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New Guidance Allows Limited Role for DCAA Audit of Non-DOD Contracts

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.04.16

The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the Defense Contract Audit Agency from providing "audit support" to any non-DOD agency until the Secretary of Defense certifies that DCAA has reduced its backlog of incurred cost audits to 18 months or less, a restriction that could cause some disruption for contractors when DOD contracts are not a majority of the contractor's government work and when audit support has been provided by DCAA in the past. On January 7, 2016, DCAA issued guidance to its auditors that appears to limit the prohibition on "audit support" to incurred cost audits, leaving DCAA auditors free to provide other accounting services to non-DOD agencies, specifically permitting DCAA to perform incurred cost audits that include both DOD and non-DOD contracts when auditors determine that inclusion of the non-DOD contracts involves "de minimis" incremental effort by DCAA, and offering guidance about how to handle such "mixed" audits when the non-DOD contracts will create more than "de minimis" incremental effort.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.03.25

HHS Suggests It Will Provide Less Notice and Opportunity for Comment on Grant and Contract Rules

On February 28, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was rescinding the Richardson Waiver, a policy in place since 1971 which said HHS would provide notice of proposed rulemaking in certain cases where it was not otherwise required to do so by law. This announcement signals a policy shift for the agency and suggests that where permitted by law, HHS will generally now issue rules relating to “agency management or personnel or to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts” without providing notice and comment to stakeholders, and may otherwise find good cause to forego notice and comment procedures....