When you interface with DCAA, you are developing a relationship that will last years beyond the current proposal audit. The type of relationship you forge can yield good results, or can cause difficulties that can be challenging to overcome.
Here are some suggestions for building a productive relationship with DCAA:
Open the Communication Lines
Invite DCAA in before you send in any provisional, forward pricing, CAS or incurred cost submissions. Talk with them about what your plans are. Always prepare a cost impact analysis (usually for each active contract) of how your changes will likely affect each contract. You will need to do this for every accounting change you make once you are CAS-covered anyway. Get in the habit now.
Provide Data in an Understandable Format
Make your indirect models easier to follow by providing supporting documentation for allocations and intermediate pools. Your incurred cost submissions will require this as well. Unsupported costs are among the top reasons for DCAA rejections.
Provide reports to walk the auditor through your logic in any file you give them. Being able to easily report at any level of detail is key.
Ask for Support Where Available
Believe it or not, DCAA can also play a support role. Investigate whether the audit office can provide additional support such as modeling the prime and/or inter-divisional proposals, or monitoring the statuses of subcontractor inter-divisional assist audits.
A Little Respect Goes a Long Way
Treat DCAA auditors with respect and high regard—regardless of the level of experience you think they have. You can learn from them, and they from you. If you treat DCAA auditors as well-respected colleagues whose opinion and viewpoints are welcome, this can only work to your advantage.
ProPricer Can Help
ProPricer’s ability to store and report on proposal cost and pricing data, pricing algorithms, and other supporting information eliminates reporting errors and streamlines the way you develop proposals.
Those who use Excel to deliver complex cost proposals are aware of its substantial limitations, particularly in regard to justifying and reporting on contract pricing—Excel just wasn’t built for pricing federal contracts. A dedicated estimating and pricing solution like ProPricer provides the data capture, management, reporting, and workflow capabilities needed for developing proposal pricing while simultaneously preparing audit-ready reporting.
ProPricer users can complete proposals quickly while maintaining change control and easy reporting across all elements of their proposals. See for yourself what our customers say.
