th, at 8 PM ET. As always, we highly recommend that you submit your proposals as early as possible in order to avoid potential complications (due to the high volume during the final hours of the announcements). All proposal are submitted through the DOD SBIR/STTR submission portal: https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/.

If you have any questions about SBIR contract compliance requirements, or require a DCAA compliant accounting system for a pending Ph II award (or other cost type contract), please feel free to contact us at any time!

Good luck!

*Photo Credit: https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/

Government Contractors: do you know if your accounting system is DCAA compliant?  When was the last time it was audited? Has it been properly maintained since?

What if you have a grant with the Department of Energy (DoE), or National Institutes of Health (NIH)? Do you know if your accounting system meets 10 CFR 600 or 45 CFR 74?  Are you aware of the risks posed to your company by not having a compliant accounting or timekeeping system? 

An evaluation of your accounting system today could save you severe (and costly) headaches when the Federal Government comes knocking. This evaluation can:

• Identify “gaps” in your system compliance
• Identify systems outside of the QuickBooks general ledger program that would be needed for full compliance
• Prepare you so you are ready to pass your next audit

As a small business government contractor, what keeps you awake most nights?  While most would understandably answer, "winning that next contract," “making a profit,” or “avoiding a DCAA audit,” for many small businesses, it is the lack of proper contract and grant management that can be far more costly and devastating to their bottom line and day-to-day operations.  But, isn’t that something your CPA or DCAA bookkeeping firm should help you with?

Unfortunately, the reality is Government Accounting CPA and Bookkeeping firms are a dime a dozen—but accounting is really all you get.  If you have problems with your contract, or are in desperate need of strategic financial or business consulting to stay profitable (or in the Federal Government’s good graces), you’re on your own…

That’s what makes ReliAscent unique. We have over 200 combined years of DCAA compliant accounting experience, and we provide outsourced monthly accounting for contractors and grantees working with all government agencies.  But, our expertise doesn’t stop there.  Each of our clients has direct access to outsourced CFO’s and government contract management experts, and ReliAscent has nearly 200 years combined experience in government contract management.

At ReliAscent, we provide contractors with critical functions that help set them up for success and mitigate risk.  This includes things like contract reviews, negotiations, modifications & requests for equitable adjustment, and contract closeouts and terminations for convenience.  It is this unrivaled combination of knowledge, experience, and services, that sets ReliAscent apart from all other government contract accounting firms.

Contact us today to learn how our complete compliance solution can help position your business for success.

In the world of government contracting, a company's indirect rates are absolutely critical in managing costs effectively and ensuring the business remains profitable.  However, your indirect rate structure is also one of the most important factors in your proposal when competing for a contract...and if you don't know HOW to properly manage your indirect rates—or, if you're not making strategic modifications to your rates at the right times—you may be setting yourself up for failure from the start.

If you don't know whether your rates are truly helping or hurting your business, now is the time to take advantage of ReliAscent's Free Indirect Rates Review.  Our review provides contractors and grantees with sound, valuable advice about their indirect rate system & structure, can help them to understand and maintain DCAA compliance, and can help a small business use their rates as a financial engine to grow their company.

TO GET YOUR FREE INDIRECT RATES REVIEW, CLICK HERE NOW!

With just a little information about your company, our experts can complete your indirect rates review and schedule a call to discuss the path forward, should you need help fixing any errors detected.

Request your Free Review today!

*Don't Forget to Also Download our Helpful White Papers on Indirect Rates:

• Indirect Rates Models - Are You Using the Right One?
• An Introduction to Indirect Rates

Yesterday, ReliAscent released our latest white paper, "Cost and Pricing Data Explained," written by our own, Dave Donley. This paper covers the basics of cost and pricing data, as well as some techniques to reduce risk.

To get your copy of "Cost and Pricing Data Explained," click here now!

We hope you find this white paper helpful, and be on the lookout for our next white paper coming in November: "Strategically Managing Your Indirect Rates."

ReliAscent^® is happy to announce the release of our first newsletter of 2018!

This issue features articles on the National Defense Authorization Act, as well as a discussion on why the Federal Government is concerned with your firm's financial success.

To download your copy of the newsletter, click here now!

As always: if you ever have questions about FAR & DCAA compliance, our services, or government contracting in general, please do not hesitate to call or email us at any time.

Are your Indirect Billing Rates Hurting Your Bottom Line?

Your Indirect Rates are critical for managing costs effectively and ensuring your business remains profitable.  However, if you don't know HOW to properly manage your indirect rates—or, if you're not making strategic modifications to their rates at the right times—you could be losing a lot of money. 

To help small business government contractors make the most of their indirect billing rates, ReliAscent offers the industry’s only, Free Indirect Rates Review.  This review provides contractors and grantees with sound, valuable advice about their indirect rate system & structure, can help them to understand and maintain DCAA compliance, and can help a small business use their rates as a financial engine to grow their company.

TO GET YOUR FREE INDIRECT RATES REVIEW, CLICK HERE NOW!

With just a little information about your company, our experts can complete your indirect rates review and schedule a call to discuss the path forward, should you need help fixing any errors detected.

We encourage small business federal contractors to take advantage of this helpful service, and as always, if you ever have any questions about FAR and DCAA compliance, or our accounting and contract management services for Federal Contractors & Grantees, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Helpful Indirect Rates White Papers

• Indirect Rates Models - Are You Using the Right One?
• An Introduction to Indirect Rates

The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)) is announcing the Army Expeditionary Technology Search – xTechSearch – to be featured at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 8 - 10, 2018.

xTechSearch will highlight opportunities for small businesses and nontraditional defense partners to collaborate with the Army to tackle the most poignant Army modernization challenges. This opportunity is open to all Small Businesses based in the US, and focuses on key technology areas like long range precision weapons and firing capabilities, next gen. combat vehicles, and even areas like network and software engineering.

To learn more about this opportunity and/or submit proposals to the ARMY, download your copy of the xTechSearch RFI here, and complete the xTechSearch Registration Form.   

We encourage all small businesses working in engineering and scientific fields to review the RFI, and participate in the program if your technology is applicable.  This is a valuable opportunity for Government Contractors, and even those small businesses that have never contracted with the Federal Government previously.

Good luck!

In case you hadn't heard, we wanted to notify all of our clients of news and a new requirement coming out of the GSA for all Federal Contractors and Grantees:

The GSA's System for Award Management (SAM) is supporting an investigation by the GSA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into alleged, third-party fraudulent activity in SAM. At this time, only a limited number of entities registered in SAM are suspected of being impacted by this alleged fraudulent activity.  If you were affected the GSA has already notified you of the activity.  All other entities will need to take measures to comply with the GSA’s corrective action for prevention of future breaches.

What does this mean for you:

• If you were affected by the fraudulent activity, GSA has already notified you, and you are required to submit an original, signed notarized letter identifying the authorized Entity Administrator for the entity associated with the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number before the registration will be activated. GSA posted instructions for domestic entities and instructions for international entities for easy reference.
• All new entities going forward that are registering in SAM for the first time are required to perform this step.
• All existing SAM registrants are also required to perform this step when renewing or updating their registration.

While you are not required to perform this step until you perform your annual renewal, ReliAscent recommends all contractors and grantees take proactive measures and update this as soon as possible, as GSA anticipates (some) potential problems with payments in Q3 and Q4 as a result of this situation.  For more information on this please see the GSA website.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. We greatly appreciate your business, and are always happy to help.