By David Gallacher 

Last month we wrote about a provision in the proposed 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) that would have given the Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) statutory authority to demand a company’s internal audit reports in order to audit the efficacy of a company’s internal business systems. Surprisingly, the authorization, as originally proposed, was modified in the final legislation. While Congress directed DCAA to issue new guidance regarding auditor access to internal audit reports, Congress stopped short of giving DCAA actual authority to demand such reports. As such, contractors will remain at loggerheads with DCAA auditors who try to exceed their statutory authority.Continue Reading Smash & Grab Redux – Congress Seems to Give DCAA Permission But Forgets to Give It Authority

By David Gallacher 

The Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) has long sought access to contractors’ internal audit reports in connection with the routine audit of contractors’ business systems. Contractors have, in most cases, successfully resisted requests for such access on the grounds that DCAA has no statutory authority to request such documents. But that may soon change. Section 843 of the Senate version of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254) would grant DCAA broad access to contractor internal audit information.Continue Reading Smash & Grab – DCAA Poised to Gain Access to Contractor Internal Audit Reports

By John W. Chierichella and Alexander W. Major 

Sequestration is slated to start January 2, 2013. Under the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011, OMB must trim $1.2 trillion evenly from the budgets of civilian agencies and the Department of Defense from 2013 through 2021, an annual reduction of $109 billion. In a report issued on September 14th, OMB started that process, providing initial estimates of what, exactly, would be sequestered from discretionary programs (i.e. non-entitlements) in the 2013 budget, including approximately $54 billion spread across the civilian agencies and $54 billion from the DoD budget, which includes a cut in funds for “overseas contingency operations,” i.e. war spending. The same requirement will continue for the next nine years. However, after 2013, the Appropriations Committees will be allowed to determine how it will apply the cuts to live within the Budget Control Act’s mandatory reduced spending caps.Continue Reading Sequestration: Funding Shortfalls and Unrequited Patriotism