Government Contracting Update and Trends for 2016

Doing business with the federal government can be challenging, and the environment is rapidly changing. After several years of sequestration, spending appears to be on the rise for the DOD (and most importantly, there is certainty in the budget for the next two years after the passing of the Bipartisan Budget Act). An emphasis on cybersecurity continues to be a focus of the Obama administration. And the DCAA has narrowed its focus, and increased efficiency.

Take a look at the latest news and updates here:

• Coming soon: A bigger, faster FedRAMP: Link (Additional info here as well)
  • “The Joint Authorization Board of the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is improving its approval process through a redesign that shortens timelines and takes full advantage of available resources.”

• President Obama submit the final budget proposal for FY 2017 on Tuesday February 9, 2016: Link
  • “The FY 2017 budget of $582.7 billion complies with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, giving the department both funding stability and protection from the damage of sequestration…”

• Government wants to continue to dramatically increase cyber security spending in the next budget: Link
  • “The plan calls for a $3.1 billion fund to replace outdated IT infrastructure; a new position of federal chief information security officer; a commission to study cybersecurity problems, and a program to recruit cybersecurity experts into government roles.”

• Due to the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) and six year statute of limitations, the DCAA is speeding up audit times on incurred cost audits.
  • Average audit time in 2011 was 192 days. In 2015 that was dramatically reduced to 79 days.

• DCAA may no longer provide support to non-Defense agencies until it reduces the backlog of incurred cost audits to less than 18 months of the incurred cost inventory: Link
  • “This may mean an increase in audit activity for companies contracting primarily with DOD as the DCAA resources are refocused. But for contractors doing significant business with civilian agencies, the opposite could be true.”

• Important updates on the Service Contract Act (SCA): Link
  • “It kind of slipped under the radar, but the Department of Labor released All Agency Memorandum No. 218 that changed Wage Determinations (WDs) moving forward.”

• DUNS Numbers could be going away: Link
  • “The federal government is taking the first steps toward getting rid of a proprietary business identifier it uses in its procurement processes and that critics say weakens open-data initiatives.”

Stay tuned into Prime Insights for more updates as the year goes on.  For questions or information about JAMIS, visit the JAMIS Website at www.jamis.com.